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911 student Brandon Mardoian, fourth from left, was honored with the League for Innovation in the Community College Terry O’Banion Student Developer Award.
911 student Brandon Mardoian, of Orland Park, was one of two students honored with the League for Innovation in the Community College’s Terry O’Banion Student Technology Award. This national award recognizes achievements by community college students pursuing technology careers.
The award is divided into two honors – Student Technology Champion and Student Developer Champion, the latter of which Mardoian received.
“It was pretty surreal to learn I won. I couldn’t believe it. I’m grateful to the faculty for nominating me. It’s very validating that I’m making the right choices in life, but to have this external validation is reaffirming,” Mardoian commented.
He previously earned an Associate in Science from Moraine Valley and completed his bachelor’s degree in biology. After briefly working in the science field, Mardoian returned to Moraine Valley in spring 2024 to study software development. A member of the college’s honor society, Phi Theta Kappa, he expects to earn a Software Developer Certificate in May and continue taking classes to learn about programming.
“I’m excited for this new field because programming is fun. I’d like to continue learning as much as I can and pursue a career in this field,” he added. “Moraine Valley has so much community access to a variety of classes. I’m so grateful I returned and am getting something out of it.”
Moraine Valley is a member school of the League for Innovation in the Community College, which brings community colleges across the country together to cultivate innovation. The college has nominated students for this award every year since 2006, and this is the sixth student who won, the last being in 2018.
“Brandon is an amazing student, and after meeting with him twice, I had very high hopes he was going to win,” said Michelle August, Mardoian’s nominator and Moraine Valley professor and department chair of Computer Information and Office Technology. “Being a nationally recognized award winner with the League is a huge honor for Brandon. I tell our nominees every year that being chosen as ‘the’ Moraine Valley nominee alone is a great honor and something they should put on their resumes.”
