More than 100 students and faculty gathered to recognize student contributions to Sacramento State in the 13th annual Student Activities Essential Pieces Leadership Awards.

Heidi van Beek, program adviser for Student Activities, said the goal of the award show was to recognize individual students and student organizations for their achievements over the past year.

This year’s award show marked the first time a class project was nominated for an award. A public relations planning and management class took their “Fear the Fraud” project and made a splash on campus, winning the Outstanding Program/Event award.

Sacramento Ski and Snowboard Club took runner up in the Outstanding Program/Event category with their Ski Swap and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers won for their organization and development of the Regional Leadership Development Conference.

Epsilon Sigma Rho won the award for Outstanding Collaborative Program and came in as the runner up in for the Enhancing Diversity award, which was won by the Salsa Loca Club.

The award for Outstanding Organization was the most competitive category, with more than 15 nominees. The P.E. Majors Club won the award and the American Society of Civil Engineers came in second.

Beats, Rhymes, and Culture, a club designed to promote the hip hop culture through dance and arts, was introduced midway through the ceremony. Members of the dance group Flex Flav performed a freestyle routine for the crowd.

The award for Outstanding Adviser followed and was won by Ali Porbaha of the Civil Engineering department. In addition Lindsay Blomberg, who participates in ResLife, Academic Advising, UNIQUE, Rec Sports and many other organizations, won Outstanding Student Leader.

The ceremony closed with a new award introduced by Lou Camera, director of Student Activities. The Advocacy Award was an honorary recognition awarded to the Morris League, a recreational sports league that has contributed to several community events.

Sac State is home to more than 250 organizations that participate in community service, fundraising, collaborative events and events to enhance diversity.

For more information about student organizations, visit