Family and friends gathered outside Hilton Coliseum on Friday to plant a memorial tree for Tyler Danielson, an ISU student who was involved in a fatal car accident in March 2010.

The rainy weather did not reflect the spirit and optimism of the memorial ceremony. Several people joined as Paul Lasley, professor and chairman of the sociology department, introduced a planted tree to celebrate Danielson’s time as an ISU student.

Anyone who wanted to contribute to the planting was handed a shovel alongside fresh soil to complete the implantation of Danielson’s memorial.

The memorial ceremony was followed by the annual Alpha Kappa Delta award and scholarship ceremony, hosted in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union. The Danielson family was recognzied by students and faculty for the CY TY Criminal Justice award, a scholarship in Tyler’s honor.  

Matt DeLisi, associate professor for the department of sociology, announced Laura Glas, senior in interdisciplinary studies, as the first to be awarded with the CY TY scholarship.

Danielson’s parents presented the award to Glas.

“I was very honored when I was awarded the scholarship,” Glas said. “I didn’t know that his parents were going to be at the award ceremony, so it was an honor to meet them there and a privilege to have them there.”

Glas discovered the opportunity to win the award through being vice president of the Criminal Justice Club — an organization that Danielson was also involved in.

“The department chose an individual that they thought would best represent the qualities [Tyler’s] parents would be looking for to win the scholarship,” Glas said. 

Glas will be graduating in May and will be continuing her education in the fall at Iowa State in pursuit of a master’s in sociology.