Cassidy Croskey, a senior history major of Myrtle Beach, is the 2015 recipient of the James Branham History Award, which recognizes the top graduate of Coastal Carolina University's history program. Steven Sargent, a senior history major from Miami, Fla., received CCU's Childers Family Annual History Scholarship.

As recipient of the Branham award, Croskey received a certificate, a medallion and a $500 check. She will graduate in May 2015 with a 3.9 grade point average and plans to enter the paralegal program at Duke University. To be considered for the Branham award, students must demonstrate academic excellence, a record of service and a scholarly agenda outside the regular curricular requirements. The award is named for the late CCU history professor James A. Branham, who served on the CCU faculty from 1963 to 1991 and was a longtime chair of the Department of History. He died in 2009.

The Childers Family Annual History Scholarship was established last year in memory of James G. Powell, a native of Loris who valued the importance of education and encouraged his descendants to pursue higher education. His grandson Stephen Childers, a 1995 CCU history major, created the scholarship. Childers is one of 13 of Powell's grandchildren, all of whom completed college. Childers Scholar Steven Sargent, who will graduate in December 2015, is actively involved in historical research projects. He has been an integral member of a team of students and faculty that produced the multimedia exhibit "A War on Two Fronts," about the lives of African American soldiers in World War II. The exhibit will open May 21 at the Horry County Museum.

The award presentations were made at the Department of History's award banquet, sponsored by CCU's chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, and the Anthropology Program.