Senior Dana Aschaker won the 2012 American Marketing Association Student Marketer award this year.

It was presented to her at the 34th annual International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans.

Aschaker was selected from more than  10,000 AMA marketing students across the country.

“It was beyond unexpected to win the award,” Aschaker said. “I didn’t think I was going to win at all.”

Aschaker said it was a very emotional experience when she heard her name announced as the winner during the awards banquet.

“It was one of those ‘did that just happen?’ kind of moments,” Aschaker said. “It was surreal to take in that I’d just won this award.”

Aschaker is the first female student from a Wisconsin school to take home the award.

“It really just brings everything into reality over the last couple of years with all the hard work and time I have put into AMA,” Aschaker said.

Fall 2011 AMA President Elizabeth Bartlein said Aschaker is well deserving of this award and serves as an inspiration to the AMA community.

According to Bartlein, Aschaker cares a lot about all of the AMA members, pays attention to their successes and gives credit when deserved.

“She is a person that our younger board members look up to, and I would like to think a few of them aspire to be as committed to this organization as she is,” Bartlein said. “A leader is defined as a person that influences their peers and is followed by others and that’s exactly what she is.”

Aschaker joined AMA as a freshman and made the executive board the same year.

She served as AMA president in the 2009-2010 school year, a year when AMA won the International Chapter of the Year award.

AMA Adviser Jimmy Peltier said the amount of work and effort Aschaker has put into AMA the last five years is impressive.

“She was the leader of the 2011 Nintendo Case Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2011 AMA Sales Competition, an AMA Mentor and is involved in virtually all AMA events on a regular basis,” Peltier said. “She is a prime example of one of Whitewater’s best students.”

Peltier said Aschaker’s dedication and contribution to AMA over her span with the program has helped make it as strong as it is.

“Dana has been the single most committed member of the UW-Whitewater AMA chapter since I started as an adviser in 1986,” Peltier said. “She is, without a doubt, the most important AMA member we have had in the 25 years I have been an adviser.”

Aschaker will be graduating in spring and Peltier said he is sad to see such a prized student leave.

“The tears in my eyes right now underscore how much I will miss her,” Peltier said.