LAKELAND, Fla. — This month, Nathalie Moreno graduated with the highest of student honors at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. She has been awarded a stone, engraved with her name, to be added to the prestigious Honor Walk at the school. 

"It's a great honor I think," Moreno said. "It's something that's obviously going to live forever, live on past the time that I'm here, past the time that I die."

The Honor Walk was created in 1931 by then president Ludd Spivey. Every year, a graduating senior is awarded a brick for their leadership, overall academics and student involvement. Moreno is the 137th Honor Walk recipient.

Moreno, a presidential scholar, spent her college years working for the campus newspaper. She said it helped her overcome the isolation she felt when she first started school. Away from her family and her Latino community, she says writing is what kept her going.

"It's where I feel comfortable and I feel at home," Moreno said about the campus newsroom.

By her junior year, Moreno says she wanted to do more. She noticed the campus was growing more diverse, but there was no club for Hispanic students. It's why Moreno helped to co-found the Hispanic/LatinX coalition to help others who may feel isolated.

"That was really the main aspect behind it, to just develop a community where people could go and they know they would find people from their culture," Moreno said.

Moreno was busy, and her professors took notice and nominated her for the prestigious Honor Walk. Her name will be planted along a walkway with other graduates. 

"It's just going to be part of the community forever and I think that's what makes it so special to me," Moreno said.