Today's Update: Friday, August 12, 2022

August 12, 2022

Dear Student Life team, 

Happy High Five Friday. 

What a busy week it has been! High Five to Student Life’s FOCUS Team for kicking off the week with a truly phenomenal two-day retreat that allowed us to celebrate, spend quality time together and plan for a bright future. Special thanks to the retreat planning team: Dilna Cama, Andrew Crow, Kim Monteaux De Freitas, Cheryl Lyons, Jeff Pelletier, Erica Regan and Micky Sharma, and also to Zia Ahmed for his amazing hospitality! 

I had a wonderful time visiting with new Buckeyes and their families on a trip east this week at a pair of Buckeye Welcome events. High Fives to Lynne Deshler, Carla Smith Jones, Beth Ullum, Candyce Williams and Stacy Smith for helping make the visits such a success. A special High Five to the incredible Buckeyes who hosted us at their homes: Alex and Cheryl Ipiotis in New York and Melissa and John Goldman in New Jersey.   

We also had a visit from Dolly Parton this week. She was in the Ohio Union for a luncheon hosted by Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine. High Fives to our team members who made the event a huge success, led by Ohio Union Assistant Director Natalie Hornback, and Karen Narwicz, Adrienne Gladish, Dan Perales, Colleen Lins, Clint Daugherty, Sean Reynolds, Alex Richardson, Chris Nesler, Faith Vranken, Gabe Simms, Joe Gregor, Nick Dodson, Roger Garland, Kyle Stewart, Chuck Balue, Zach Rall, Chad Crumwell, Brian Bassit, Katie Enciso-Dougherty, Megan Haddock and Paul Wojdacz.  

And speaking of country music, did you know there was a flood in Lincoln Tower in the middle of the Country Music Superfest? If you didn’t, that’s because of the hard and fast work of a team led by Troy Keller. Not only did they respond promptly, they also had to “wade” through the concert crowds to get there. High Fives go to Mario Acuna, Martin Dentu, Sam Raymond, Jeremiah Odoi, Gary Deckard, Thanh Bui, Cornelius Doe and James Quinn. 

High Fives to Dr. Micky Sharma and the team at Counseling and Consultation Service for again earning accreditation from the International Accreditation of Counseling Services. As you saw in Slice this morning, the group had very positive things to say about CCS.   

Move-In officially begins at our residence halls on Monday, and plenty of people are busy getting ready for the arriving students. High Fives to Housing and Residence Education Administrative Assistants who worked most of last weekend and have been working desks, addressing issues and troubleshooting. Paul O’Leary, Preston Tartt and Rico Garabis also get High Fives for helping last Friday and through last weekend with hall and room access issues. 

High Five to Learning Community Specialist Alex Thomas for reaching out to and visiting all of the regional campuses over the past few weeks. He did a phenomenal job talking about the work being done with the Scarlet & Gray Advantage Program and SGA Learning Community.    

Indra Leyva Cook gets a High Five for her dedication and follow-through in ensuring that two DACA students received the scholarship funds they needed to continue their studies at Ohio State. Both students will be graduating this upcoming year and would not have been able to continue without her advocacy and assistance. 

High Fives to Madison Eagle and Estrella Jacobsen for working with Multicultural Center student employees to host tours of the center, and Madison Woods for facilitating “Our CommUNITY” workshops, as a part of the orientation experience. Both the tours and the workshop aided families in feeling more knowledgeable about university resources and gave incoming students a stronger foundation for feeling as though they would have a “home” to come to at the end of the month. 

I also want to send big High Fives to Jenn Irwin who has been such a phenomenal support to a variety of students and families throughout a difficult week, and to Stacey Renker who responded to ensure another group of campus community members had the help they needed in a time of great need. 

Have a Scarlet and Great Weekend.  

 

Melissa S. Shivers, PhD

Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University