Today's Update: Friday, March 7, 2025

March 7, 2025

Dear Student Life team, 

Happy High Five Friday. 

Spring Break is next week, and I want to remind everyone, including myself, that we need to make it “meeting-free.” Students need the time to refresh and recharge, and so do we. Some meetings may be unavoidable, but let’s do the best we can to keep from scheduling anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.   

I hope you enjoyed this week’s activity-based Scarlet and Great Gathering. I am especially proud of the donations that came in for the Buckeye Food Alliance Pantry and gently used professional clothing for the Career Closet, as well as the coffee sleeves decorated for Ronald McDonald House and care kits assembled for the unhoused in the University District. I hope you agree that doing good for others feels good. High Five to everyone who participated.  

High Fives to Student Life Suicide Prevention Program’s Laura Lewis and Tomas Guzman, who, along with Emilia Louy of Military and Veterans Services, recently presented at a NASPA session on Bridging the Gap: Elevating Military-Connected Student Success through Strategic Partnerships. High Five for a very successful partnership. 

High Five to the following teams for completing their program review action plans: Recreational Sports, Student Health Insurance, Center for the Study of Student Life and Willie J. Young, Sr. Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement. All four departments thoughtfully and persistently worked through external committee and self-study recommendations over the course of several years. High Fives to everyone who contributed their time and energy to this important work.

The recent Spring 2025 STEP Expo was a huge success. High Five to those who served as reviewers, including Jennifer Chilman, Marjorie Freggens, Maia Gardner, Zach Gaskins, Natalie Hornback, Adam Keller, Andre Love, Blair Lozier, Qiana Smith, Lauren Stazen, Debbie Wakefield, Heidi Aune, Madison Barnes, Aliya Beavers, Dave DeAngelo, Taylor Koon, Kristen Rupert Davis, Julie Sanzone, Joshua Bensink, Aisha Echols, Zach Howman, Justin Khol, Paul Newell, Michelle Norris, D'Arcy Oaks, Julie Jones, Ryan Lovell, Tom Reeves and Erica Regan. Their engagement with the student presenters was crucial to the event's success and impact.

High Five to everyone who has sent Kudos via our kind.osu.edu website. It’s got a lot of extra traffic with the attention to #BuckeyeLove, and let’s keep the momentum going by continuing to send kudos to our colleagues all year. And of course, please send me your High Five nominees so I can include them in these Friday messages.

Don’t think I forgot about prizes from the February Scarlet and Gray Gathering video, whether you watched it by yourself, or with a group. High Fives, and prizes, to our randomly drawn winners: Amilise Avrissaint, Holly Heffernan, Spencer Litzenberger, Christian Manning, Adam Minnick, Otis Palmer, Jordan Smoot, Erica Szeyller, Meredith Hilke and Josh Bensink. And to thank them for watching together as a team-building effort, extra prizes go to Lisa Bannister, Brendan Condon and Michael Steinhilber from the Dining Services team at Oxley’s.

Have a Scarlet and Great weekend and don’t forget to move your clocks ahead one hour on Saturday night for Daylight Savings Time. 

And of course, Go Bucks!  

 

Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University