Today's Update: Friday, May 20, 2022
May 20, 2022
Dear Student Life team,
Happy High Five Friday.
I want to start by offering my gratitude to our team members who are often in the caregiving roles when our community experiences challenges or loss, including the Dean of Students group, Health and Wellbeing and Residential Experience. I appreciate you all more than you know and value your contributions to our student and staff wellbeing.
Housing’s Christy Blessing and Gabi Bockelman get High Fives for taking on additional responsibilities with summer conference housing. Their planning and efforts to create an extraordinary experience for our summer guests should provide a great first impression of Ohio State.
High Five to Katie Duffy and Gabe Edwards for their work to incorporate the administrative processes for Gateway residents into the Neil front desk operation. Their efforts will ensure a smooth transition of services to residents and create operational efficiencies.
Peter Hansen and Alex Richardson get High Fives for coordinating the space and IT needs for ID Tech, a summer conference that will be on campus for seven weeks this summer.
High Five to Dean Danny Glassman (and Friend of Student Life Lindsay Komlanc) for being recognized by USG as the two recipients of this year’s Undergraduate Student Government Excellence in Collaboration Award.
Jen Pelletier gets a High Five for accepting the torch as USG’s next advisor. And a big High Five to Matt Couch for holding that role for the past 20 years!
High Fives to Aubrie Smith, hall directors and staff, as well as housekeeping and maintenance team members, for helping with the Goodwill Columbus/Ohio State Move Out collection to help divert unwanted items away from the landfills.
Jennifer Chilman gets a High Five for her help onboarding three new teammates in Buckeye Careers, as well as welcoming Ohio State’s Ohio College2Careers counselor who recently moved into Younkin. She created the onboarding materials, submitted technology and other service-related requests and went above and beyond to provide a welcoming and supportive atmosphere for the new colleagues.
High Fives for the OUAB advising team of Tonya Dawson, Krystal Vielman and Jaden Royal for all their great work coordinating end of the year events for Reading Day and the celebration of our graduates during Commencement Week, especially the Commencement Eve Candlelight Ceremony which I loved being a part of.
A colleague nominated Kori Montgomery in Financial Management for a High Five. Here is what they said, “I love her genuine excitement to have the opportunity to connect with students in a meaningful way. It re-energizes me in a way that is needed at the end of a long year.” High Five, Kori!
A colleague also nominated Brooke Shad “for being an amazing team player who goes with the flow, adapts as needed and is wonderfully skilled at having difficult conversations with students and guests.” High Five, Brooke!
Sometimes the little things are big things. High Five to Bridget Hildreth of Environmental Services. She saw a student crying and struggling in one of the residence halls. She quickly realized that the student needed some help, offered comfort and then walked the student over to Student Advocacy for assistance. That level of kindness and compassion deserves a special High Five.
I received so many High Five submissions this week that I’m already looking forward to sharing the rest of them next week and beyond. In the meantime, High Five to our entire team for being so Scarlet and Great.
Enjoy the weekend!
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University