Today's Update: Friday, September 5, 2025
September 5, 2025
Dear Student Life team,
Happy High Five Friday!
A summer-time project High Five to Housing and Residence Education’s Gabi Bockelman for her hard work planning, tracking and sending notifications to residents and guests in the nearly 2,000 rooms where we had construction projects this summer. The Planning team said, “Gabi's work is critical in helping identify roadblocks that others often miss. She is always helpful and working with her is a pleasure. Summer project completion couldn't be successful without her.”
High Fives to the Dining Facilities team, led by Michael Brecht and supported by an exceptional group: Joey Blain, Mark Burkhart, Alex Cates, Martin Dentu, John Ellingson, Jay Jarvis, Dan McKay, Eddie Nott, Jeremiah Odoi, Nathan Whiteside and Hanif Yeboah. Their dedication and teamwork have been instrumental in preparing our dining spaces for the return of students. From coolers and freezers to cooking equipment, hoods, electrical, plumbing, shelving and doors — this team ensured every detail was installed, adjusted and fully operational.
Dining Service nominates the Student Life Building and Mechanical Services team for a High Five. There was a recent plumbing issue at Traditions at Scott and their team worked diligently together to make repairs and get them up and running again.
A big, Brutus Buckeye-sized High Five to Dave Isaacs and Tracy Stuck for a feature story they wrote about Brutus’s 60th birthday for the Senior Times. Check it out for yourself!
High Five to Dylan Delay of Disability Services for passing the National Interpreter Certification exam — an outstanding achievement and a testament to her dedication and skill.
High Fives to everyone who helped Sorority and Fraternity Life make the NPHC Yard Show an amazing success last week, including Maia Gardner, Kristen Rupert Davis, Re'Nesha Weston, Josh Bensink, Madi Barnes, Kelly Smith, Jess Romer, Tyrell Miller-Johnson, Morgan Hammonds, Trinity Morton, Elle Carpenter, Liz Westrick, Kirby Bell, Cortney Brewer, Candyce Williams, Aubrie Smith, John Cronin, Adrienne Gladish, Dave Isaacs, Jon Christopherson, Tim Bell, Nate Darder, Zach Gaskins, Christy Muhoberac and Teri Cugliari.
I love this note I received recently: “I had the opportunity to help out the BuckID team (during the rush of the past couple weeks) and wanted to give them a High Five. They were non-stop for hours, were gracious, thorough and resourceful!”
It makes my heart happy when I hear from other departments around the university that recognize the Scarlet and Great work being done by our Student Life team. High Five to Zach Redecker who earned the praise of Public Safety this week. Here is what they told me, “There have been several occasions where Zach has volunteered his time before or after normal work hours to assist with camera installations. DPS added over 20 new camera views around the stadium in just 3 weeks ahead of this football season and it would not have been possible without his knowledge and assistance. The value of these new cameras was immediately noticed by our whole team during the first home football game this weekend. This is especially appreciated because I know how busy your team has been with the normal increase in workload as students return to campus. He takes his role very seriously and our partnership over the past few years has been very successful.”
Huge shoutout to Jen Vandemark, Travis Barnhart, J. Randall Hicks, Matthew Swearingen, Anita McCoy and Stacy Smith for your incredible work bringing Doc’s Download – The Podcast Edition to life! Your creativity, collaboration and attention to detail are helping transform ideas into impact – one episode at a time. Whether you’re behind the scenes curating content, handling tech magic or shaping the sound and style, your fingerprints are all over this project – and I couldn’t be more grateful. Thanks for saying yes, leaning in and helping amplify the work we do and the voices that matter. High Fives all around! Let’s keep it rolling!
High Five to J-Randall Hicks and Dave Isaacs for helping Disability Services create a fresh new welcome video. High Fives as well to Caity McCandless and the SLDS staff who participated and helped bring it to life. You can watch the video online: Welcome to Student Life Disability Services Video
Have a Scarlet and Great weekend, and, of course, Go Bucks!
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University