Today's Update: High Five Friday
September 25, 2026
Dear Student Life team,
Happy High Five Friday!
The BeKind Food Packing Event last week was amazing, providing approximately 326,000 meals to non-profits in food insecure areas of southern Ohio. High Five to Tracy Stuck for leading the effort, and to everyone involved including Aubrie Smith, Sean Stewart, Candyce Williams, Dave DeAngelo, John Cronin, Aisha Echols, Dave Isaacs, Anita McCoy, Stacy Smith, Rachel Conners, Adrienne Gladish, Jen Vandemark, Jenn Miller, Drew Foley, Joe Hast, Joel Sedziol, Hal Tedrow, Bridgett Keener, Sam Bradway, Rob Halliburton, Rob Lyons, Allan Leary, Thyrone Henderson, Kim Traverse, Brittany Crall, Maia Gardner, Scott Brown, Nancy Thompson, Danny Elswick, Darrell Thompson, Godfrey Ludaway, Tyler Eskew, AT Heyer, Scott Holmes, Alex Jimenez, Faith Nelson, Jonah Bacho, Zach Talstein, Gage Pohlmeier, Kyle Manley, Malina Gugle, Kaylee Savage, Adam Minnick, Jarrode Davis, Andrew Rude, Alice Ryan, Gabby Kinnamon, Kolby Carothers, Zach Snyder, Phil Julson, Christine Thompson, Jacob Rehfus, Camille Shiffer, Travis Barnhart, Dave Wiseley, Tiffany Quattlebaum, Hannah Warner, Erica Horn, Jen Nelson, J Randall Hicks, Matt Couch, Jeff Pelletier, Candace Floyd, Annie Maxwell, Jeremy Gabis, Spencer Litzenberger, Michael Rengers, Josh Bodnar, Nat Blackford, Marissa McCabe, Christian Manning and Katrina Norris.
In case you missed it, Gus Johnson did a nice shout-out to the food-packing event during Saturday's Fox Ohio State-Kent State football game telecast, with video of the food packing and delivery. High Fives to everyone who made that recognition possible, including Candyce Williams, Tracy Stuck, J-Randall Hicks and Anita McCoy. And a bonus High Five to Candyce for doing two on camera television interviews about the packing event.
Buckeye Commons gives a High Five to Event Planning Coordinator Ethan Smith for being extremely accommodating, imaginative and attentive to their programs this semester, saying, "His amazing communication and calming, steady presence greatly reduces stress and makes us feel very supported."
Housing and Residence Education sends a High Five to Facilities, Kasey Resendes and her team and Troy Keller and his team, specifically, Josh Karnap, for assisting with cleaning spaces and building shelving units with very little notice. They said, "You are the reason we show up to work every day."
High Five to Erica Regan and Chrisse Edmunds for presenting about their experimental work on survey incentives and invitations at the Office of Academic Affairs Annual Assessment Conference. And another High Five to Erica for being featured on the closing plenary discussion panel on assessment exemplars at Ohio State.
High Fives to Dining's Abby Hertzfeld and Nate Darder, with support from Dave Isaacs, for showing our Rover delivery operation to a national audience on Fox Business News this week. As we work to support President Bellamkonda’s vision to advance big ideas and the university’s reputation, attention on game-changer technology like this is so important.
I often talk about how important it is to make a good impression on prospective students and their families when they come to campus. It's why this story warms my heart. A mother and daughter were on campus for a Buckeye Bound event and mentioned to the staff at Union Market how the daughter has multiple, serious food allergies. Dining Services' Baillie Resar explained our allergy process and made her a meal. The family was very impressed by the level of care they received, saying that Baillie and the team even went above and beyond to laminate her allergy card to keep for the future. The young woman is now a student here, and, despite hardly ever going to a restaurant, she has since eaten at the Union Market multiple times and let the staff know she, and her family, are extremely grateful for how the allergies are handled.
Have a Scarlet and Great weekend and keep it going: Go Bucks!
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University