Celebrate Students
National Student Employment Week enables us to recognize and thank TAMU student employees for the contributions they make as employees to the University and the Bryan/College Station community. Student employees perform invaluable services with enthusiasm, dedication, and initiative. In fact, most schools and surrounding businesses depend on the contributions of this reliable workforce for the efficient operation of the campus and community.
The Division of Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness would like to encourage you to plan your own celebration to recognize your student employees’ contributions. Some ways your office or department can celebrate include:
- Hold your own awards ceremony and give out awards for unique categories (i.e. Best Attendance, Best Computer Skills, Most Organized, and Best Customer Service).
- Take your student employees out to lunch or order in and have a pizza party.
- Bring in a cake, cupcakes, or cookies decorated for National Student Employment Week.
- Award students small tokens of appreciation, such as movie tickets or gift cards.
- Have the full-time staff members write notes to the students detailing how they assist them day-to-day and thanking them. Give flowers or balloons.
- Decorate a bulletin board for your student employees with pictures and notes from the staff.
- Give each student a framed photo of the entire office staff that they can take with them when they graduate. Decorate the frame to show your appreciation.
- Gather information on your student employees such as career goals, favorite movie, unique talents, etc. and post in the office break room. Many times, full-time staff know very little about part-time student employees.
- Conduct a scavenger hunt for your student employees.
- Give the student a “Friendship Plant”; a cutting from an office plant in a small pot decorated to show your appreciation. This way the student will always have a “live” connection to their student employment experience.
- Pat on the Back - Draw an outline of your hand on a piece of paper. Photocopy enough copies for all students in your office. On each hand write a note that tells the student why they deserve a “Pat on the Back”.
- "Good Egg Award" - Buy plastic Easter eggs, fill with goodies and give out with "Good Egg Certificates". List what the students did to deserve this award.
- If you are in a large office, take up a department-wide collection to purchase an advertisement in the Battalion thanking your student employees by name. In addition to making your student employees feel appreciated, this will show other students you are a caring employer.
The Student Employee of the Year Awards will honor two outstanding student employees selected from nominated candidates who meet the following award criteria:
Nominee Criteria
- Must be a Texas A&M University - College Station student currently working in a student employee capacity.
- Must be employed with a Texas A&M University or a TAMU System Agency serving the Bryan-College Station area.
- May be undergraduate or graduate but not a Graduate Assistant nor Teaching Assistant.
- Must have been employed a minimum of six (6) months by February 1, 2025.
- Must be enrolled at least ½ time (6 hours undergraduate, 5 hours graduate) at Texas A&M - College Station for the Spring 2025 term.
The nomination must be submitted by a supervisor, faculty, or staff member. Only one student employee should be nominated per team within an office/department. Only one nomination form per student will be accepted. All subsequent nomination forms will not be reviewed. Nominations will be submitted via the Laserfiche form linked below. The deadline to submit your nomination is January 29, 2025.
2025 Student Employee of the Year Nomination Form (Form available January 7-29, 2025)
The Student Employee of the Year Award was established by the National Student Employment Association to encourage higher education campuses to honor one outstanding student employee for excellence on the job and in their academic pursuits. In 2007, Texas A&M expanded its program to present two student employee of the year awards. Congratulations to all our exceptional student employees who have been recognized through the years for their accomplishments.
2024 Student Employee of the Year Award Recipients
Pictured left to right: Damon Slaydon, Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness; Addi Tsirulnik, 2024 Student Employee of the Year; Porter S. Garner III, President and CEO, The Association of Former Students
Pictured left to right: Damon Slaydon, Vice President, Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness; Banesa Arredondo 2024 Student Employee of the Year; Porter S. Garner III, President and CEO, The Association of Former Students
| Student Employee | Award Received |
|---|---|
| Jason Mock '99 | 1999 Student Employee of the Year |
| Dwain Sparling ‘00 | 2000 Student Employee of the Year |
| Preston Pratt ‘01 | 2001 Student Employee of the Year |
| Samuel Heardmon ‘02 | 2002 Student Employee of the Year |
| Kelley Dees Amort '04 | 2003 Student Employee of the Year |
| Lindy Williams Pieratt ‘03 | 2004 Student Employee of the Year |
| Kathleen Harris ‘01/’02/’06 | 2005 Student Employee of the Year |
| Hannah Peterson ‘05 | 2006 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Karen Heiner Nall ‘06 | 2006 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Linda Lowe ‘08 | 2007 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Mathew Griffith ‘06 | 2007 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Meagan Martinez ‘07 | 2008 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Alison “Kendall” Sullins ‘08 | 2008 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Matthew Moss '11 | 2009 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Heather Evans ‘10 | 2009 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Eric George ‘09 | 2010 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Heather Bowden ‘11 | 2010 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Allison Raborn ‘11 | 2011 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Brandi Sence ‘11 | 2011 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Ashley Payne ‘12 | 2012 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Kaitlin Mohr ‘14 | 2012 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Ann Clark '13 | 2013 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Regan Dittmar '13 | 2013 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Dunae Crenwelge '15 | 2014 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Zachary Cannon '14 | 2014 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Chelsa Thomas '15 | 2015 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Jena Boyd '15 | 2015 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Joel White '17 | 2016 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Kurtis Kemper '17 | 2016 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Shelby Schiefelbein '18 | 2017 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Hannah Hoffman '17 | 2017 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Rachel Welch '20 | 2018 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Hadley Griffiths '21 | 2018 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Rachel Ullmann '19 | 2019 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Taylor Olsovsky '19 | 2019 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Allison Milby '20 | 2020 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Ethan Morse '20 | 2020 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Sarah Roberts '21 | 2021 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Lynsey Wakeland '21 | 2021 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Meghan Johns '24 | 2022 Campus Student Employee of the Year |
| Emily Denton '23 | 2022 Community Student Employee of the Year |
| Amanda Hoth '23 | 2023 Student Employee of the Year |
| Jordan Gomez '25 | 2023 Student Employee of the Year |
| Addi Tsirulnik '24 | 2024 Student Employee of the Year |
| Banesa Arredondo '24 | 2024 Student Employee of the Year |
On the occasion of their fiftieth anniversary, the Texas A&M Class of 1956 established the Class of 1956 Student Employee Endowed Award to assist outstanding student employees in the completion of their degree. Congratulations to all our exceptional student employees who have been recognized through the years for their accomplishments.
Beginning in 2023, the Class of ’56 Student Employee Endowed Award will be part of the University Scholarship Application for Continuing Students. The application period is October 15th through February 1st each year.
2022 Class of '56 Award Recipients
| Student Employee | Award Received |
|---|---|
| Julian Coleman III '09 | 2009 Class of '56 Award |
| Matthew Moss '11 | 2009 Class of '56 Award |
| Ieva Romenkova '12 | 2010 Class of '56 Award |
| Nicole Sohns '11 | 2010 Class of '56 Award |
| Megan Campbell '12 | 2011 Class of '56 Award |
| Ashley Payne '12 | 2011 Class of '56 Award |
| Ann Clark '13 | 2012 Class of '56 Award |
| Ashley Payne '12 | 2012 Class of '56 Award |
| Angela Dreiss '14 | 2013 Class of '56 Award |
| Branson Rogers '14 | 2013 Class of '56 Award |
| Kimberly Johnson '14 | 2014 Class of '56 Award |
| Joshua Herrington '15 | 2014 Class of '56 Award |
| Brittany Hagan '16 | 2015 Class of '56 Award |
| Caroline Peterson '17 | 2015 Class of '56 Award |
| Joel White '17 | 2016 Class of '56 Award |
| Kurtis Kemper '17 | 2016 Class of '56 Award |
| Shelby Schiefelbein '18 | 2017 Class of '56 Award |
| Corie Depue '18 | 2017 Class of '56 Award |
| Jason Edmondson '20 | 2018 Class of '56 Award |
| Kyle Dunlop | 2018 Class of '56 Award |
| Kendal Callen '20 | 2019 Class of '56 Award |
| Megan Waldron '20 | 2019 Class of '56 Award |
| Manisha Islam '21 | 2020 Class of '56 Award |
| Lee Ellen Pearman '21 | 2020 Class of '56 Award |
| Brandon Le '23 | 2021 Class of '56 Award |
| Brianna Blattman '22 | 2021 Class of '56 Award |
| Brooke Elledge '23 | 2022 Class of '56 Award |
| Emily Denton '23 | 2022 Class of '56 Award |
| Abigail Borden '25 | 2023 Class of '56 Award |
| Erin Stockland '25 | 2023 Class of '56 Award |