For a week every spring semester, APU and other colleges nationwide recognize students who thrive as both scholars and student workers.
Student Employee Appreciation Week, due to the efforts of the National Student Employment Association (NSEA), seeks to spread awareness of the valuable contributions student employees make to college campuses. While positions and departments vary, student employee appreciation is meant to recognize workers through gift giving, notes of appreciation and free food.
At APU, Student Employee Appreciation Week is celebrated with vigor, featuring day-to-day acts of appreciation and culminating with a celebration at the end of the week. In many offices, this week is a chance to celebrate students who have worked all year while also staying on top of schoolwork, social events and rest.
Jacob Young, department coordinator for the Center for Global Learning and Engagement (CGLE), sees this week as a great time to recognize student workers’ efforts in fun and fulfilling ways. The office provided its student workers with food and messages of appreciation.
“Each day, we have a different surprise for our student workers,” Young said. “We want to go out of our way to let each student worker know that we value and appreciate all they do for our department.”
Oftentimes, students have schedules that are hard to fit into the 40-hour work weeks of full-time employees. As a result, there is not always a lot of time in which students and full-time employees get to take a moment and appreciate the rhythms and specialties of working on a college campus together.
Student Employee Appreciation Week seeks to provide that space.
As a recent graduate from the MBA program, Young knows the challenge of working on campus as both a student and a full-time employee. He believes this week is a great opportunity to see the value of mutual appreciation throughout the workplace.
“As full-time staff, it is easy to get caught up in the projects that need to get done and constant deadlines,” Young said. “[For me], the highlight of [this week] is that it provides an opportunity to step back and intentionally think about the workers. [After all], all student employees exemplify who APU is to our community.”
In addition to the day-to-day appreciation, the Office of Student Employment took time to celebrate student workers during a luncheon on Friday afternoon. This year’s meal featured Chick-fil-A and cupcakes, and provided an opportunity for students to relax, eat and take part in a week meant for appreciation and gratitude.
April Huitrado, student employment coordinator and one of the chief organizers of last week’s events, said she believes the event is a particularly meaningful way to recognize workers.
“We ask our supervisors to partner with us in creating a memorable and celebratory event [for the students],” Huitrado said.
Huitrado also noted that the lunch featured a raffle and scholarship giveaway for this year’s Student Employee of the Year (SEOTY), who is selected from nominations by department representatives. The first-place winner receives $500 and second place receives $250.
“An SEOTY committee is formed and each nominee is selected based on reliability, quality of work, positive attitude and unique contribution to the department and the university,” Huitrado said.
While the events and the luncheon were a fun way to celebrate student workers from all across APU, the award and accompanying scholarship reveal the value that APU places on its student employees.