By: Ally Vincent, Staff Writer
The Student Government Union and Student Services Annual Awards Banquet is an annual awards banquet to recognize outstanding individuals and organizations. This year the theme for the awards was “Green and Gold.” Participants were strongly encouraged to dress in green and cold attire. The ceremony took place on April 10, 2014, in the SCC Boardrooms. Faculty, staff, students, and families gathered for the celebration.
It was an evening with laughter and tears from all ends.
President John “Mac” Culkeen opened the awards by acknowledging it was the second full year that the new constitution was put in place. This constitution changed the way SGU holds offices and organizations. Instead of having one senator from each organization representing, senators are now a different pool of people that are voted in. Presidents are also required to attend president’s council once a month. These are just a few changes.
Culkeen mentioned that big events like Midnight Breakfast had over 800 students attend and Moonlight Madness which had over 500 students attend.
The first set of awards presented was the SGU/CAB Awards. These awards acknowledged a variety of aspects of student life like most outstanding faculty advisor, outstanding club officer, and outstanding philanthropic event.
Junior Genevieve Fieler was awarded outstanding junior for her “bear hugs” and outstanding loyalty to this campus.
Up ‘til Dawn was recognized as the Philanthropic Program of the Year.
The evening continued with the Residence Life awards in which they honor an outstanding female resident assistant and a male resident assistant. Next, Paige honored three individuals for the Who’s Who Recognition.
Then there were the Sullivan Awards, which are awards that are service based. These awards are awarded to one female and one male. The Mary Mildred Sullivan Award was awarded to Senior Jodecia Parkins. The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award was awarded to sophomore, Orlando Rolim.
“I try to be an all-around good student and community member by staying active and helping one another, but I was surprised that I received this award,” said Rolim.
At the end of the award ceremony, there was a surprise that was not even in the program. The university did a special contribution for Fritz. All of the students learned of some of the “original Fritzes.”
Jarrod Gasper played the role of Fritz from 2012 until the very evening of the awards ceremony.
“It’s a bitter-sweet feeling. I loved being Fritz so much, so being revealed was significant for me because it was the end of my time as Fritz. At the same time, it was humbling,” said Gasper.
The revealing of Fritz proved to be one of the favorite parts of the evening.
After the awards, everyone in attendance mingled in the Dempsey Plaza and enjoyed some light snacks.
