Student Leader of the Month
Student Leader of the Month recognize those that go above and beyond their leadership roles. Winning students are presented a plaque, are announced on multiple university outlets, and have their name added to the perpetual plaque hanging in the Morgan University Center. Please nominate a student that has excelled in serving your department, office, or our community in PeayLink during the fall and spring semester.

Annabelle Spencer - President's Emerging Leaders Program; Govs Outdoors
Nominated by Dr. Timothy Winters for her leadership on campus: "Annabelle has been
the student in charge of the Govs Outdoors programming for the last two years (at
least) and she has excelled at providing multiple, varied opportunities for students
to connect with the outdoors. As a PELP student, Annabelle exemplifies the principles
of servant leadership, high-academic achievement, and integrity. The best example
of her leadership came last summer when she completed an internship for Free For Life,
a group in Nashville that works against human trafficking. Annabelle's leadership
skills and sharp mind were quickly recognized by her supervisors who gave her the
task of re-writing the curriculum for educating middle school students about this
terrible reality. She not only re-wrote the curriculum but she presented it as well.
Her work will literally save lives and keep children safe. I had the joy of teaching
Annabelle when she was a freshman, and as Director of PELP, I have numerous discussions
with her to advise her about academics and life in general. Annabelle has a heart
of gold, and a mind as sharp as a tack. She is an Ultimate Gov."

Jacob Knight - President's Emerging Leaders Program; Governor's Own Marching Band;
College of Business Advisory Council
Nominated by Dr. Timothy Winters for his leadership on campus: "Jacob is an incredibly
hard worker who genuinely cares about those around him. He is constantly on the lookout
for ways to make other, mostly younger, students' lives better. For example, he was
the peer leader for the freshman PELP students in the fall of 2021, and he is still
working with them now! He is a constant presence in the Honors Commons, and the younger
students as well as his peers look to him for advice and mentorship. He is always
willing to help a fellow student, and in doing so, he is an enormous help to me. He
has often alerted me to a student who might be having a rough day and needs a little
TLC. He cares about his fellow students. Jacob is one of the top three or four students
in all of the PELP and Honors contingent combined, and I have definitely come to depend
on him to look out for issues in the programs. Beyond PELP and Honors, Jacob is a
great student, he is active in the inner-workings of the College of Business, and
he is sincerely concerned about his academic home. Furthermore, he is a force of nature
in the GOMB and the Pep Band. He is an Ultimate Gov, and he shows his Peay Pride loud
and clear not only by wearing APSU gear, but especially when he is playing in the
band. He is a graduating senior and I really want to take this opportunity to say
to all that he is an excellent example of an ethical, courageous, compassionate Gov."

Jessica Harrison - Govs Programming Council (GPC)
Nominated by her advisor, Jawaun Rogers, for her leadership on campus: Throughout
the time Jessi has worked with the Govs Programming Council (GPC), she grew from a
General Board member to serve as the organization’s Peay Spirit & Traditions Chair.
Her passion and dedication to the organization also allowed her to become an important
piece of our team. As her adviser, I can strongly attest to her diligence and capability
to set goals and achieve them. This leadership was put on full display during Homecoming
2021. Jessi oversaw the organization's biggest event of Govs Got Talent. This program
is a huge undertaking, from promoting the application period and show, creating/updating
all the forms/needed documents, overseeing the review of applicants with her team,
meeting with the acts, coordinating the show with other students, faculty, and staff,
and more. Jessi spent over a month making sure this tradition was the greatest possible
after our return from a difficult year from the pandemic. The amount of time dedicated
to this event is expected however, during this time she had to meet nightly with her
Sorority to get ready for the step show. This time paid off with her organization
winning the step show. Jessi has been a student leader on this campus for many years,
I truly believe she deserves to be recognized as Student Leader of the Month.

Riley Walsh - Student Staff for the Military Student Center
Nominated by Jasmin Linares for his leadership on campus: "Mr. Walsh started working
at the Military Student Center (MSC) in January 2021 as a VA Work-Study, and is currently
pursuing a Bachelor in Business Administration at Austin Peay State University; he
is a hard worker, dedicated, often looking for donations or sponsorships to help the
center and our military-affiliated students. Thanks to his networking and marketing
experience, he has been able to help our center receive food donations for multiple
events and over $2,000 worth in free t-shirts for our opening house/welcome back event.
Mr. Walsh experience and willingness to help our military-affiliated students is a
great asset to the Military Student Center as well as the university community and
I do not want his work to go unnoticed. He is constantly assisting me (MSC Director)
with the mentorship and training other work studies/peers, as well as to set up programs
and services that are beneficial to our military affiliated population at our university,
while collaborating with other departments. He also plays a key role on the daily
inventory, organization and successful process of our Texts for Vets program, which
carries over 700 textbooks in collaboration with the Library staff. He was instrumental
in creating a new spreadsheet, form, process and step-by-step instructions for the
program. He is welcoming and willing to help anyone who needs help and constantly
brings ideas on how to best serve our students while helping to solve any problems/issues
that may arise. As an Army Veteran himself, he is used to working with diverse population
and this is something that helps him excel in many of the things he does for the MSC
and the other areas he works in. He is passionate and committed to helping and supporting
all students, but especially our military-affiliated students, his actions in the
past months demonstrate that he absolutely cares for our student’s success and has
a passion for helping others."

Taylor Norris - Sigma Chi
Nominated by Victor Felts for his leadership on campus: "Taylor is a servant leader
who not only delegates well, but pitches in and does just as much work as those he
leads. Over the past three months, Taylor has been meeting with Kirsten Licari and
me to plan the fraternity's annual Easter Egg hunt. This was the first year it would
be hosted at the President's house so Taylor wanted to ensure a successful event,
adding special touches and making it more special for all involved. Through several
meetings, purchasing 1000 plastic eggs, stuffing them with candy, purchasing two bikes
to giveaway, enlisting support from other student organizations, and constant communication
with all involved, the event was a great success. This, however, is not why I am nominating
Taylor for student leader of the month. A few days before the event, Taylor messaged
me to schedule another meeting. In this meeting he informed me he had double booked
another event the morning of the Easter Egg hunt. In this meeting, he informed me
he had already enlisted the help of another member who had been briefed on our plans
to arrive at 8:00 a.m. for set-up a 10:00 a.m. event. Additionally, he ensured the
member had my contact information and reached out to me to assure me he was aware
of his responsibilities. To me, this display of responsibility and leadership exceeded
expectations, as many college age students would have not taken the initiative to
find a replacement and inform them of their expectations, but would have probably
canceled one of his engagements. I was further impressed that he scheduled an in-person
meeting with me to discuss the matter rather than a text or phone call. The day of
the event came, the replacement member showed up on time and executed his responsibilities
as instructed by Taylor. Taylor arrived 15 minutes before the event and was easily
able to resume his position in heading the event to completion. As leaders, we make
mistakes. How we handle them shows how good of a leader we truly are."