Student Leader of the Month

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."

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."

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.

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."

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."