帝王会所

NODA 鈥� Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education region seven awards recognized the work of OHIO students and staff members for their work in OHIO鈥檚 Bobcat Student Orientation and first-year programs.

Jake Lundgren, a senior studying integrated social studies, was awarded Outstanding Undergraduate Leader; and Abbey Cliffel, a graduate student studying college student personnel, won the Outstanding Graduate Student award. Wendy Rogers and Maddi Lind took home the award for best regional showcase and Ryan Evans was awarded for the best undergraduate case study. Rogers is the program coordinator for undergraduate orientation; the others are all Patton College students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting for our program to be recognized but those are things they all did as individuals,鈥� said Vincent Prior, director of undergraduate orientation programs at 帝王会所. 鈥淚t is definitely validating of the work we鈥檙e putting in and the high-quality orientation leaders and graduate assistants coming out of our program.鈥�

Prior nominated Lundgren and Cliffel for the NODA awards 鈥� where they competed against other region seven institutions in 帝王会所, Michigan, Indiana and Ontario, Canada. The nominees were peer-reviewed by staff and graduate students at colleges and universities across the region.

鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 have won awards without Vincent鈥檚 support or leadership and guidance,鈥� Cliffel said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very thankful to look up to him and have him as a mentor. He does great work behind the scenes and doesn鈥檛 always get recognized enough.鈥�

Although these students studied under Prior, he said the success is all their own.

鈥淰incent knows how to run a good team and unless you work in orientation you don鈥檛 realize what a great leader he is,鈥� Lundgren said. 鈥淚 think it says a lot about his character that what I took away most from the award was Vincent鈥檚 feedback.鈥�

Prior believes one of the things his program has done well is envisioning the process of becoming an orientation leader, which has played a pivotal role in the success of student leaders and staff involved.

鈥淲e鈥檝e re-envisioned what training looks like and we鈥檙e hiring first-year students, which we hadn鈥檛 done before,鈥� Prior said. 鈥淭he fact we can hire an orientation leader in their first year and they can develop with our program for three years is significant.鈥�

Prior said skilled and engaged undergraduate and graduate students have been pivotal to the success of OHIO鈥檚 orientation programs, particularly in light of the changes required during the pandemic.

鈥淔or Abbey, her first year was virtual and she came into orientation last summer working in person on a campus she had never worked on. So, she took charge and did some things that most grad students wouldn鈥檛 have had to do,鈥� Prior said.

He said that Cliffel took ownership and responsibility in several areas that helped the program excel.

Prior said that Lundgren鈥檚 dedication and engagement as a student leader and member of the OHIO community made him a prime candidate for his award. He said the NODA nomination was a way to give Lundgren鈥檚 work the higher recognition he felt it deserved.

鈥淛ake is a very active student leader and very engaged in a lot of things,鈥� Prior said. 鈥淗e stood out because he鈥檚 just a positive influence. He鈥檚 a great role model to have for other students on the team.鈥�

This summer Lundgren and Prior will lead the first fully in-person Bobcat Student Orientation since 2019, while Cliffel will take on a full-time first-year programs role with Syracuse University in New York.