Bryn Landis ’25, a PreK-4 Early Education major at Arcadia, was named February’s Advancing Students As Professionals (ASAP) Student Employee of the Month, the first winner of this new award. Landis works in the School of Education office, helping faculty with scanning and printing jobs, organizational tasks, maintaining classrooms, and helping plan and run events for the School of Education, among other tasks as requested by faculty members.

“I was honored to win, especially being the first to win this award,” she said. “It made me feel like I was making a positive impact on the people I work with.” As an Education major, Landis often works with many of the professors whose classes she takes, furthering those relationships. “I have made strong connections within the department that have helped me throughout my time at Arcadia,” she added. “I am also learning many leadership, organization, technology, and other important office skills that I can use in my future workplaces.”

The ASAP Student Employee of the Month award comes as a part of the significant improvements made to Arcadia’s Student Employment Program in the last three years. Through the enhancements to the program, the Office of Career Education collaborated with the rest of the University to infuse ASAP with meaningful, skill development-focused, resume-building positions.

This monthly award was created to spotlight the hard work student workers are accomplishing in their respective positions, not only for developing their skills and furthering their goals as workers but also to celebrate the individual for who they are. 

“While the Arcadia community benefits from all of their hard work, we wanted to pull back the curtain and celebrate the people who make it all happen, especially because they are such huge contributors to what makes Arcadia, well, Arcadia!” said Jennifer McCaffrey, associate director of Student Employment.

The Office of Career Education wanted to make sure that any student employee has an opportunity to win this award. Due to this, any staff or faculty member can nominate their student workers by using the ASAP Student Employee of the Month Nomination Form accessible within the ASAP Canvas Resource Page for Staff/Faculty. In this form, faculty and staff can provide details about the student they are nominating and why they deserve to be recognized with this award. From there, the Student Employment team reviews all submissions monthly and votes on who will be awarded Student Employee of the Month.

“In true Arcadia fashion, our students have knocked it out of the park creating this space where we have the privilege to highlight the amazing work and our talented working Knights,” said BreAnna Gallegos, assistant director of Student Employment. “We wanted a way to celebrate how wonderful these students are and highlight them in a way that can be seen beyond their respective departments so all Arcadia partners can celebrate with us!”

Recipients of this award are included in the Office of Career Education’s monthly newsletter, celebrated on digital signage across campus all month, and receive a certificate from ASAP.

Gallegos and McCaffrey, along with the rest of the Student Employment team, hope that this new initiative will help student workers feel more appreciated by their peers, as well as provide an example for the community of the ways that student employees elevate Arcadia.

“Everyone deserves to feel appreciated,” Gallegos and McCaffrey added, “and our student employees are some of the most deserving of appreciation, not only from their direct supervisors but from the campus as a whole.”