Student Employment is happy to announce the Outstanding Student Employee Scholarship was again open for nominations in 2026. This $1,000 scholarship is awarded each year to an outstanding student employee over the course of the academic year ($500 per semester). To qualify, student employees have to be enrolled full time (12 credits for undergraduate students and 9 credits for graduate students) and employed at GVSU during the entire academic year (Fall AND Winter). 

Students being nominated should have shown leadership, dedication, and innovation within their on campus employment. These students are role models for their fellow student employees and continually treat those around them with kindness and respect. Both student employee and their supervisor must have completed a written submission. Nominations are closed for 2026 but will open again in the spring of 2027.

If you have any questions about this scholarship or your nomination, please reach out to the Student Employment Office at [email protected] or 616-331-3238.

HANNAH WELLER - 2026 WINNER

Throughout my time at Grand Valley State University, I have held two student employment positions. In the first few weeks of my freshman year, I began applying for part-time jobs and hoped to secure an on-campus student employment opportunity. I was hired and had my first shift as a student assistant at Kirkhof College of Nursing (KCON) in the first week of October 2024. Applying for this job and continuing to work here has been one of the best decisions I have made in my time at Grand Valley. Essentially, I have only known one month of my university experience without KCON, and this job has been a constant as I navigate such a changing time.  

In my first semester at KCON, I was one of five student employees and had amazing help getting adjusted to the new role. This was my first office job, and I gained many new skills within the first few weeks of working. About midway through the second semester, we were down to two student employees, including myself and another who was hired at the same time as me. This shift was not easy, but it forced me to step up and work harder. Fall and Winter semester tasks are not too different, but there were a few events that I had to take on for the first time without having help from an experienced student assistant. Luckily, I have an amazing supervisor, faculty, and staff around me at KCON, so I was able to work through any challenges with ease.  

As the student office assistant, my role includes answering phone calls, welcoming students and guests, working on projects, aiding with events, and more. I help with the staff within the Dean’s Suite, our Office of Student Services, the leadership team, and professors within the college. The benefit of being a general assistant is that I get to work with many people on various projects here. My goal every day is to make the workload of the wonderful faculty and staff easier by helping in any capacity. I work on small one-day projects, longer week-long projects, and an academic year-long project. I am also the first face you see when you enter the Dean’s Suite, so another goal of mine every day is to be welcoming, attentive, and helpful to guests.  

The academic year-long project I get the opportunity to be a part of is our Wellness initiative. I started by writing the monthly emails and helping with the team, but I was then asked to join the team. In my second year, I took the initiative of making our Wellness goal more interactive by having creative freedom with weekly emails and a step-tracking challenge. Some events I aid with include the Recognition Ceremony, graduation, FOC meetings, Dean Lewandowski’s luncheons, outside partner collaboration events, and other special one-time events. Helping with these events has strengthened my organizational, collaboration, and time management skills. Having a hand in these events, especially the graduation events, also teaches me to have great attention to detail because they are important and once-in-a-lifetime events for people.  

This past year, two new student employees joined our team, and I had the privilege of teaching them the role. This put me into more of a leadership position, and as it was my second year and having worked through the summer, I was more comfortable taking initiative on projects and events. My time here has been so beneficial, and I am very grateful for it. I work with the best people, have an incredible supervisor, and appreciate their patience and hard work. I enjoy working with them, but beyond that, I enjoy just talking with and learning from them. I recommend working as a student employee to everyone because of the amazing experience I have had. It comes with the benefit of being so close to classes, being a part of the working GVSU community, and people who are very understanding of your schedule and needs as a student. I am excited to finish out my remaining year and a half here and carry the skills this job has taught me in my next chapter.  

SANDRA MATTHEWS - HANNAH'S SUPERVISOR

As the supervisor of the Kirkhof College of Nursing (KCON) student employees, I have had the pleasure of working with Hannah Weller for the past two years. From the moment she joined KCON, Hannah demonstrated exceptional organizational skills, a strong work ethic, and the initiative to learn and contribute. She quickly became familiar with our leadership team, academic advisors, and more than 80 faculty members, allowing her to effectively support the daily operations of the Dean’s Suite. 

As the first point of contact for the Dean’s Suite, Hannah understands the importance of creating a welcoming and professional environment. She consistently greets donors, community partners, prospective students, Grand Valley staff, and visitors with warmth, professionalism, and a positive attitude. She also maintains a thorough understanding of the daily schedule, enabling her to provide seamless support to the Leadership Team, Administrative Professionals, and Professional Support Staff. 

Hannah’s confidence and knowledge are especially evident when assisting students navigating our Health Campus. Whether helping visitors locate advisor appointments or providing clear directions despite ongoing construction and traffic detours, she remains calm, patient, and resourceful. She is well-versed in the locations of the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Center for Interprofessional Health (DCIH), the Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences (CHS), and Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall (RFH), ensuring that students and guests feel welcomed and supported as they navigate our Medical Mile campus.

In addition to her front desk responsibilities, Hannah has become an integral member of the KCON Wellness Team, a committee dedicated to promoting health and work-life balance among faculty and staff. What began as recording weekly wellness data has evolved into an active leadership role. She now contributes ideas for the annual wellness theme, participates in committee meetings, and brings creativity and enthusiasm to wellness initiatives. 

Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of watching Hannah grow both professionally and personally. She has built strong relationships with leadership, faculty, staff, and fellow student employees through her dependability, initiative, and consistently excellent work. Hannah has become a trusted and highly respected member of the KCON community, and I am confident she will continue to excel in all of her future endeavors.

XAVIER CLARK - HONORABLE MENTION

Being an active member of my community has always been incredibly important to me. I find that I feel more fulfilled when I can see the difference I am making in a physical sense. My freshman year at Grand Valley was generally standard, as I focused on my studies, only participating in a few club activities. In addition, my pursuit of jobs was an afterthought, and I was reluctant to go out of my comfort zone to foster new relationships with faculty. Then, near the end of the winter semester in 2024, I was given an extra-credit opportunity to volunteer at the Sustainable Agriculture Project (SAP). There, I met the farm manager, Isak Davis, and an endless supply of passionate questions and wonder erupted. This volunteer opportunity shaped the GVSU employment position I am currently in today and my future career aspirations for the urban ecological design, emphasizing local food system awareness. 

Each semester that follow my first interactions with the SAP, I consciously dedicated more time toward being active within the space. This can mainly be attributed to the welcoming atmosphere and outpouring positivity that radiates throughout the farm. Tasks are done as a team, and obstacles are met with problem-solving rather than criticism. While I myself am not a very outspoken individual, I found it much easier to be confident around the individuals there. In this regard, I was able to learn everything from soil properties, proper harvesting procedures, and plant identification because I wasn't afraid to ask questions, even if I though they were ignorant.

Forwarding to the current 2026 summer, I am now the Lead Farm Crew Member and Feenstra Scholarship Recipient. Although farming is a lifelong learning experience, I have utilized my knowledge gained through volunteering, as well as previous coursework, to lead my team of four other members through the rigors that a four-acre, student-run farm brings. Having only one full-time farm manager makes it nearly impossible to help guide every other person with tasks at the same time. On multiple occasions, due to various circumstances, I have had to take the reins of daily farm operations. We host many children's educational campus and events, as well as provide weekly produce for paying shareholders and our on-campus farm stand. Not to mention, we have a dedicated intern corps that comes to work on projects and offer assistance each week. There are many moving parts, which have made time management an extremely crucial element of this job. I have had to navigate preparing activities for an incoming summer camp while harvesting produce our 25 shareholders are relying on, all at the same time as assisting interns with questions they may be having.

In the blazing summer heat, it is easy to get irritable. Farming is not a one-person job. Within my position, I have learned just how important understanding your coworkers is and ensuring you give each team member individual attention to bring their voices to the table. At the same time, as a leader, when people are counting on us, critical thinking is necessary. We do not always have the luxury of time, so as the season has progressed, I have learned that sometimes we have to use problems as a learning opportunity and take our best-educated guess to fix them. Even if mistakes end up being made, that is how we learn. In order to grow as a community and as a person, risks should be encouraged. I have made this clear to my team and have already seen so much growth in the level of confidence I see in them.

To conclude, I wanted to offer a few of my favorite parts of being a member of the SAP. Many students are not aware that we event exist, and I make it a priority to constantly promote our space. I find it so rewarding when I am talking to someone who is not in an environmental-related field and I see their eyes light up when I mention they can grow their own food in one of our community garden plots, or when I explain how we are able to grow a variety of carrots sweeter than those they can buy in the store. It's the sharing of experiences and the passed-on wisdom of the land that I find so empowering, paying respect to the practices and wisdom of Indigenous peoples and all those who have worked so tirelessly to allow us to have access to such amazing foods. I hope to continue to help expand the SAP in the future and advocate for increased funding that will allow for greater campus-wide outreach and vast education opportunities.

HARRISON GITAU - HONORABLE MENTION

In January of 2026, I took a role with Laker Food, working under Supervisor Tracy at Panda Express at the Kirkhof Center on the Allendale Campus. As an international student, I did not know what to expect. However, I decided to take the opportunity to face the fears I had about working in an American workplace.

In the first few weeks, I was placed at the service line where I directly interacted with clients. The main challenge for me was communication since I had not been exposed to different American accents and food terms. Since English is not my first language, I struggled to understand orders, especially during peak hours. Rather than letting it discourage me, I decided to improve my communication and listening skills. I started to be keen and asked questions when necessary, and by doing so, I improved a lot. Within a week, I had gained confidence and could take any order efficiently and serve our customers in a friendly manner. 

About a month into the role, the restaurant experienced a staffing shortage in the kitchen section. Seeing the need for support, I volunteered to take up a cooking role even though I had very little experience with food preparation. I learned quickly how to prepare all 15 meal items in the Panda Express menu while maintaining the expected quality and safety standards. I even got recognition from the manager for consistently getting good reviews from our customers.  

After careful observation of sales data, I picked some peculiar trends in the number of customers asking for different meals at different times. I noticed that only 3 items accounted for over 50% of all orders made, and that each one had a huge demand at specific times. To reduce the wait time for customers, I started preparing these items in advance and keeping them stocked in the warmer just before the demand surges, thus keeping the service running smoothly. To ensure freshness and quality, I had specific time guidelines that ensure food stays in the warmer not more than 25 mins.  

Having had enough experience with food preparation, I started taking on new leadership roles. I started training new students in the kitchen section. I trained them on key strategies to ensure quality, safety, and efficiency in the kitchen. This was a great opportunity for me since I got to share skills and knowledge with people who I could empathize, having been in the same position not long ago. Even more satisfying was the improvement that my training brought to the quality and efficiency in the restaurant; there were fewer customer complaints, less wastage, and more motivation from our student team.  

In addition to my daily routine, I also volunteered to represent Panda Express student employees during the larger Laker Food student committee meetings, disseminating information and mobilizing them about future events and job openings. My motivation was to uplift each member of our team to have a good experience working across the campus dining environment. 

I consider the opportunity to work at the Panda Express campus dining restaurant as one of the best experiences I have had at Grand Valley University so far. I will continue to work on campus with a focus on providing innovative perspectives, improving motivation by being kind and supportive, and offering myself to be a servant leader. 

ZOE GONDECK - HONORABLE MENTION

Over the past year, I have had the privilege of conducting research through GVSU’s Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI), where I began as an intern under Dr. Charlyn Partridge, eager to learn but unsure of what to expect. In the Partridge Lab, we used molecular techniques to study and monitor the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), a species that threatens hemlock forests across Eastern North America. Nearly all of these techniques were new to me, I learned how to perform DNA extractions from HWA samples for qPCR analysis and after a lot of time and effort, became proficient enough to complete protocols independently. I went from needing guidance on every step to confidently carrying out procedures and even assisting others when needed.

One of the most rewarding parts of my internship was being the lead student on a successful independent research project focused on using spider webs as a tool for environmental DNA monitoring. Traditionally, our lab used petroleum jelly traps to detect HWA populations, but my project explored whether naturally occurring spider webs could serve as an alternative method for collecting environmental DNA from falling adelgids during their “crawler” or dispersal stage. I presented these findings to the faculty of AWRI as well as other researchers at Student Scholars Day, where it received enthusiastic interest for the potential of future monitoring efforts.

Following an incredibly rewarding summer, I sought additional opportunities to expand my research experience. After reaching out to AWRI Director Stuart Jones, I was offered a molecular genetics project investigating sunfish hybridization through microsatellite analysis in his lab. Although fish genetics was outside my previous experience, I welcomed the challenge as an opportunity to broaden my knowledge. Over the next two semesters, I used previous lab experience as well as learned an entirely new set of laboratory techniques. Unlike my previous project, much of this work was completed independently. As a result, I developed stronger problem solving skills and learned to trust my own judgment when troubleshooting experiments.While this project made me nervous at first, by the end it demonstrated how much I had grown since my first days in the lab.

Returning to the Partridge Lab this summer felt like a full-circle moment. The uncertainty I felt as a new intern has been replaced by confidence and a desire to help others succeed. I’m grateful to Dr. Charlyn Partridge and everyone in the lab for creating a supportive environment where I could learn, grow, and have lots of fun. My time at AWRI has taught me the value of hard work, leadership, and believing in my own abilities. Through meaningful research and collaboration, I’ve gained experiences that have shaped my undergraduate journey and strengthened my commitment to a future in scientific research and environmental conservation.