A good friend of mine used to quip of his days in college, that he, "never let classes get in the way of his education."
It always got a laugh and he had the personality to pull it off. But there's a hint of truth in there as well. Not EVERYTHING of value in college happens in class.
Nowhere was that more evident than on campus this week as Ferrum College honored it's students employees of the year. Eight work study students who went above and beyond the normal hum-drum task of dutifully performing mundane work in return for money for college.
Nominees included:
James Hunter Boyte, Information Services
Corey Elizabeth Brooks, Provost Office
Andrew Michale Maxwell, Dining Services
Wesley Adam Mullins, Campus Safety
Travis Powell Smith, Athletics
Ryan Michael Snyder, Subway
Diana Rochelle Yates, ARC
Michale Travis Zitmore, Facility Services
In a brief ceremony in the Virginia Room in Franklin Hall, Human Resources Director M.A. Whisenant told the students how her goal was to teach the students how to be good employees once they graduate.
Toward that end, nominees were graded on whether they were reliable, the quality of their work, whether they were innovative and professional and the uniqueness of the contribution they brought to the job.
Last year's winner, Bob Dill, now a senior who has two job offers and has applied to medical school, told this year's nominees that he feels the award is among his greatest accomplishments at college and that, "You may get a job in the real world, but you won't keep it unless you take to heart what you learned in your job here at Ferrum."
This year's winner is Wesley Mullins, who worked in campus safety. Police Chief Libby Legg extolled Mullin's contributions to campus safety when he volunteered to answer phones during a campus crisis last fall, among many initiatives he undertook during the year. "Heroes rise out of tragedy,"said Legg, "and he became a hero that night."
Like I said -- Not all the lessons are in the classroom.
