Congratulations to the 2020 SOTY Award Recipients
The PennACE Joanne Day Student of the Year (SOTY) committee is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2019-20 awards:
Liberal Arts: Kaitleen Brady, Communication Studies, Public Relations and Marketing, Major California University of PA, for her work with the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation as a community relations intern.
“Kate showed leadership, creativity and great initiative in making sure that this project came to life. Last season, this was one of the Foundation’s most successful in-game activations and social media campaigns. Her group’s project “Her Hockey Night,” is something that many teams in the NHL are looking to replicate and has become an annual promotion by the Foundation. Kate never backed down from that challenge and did everything she could to make sure those challenges were met and exceeded.” – Abby Braddock, Manager, Foundation Programs, Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation
Business: Taylor Mahan, Accounting Major, Clarion University, for her work with Pitt Ohio as an accounting intern.
“It should be noted that we've hired interns in our department for the past eight years and this was the first time we had one work independently on a monthly closing cycle. Taylor rose to the challenge and handled this work efficiently and effectively, finishing many items accurately while only having been shown them once, and asking thoughtful questions when necessary. It was a testament to her ability to apply classroom concepts to a real world environment and her maturity that she was able to handle this level of work as an intern. “The credit card analysis that Taylor completed for the Finance department helped us gain a deeper understanding of spending that could help shape future policies.” - Don Riddle, Assistant Controller, Pitt Ohio Express
STEM: Vanessa Maybruck, Applied Mathematics, Secondary Education: Mathematics, Biochemistry Minor, Kutztown University of PA, for her work with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (through the U.S. Department of Energy) as a Science Undergraduate Laboratory Intern (SULI).
“Vanessa really took ownership and initiative for this project. Vanessa showed off her persistence, aptitude, and excitement for learning new things, and she managed to learn all of the skills needed to make a valuable contribution to our project. She had the internal drive to keep pushing forward with this project, and she ultimately developed four different models to describe the coupled dynamics in our system. These include theoretical and numerical models for both the equilibrium and non-equilibrium cases that we were investigating. Her research culminated in a thorough final report which we were able to use to prepare a journal publication partly based on her results, and we could potentially end up writing a second publication that utilizes these results.” – Jesse Ault, Alvin M. Weinberg Distinguished Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Each recipient will be presented with a recognition plaque and a $500 check at an event organized by their respective career center. Additional photos and more detailed articles about each student will appear in future editions of The Messenger and on our website.
JoAnne Day, longtime colleague and friend to many involved in Cooperative Education, Academic Internships and Career Services, died in March 2005 after a two year battle with cancer. She was the first President of PennACE in 2002 and an active career services professional. Read more about Joanne Day here.
A special thanks to the 2019-20 PennACE SOTY committee members:
Heather Balas, Mercyhurst University
Diana Brush, Clarion University
Josh Domitrovich, Clarion University
Krissie Doppelheuer, California University
Kristen Fike, Central Penn College
Patty Gochenauer, Penn State Mont Alto
Emma Kovaks, Mercyhurst University
Anne Landon, Lycoming College
Tammy Stuber, Juniata College
Kolleen Sullivan, Mercyhurst University