And the 2021 Student of the Year recipients are...

The PennACE Joanne Day Student of the Year (SOTY) selection committee is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 awards:

Liberal Arts Category Recipient - Claire Alfree

Juniata College, Multimedia Journalism News Journalist Intern, Hearst Television News Bureau in Washington D.C.

“Claire walked into our newsroom in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic and quickly became an integral part of our newsroom and daily coverage. Her responsibilities ranged from producing multiple live shots from various locations, assisting reporters with interviews, as well as logging feeds, managing video needs and booking satellite time for stations. Claire quickly won over her co-workers and her colleagues at the Hearst stations with her hard work, diligence, and professional demeanor. Her work ethic and enthusiasm, along with her willingness to work long hours and ability to accommodate requests to her schedule has made her a valuable team player here at Hearst Television.” – Wendy Wilk, Bureau Chief, Hearst Television

Business Category Recipient – Gwenyth Yetter

The Pennsylvania State University, Biology and Psychology Benefits and Wellbeing Intern, Merck in Upper Gwynedd, Pennsylvania

“Gwen diligently worked to develop a communications and marketing strategy for the global launch of the campaigns on our internal website in collaboration with our global benefits and wellbeing teams. She has done a remarkable job collaborating with partners in various international markets to ensure the content delivered resonates with multicultural employee systems, as we recognize that every region perceives mental health differently. She facilitated over twenty 1:1 calls with employees globally to identify areas of improvement within our company’s current structure and work to address the everchanging needs of our employee population, all with the goal of positively impacting the mental health of employees and destigmatizing mental health worldwide. Not only has she exceeded the goals we put in place for her, but her strong work ethic drove her to create and implement two new initiatives within our company.”

– Diana Gulick, Associate Director, Merck

STEM Category Recipient – Alexa Littman

Gannon University, Mechanical and Biological Engineering Process Engineering Intern, Tesla Gigafactory in Buffalo New York

Alexa demonstrated that she has excellent career readiness skills including setting and meeting goals, teamwork, written and oral communication, and project presentation. She was responsible for developing solutions to make processes faster and more efficient (thereby increasing output yield). Her project positively impacted the factory on various assembly lines resulting in substantial cost savings. - Summary of Support Statements

Each recipient received a $250.00 cash award and was presented with a recognition certificate by their respective career center. Additional photos and more detailed articles about each student will appear in the June issue of The Messenger and during a presentation at the PennACE annual conference in May.

A special thanks to the 2021 PennACE SOTY committee members:

Diana Brush, Clarion University Heather Balas, Mercyhurst University Meaghan Clister, California University of Pennsylvania Joshua Domitrovich, Clarion University Kristin Fike, Central Penn College Patty Gochenauer, Penn State Mont Alto Emma Kovacs, Gannon University Anne Landon, Lycoming College Laura Riazzi, Gannon University Tammy Stuber Juniata College Kimberly Woodley, Saint Vincent College

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.