Award-winning UDSAA
UD Student Alumni Ambassadors group is among the nation's best
1:23 p.m., April 18, 2016--Senior Jessi Gerowitz and her team always believed that the University of Delaware had one of the best student ambassador groups in the nation.
Now, they have proof.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
The 21-year-old communications major and the group she leads — UD Student Alumni Ambassadors — recently won three of the four annual student-related district awards of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the nation’s leading organization for university fundraising and philanthropy offices.
For Gerowitz, who won as Outstanding Student Leader, it’s validation of the 97-member team, whose collective efforts inspire lifelong allegiance on campus and foster alumni engagement. For the entire group, which won the Outstanding Organization award, it’s welcome affirmation of all the work they’ve done to inspire a true Blue Hen spirit that will last long after graduation.
And for Gina Donato, the UD staffer who won the Outstanding Adviser Award, it means well-deserved recognition for a group of students that frankly seem tireless, and certainly possess poise beyond their years.
“These students are amazing,” says Donato, associate director of student engagement with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. “They’re so mature. Some college students are focused on ‘me.’ But the UDSAAs understand what it means to be part of a university on a larger level. They understand that the four years you’re here are just the beginning.”
As word of the CASE Affiliated Student Advancement Programs (ASAP) awards spread earlier this semester, rejoicing ensued. “We applied for four awards and received three. That was huge,” says Julia Perez, the UDSAA vice president of outreach who nominated Gerowitz for the award. “We automatically called each other, freaking out. It was unreal. And now we’re up for a national award as well.”
The national CASE ASAP Network Awards will be announced Aug. 6 at the annual CASE Conference for Student Advancement in Atlanta.
The UDSAAs won the overall district award because of efforts that went above-and-beyond the typical activities of student ambassador groups, which often serve as student representatives at alumni events, and also work to raise an enduring sense of school allegiance among fellow students.
Over the past year, UD’s ambassadors have taken that mission to a new level, says Donato, noting that student involvement in UDSAA has soared from just 20 students four years ago.
In April 2015, the group helped put together the first I Heart UD Day, an afternoon of spirit-raising activities. At homecoming, UDSAA led the planning of the inaugural Blue Hen Spirit Day featuring the Class Cab, where students were quizzed about UD trivia while being ridden to class aboard a golf cart.
They also worked through the year to promote the popular UD Bucket List, which includes a variety of “must-do” UD-related activities — high-fiving the University president, for example. They’re even working to create a UD Bucket List mobile site.
Another addition for 2015 was the mentor/mentee program, which connects UDSAAs with members of the UD Alumni Association eager to offer career advice and mentorship.
That sense of synergy between students and alumni has been one of the most rewarding things about the UDSAA experience, says Eric Wiscount, vice president. Once those connections are made, students can rely on the network of UD alumni for a lifetime — for advice, for internships, for jobs.
“I’ve met with my mentor a few times on Main Street, and they really give us good life advice about what our goals should be and how to get there,” says Perez. Because their UDSAA participation focuses partly on skills needed for negotiating the professional world — including etiquette training and interacting in professional settings — the students emerge more ready to cope with the social and professional situations that adulthood inevitably brings.
“When I sit down at any interview, I end up talking about UDSAA,” says Gerowitz, who has landed a job at a New York City ad agency as a digital strategist. “It gave me such great networking skills. I have experience talking to professionals. Even the leadership skills I’ve gained have given me a lot of transferable skills that I’ll be able to use at my job.”
Those are exactly the kind of outcomes UDSAA is meant to achieve, Donato says. “I tell them they will get out of this what they put in,” she says. “We’re helping them build a network for the future. And our hope is they come to understand what it means to be a good alum, and share that with their peers. It goes beyond money and donations – it’s about staying engaged, coming back, hiring fellow Blue Hens.”
Most alumni with UDSAA connections do stay engaged – and the number has been on the rise each year, she says.
Or, as Wiscount puts it: “It’s that corny phrase: It’s not four years, it’s forever.”
Article by Eric Ruth
Photos by Evan Krape and Mark Campbell