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12 students recognized as Nancy Welch Award celebrates 25th anniversary
By DONNA BUDNIEWSKI
Reporter Assistant Editor
As residential coordinator for Rachel Carson College during the early 1970s, Nancy Welch was determined to "humanize and harmonize" what many considered to be a bleak environment—the newly constructed Ellicott Complex.
Sarah Regdos of Spaulding Hall runs for yardage during a powder-puff football game that earned Alicia Beardsley a third-place Nancy Welch Award.
Through close coordination with students and faculty, Welch was able to establish a rich and warm community of residential students.
Although Welch passed away at an early age, administrators of The Colleges memorialized her work by establishing an award for students whose efforts yielded significant contributions to the university community through the development of creative programs and projects, and through their volunteerism.
This year, the 25th anniversary of the Nancy Welch Award, 12 residential students have received awards in recognition of their work in furthering Welch's goals.
Only undergraduate students currently residing on campus are eligible to apply or be nominated for the Nancy Welch Award. Cash awards and plaques are presented to the winners at the annual Nancy Welch Award Ceremony. Nominees are evaluated on the quality of their projects and the degree and quality of participation by others, as well as the quality of the overall learning experience gained by the nominee.
Most of the projects nominated for the award this year focused on reaching out to residents in order to break down barriers to friendships—such as having residence halls scattered across two campuses—while getting students involved in fun activities that would promote a stronger sense of community and allow them to find common interests.
With that goal in mind, third-place winner Alicia Beardsley sought to build community in Spaulding Quad by creating powder-puff football teams for female players. But she never expected the idea to be such a success. UB football players even got in on the action, coaching a couple of practices and refereeing the teams on game day.
"I thought that it would be a lot of fun for my residents to get to know one another better and see each other in a different situation that we're used to, said Beardsley. "The more I developed the idea, the more I realized that this also was promoting a healthy way of life and it put people in roles that are not normally attributed to them.
"With the UB football players there, my residents and the other team got a unique look at truly dedicated UB students/athletes who have made the best out of their college experience. I know that their presence at the game had an impact on my hall because the residents went and supported the Bulls at every home game after that," she added. "It was the little things that each person took away from the experience that mattered."
First-place winners Cassie Johnson of Clement Hall and Ritu Sainani of Goodyear Hall were honored for their African-American heritage-awareness program titled "Step with Soul: UB Step Troupe Performance and Soul Food Dinner." They shared the first-place award with Ayman Ezzat of Macdonald Hall, whose "Darien Lake Six Flags" program allowed 417 international and American students to become better acquainted with each other by spending the day at the popular amusement park.
The second-place award went to the Governors Hall Council and Goodyear residents Rickey Brown and Patricia Stewart. The Governors council—Gregory Brown, Zachary Schrader, Michael Deeb, Katherine Young, Nirmit Kumar and Brian Danielak—was recognized for its "Haunted Hallway," a party that offered an alternative to alcohol parties on Halloween night. The festivities attracted more than 250 residents.
Brown and Stewart were honored for their "Campus Dining Survey." The students collected more than 250 surveys regarding students' evaluation of the food-service environment at UB. The data collected was used to lobby for improved services and resulted in a positive and productive meeting with the director and staff of the Faculty Student Association, which provides food service on campus.
"I learned that the only way to get something done is to try and do it on your own instead of complaining. All last year, all I did was complain; now I am taking action," said Brown.
"When we contacted Mitchell Green (executive director of FSA) about coming to speak at our program, he invited us to discuss how dining services could be improved. He found the survey to be a beneficial tool, which encouraged us to reach out to the entire campus," said Stewart.