University Recreation hosted its first Honors and Awards Celebration recognizing academic and occupational successes of student employees. Students were acknowledged for their placement on the dean's and chancellor's lists, scholarships and grants received, academic college recognitions, and graduation. Post-graduation plans were also shared, which included acceptances into graduate programs and job placement. 

Patrick Seweje, a fall 2017 graduate and Jacob Boone and Lauren Zahner, spring 2018 graduates, served as keynote speakers at the event. They shared stories about their employment experience at UREC and how their supervisors and job responsibilities helped them gain confidence in themselves and prepared them for their post-graduation experiences. 

"Starting to work with UREC my freshman year was one of the best decisions that I have made in my college career," Boone said. "UREC has gotten me involved in things that I would have never done on my own." 

Zahner spoke about how her future career as a speech pathologist will be different from her role as a UREC student manager, but that the lessons she learned will carry with her.

"UREC has taught me to love what you do; that passion and pride in your work is an extremely important part of being happy in life," Zahner said. 

When Seweje transferred to the University of Arkansas, his goal was to become a physical therapist. Through his role with group fitness, Seweje learned he had an ability to motivate people and became a personal trainer. He also tried new ways of being physically active by participating in group fitness classes such as yoga and barre. 

"UREC has opened me up to a new perspective about fitness and has pushed me to actively try to improve my fitness in all aspects," Seweje said. He will be pursuing his doctorate in physical therapy at Sacred Heart University in the fall.

The average cumulative GPA of all 399 UREC employees is a 3.35. Twenty-one students were recognized as "UREC Aces," meaning they are the employees with the highest cumulative GPA. Each UREC program area identified individuals who excelled in their day to day job responsibilities, served as role models to their peers, and showed a strong work ethic.

The department's Craig Edmonston Award was also given. This award is named for a former UREC director who served the department for 30 years and is presented to the most outstanding student employee at UREC. This award is conferred upon the individual who provides the best service, dedication, and commitment to students, employees and the university community. The winner of the 2018 Craig Edmonston award was Olivia Dyer.

All award recipients are listed below.

UREC Aces: Dylan Adkins, Levi Brown, Maria Camara, Shane Canaday, Caleigh Christensen, Haley Deitz, Noah Eiden, Katie Gerth, Kayley Guy, Lauren Kirk, Kyle Lawson, Tiffany Marcantonio, Amelia McLauchlan, Bryce Mendenhall, Bailey Pearson, Annie Rolf, Thurston Sapp, Robert Scott, Grant Spicer, Alaina Tuberville, Tanner Weber

Intramural Sports Official of the Year: Tenley Getschman

Intramural & Club Sports Supervisor of the Year: Alley Capasso

Outstanding Office Assistant: Cordell Griffin

Lifeguard of the Year: Eric Dreggors

UREC Crew of the Year: Rey Garcia

Facility Assistant of the Year: Kay Tate

Fitness Center Attendant of the Year: Katelynn Downey

Service Center Attendant of the Year: Logan Kiihnl

Facility Supervisor of the Year: Johnson Dang

Student Manager of the Year: Lauren Zahner

Outstanding Student Staff for Group Fitness: Ashley Binns

Outstanding Student Staff for Personal Training: Owen Clinton

Above & Beyond in Marketing: Annie St. Pierre

UREC Outdoors Staff Pick: Meredith Reitemeier

Craig Edmonston Award Recipient: Olivia Dyer