Every week at KSC, students attend events or meetings on campus hosted and planned by student organizations, but they might not always be able to recognize their fellow students who put in the work to make those events possible or keep their organizations running smoothly.
Those student organization leaders finally had the opportunity to be honored for their efforts at the Office of Student Involvement’s Annual Leadership Awards ceremony on April 12.
Student leaders from a wide variety of organizations across campus, as well as some club advisors and a few particularly involved organizations as a whole, were honored at this year’s ceremony.
KSC Coordinator of Student Organizations and Leadership Keri Lewis said the Leadership Awards are a longstanding tradition that serves to recognize the hard work that student organizations and their leaders put in throughout the year.
“It’s a way to encourage those organizations that we do notice the things that they’re doing on campus and the impact it has in our community,” she said. “Some of the awards are connected to scholarships as well, which is a really great way for us to recognize our students not just through a plaque but also to say, ‘You’re incredibly valuable to our campus community and here’s scholarship dollars to help support you for ongoing leadership next year.’”
To explain the importance of students being involved in leadership roles on campus, Lewis cited a recent study from The Ohio State University that said over 60% of employers are looking for students who have been involved in extracurricular activities.
“Those soft skills, the skills you learn outside of a classroom, are incredibly valuable once you graduate,” said Lewis. “Clubs and organizations are a learning lab where you can test out some of your leadership skills.”
She also said that student organizations like the Social Activities Council (SAC) are a great place for students to meet new people and build relationships.
“It’s beyond just planning an event with a mechanical bull and a water slide,” she said. “It’s about giving students an opportunity to meet other people and socialize and build some of those relationships outside of the classroom.”
Lewis said the Leadership Awards were primarily organized by Director of Student Involvement Jess Gagne Cloutier, who sent out ballots to KSC faculty, staff and the student body to nominate students for the awards. Gagne Cloutier herself was also nominated for an award at the ceremony.
In an email statement, Gagne Cloutier shared that she sees the Leadership Awards as an important opportunity to recognize the work that student leaders do.
“What I see as someone who gets to see all of the nominations is that so much leadership happens behind the scenes without recognition. It’s a privilege to bring those stories to the stage at the Leadership Awards Banquet and to say thank you for all the work our students do to make Keene State such a vibrant community. I believe it helps our leaders feel seen and appreciated for their contributions,” stated Gagne Cloutier.
One of the student leaders who was recognized with an award during the ceremony was junior Sarah Laliberte, who is an elementary education and sociology major with a minor in women and gender studies.
She was recognized for her leadership position as the co-president of Kappa Delta Pi, which is the education honor society at KSC. Laliberte said the aim of the organization and the main responsibility of her role is to create a community for education majors to be a part of and feel comfortable in.
Laliberte said that she was surprised but honored to be receiving a Leadership Award for the work that she does.
“It feels really cool to have someone recognize the work that you’re doing,” she said. “I didn’t expect to win a Leadership Award, to be honest, but it’s really nice to see that hard work paying off and that I am making a difference in my role and I’m able to reach others in our major and within our Keene community.”
She added that it was especially exciting to be nominated and selected for the award by her fellow students rather than faculty or staff.
“I feel like it provides an opportunity in general for students to have a voice and recognize what’s going on on our own campus,” said Laliberte.
As someone who said she “really enjoys” taking on leadership roles, Laliberte said she particularly likes being able to organize events and connect with the campus community in her current position.
“Having that leadership role really allows me to reach out to others and be a part of events,” she said. “I really enjoy attending events because I enjoy learning new things and meeting new people, so being able to put those forward for other people to enjoy is really rewarding.”
On top of that, Laliberte said one of the greatest benefits of holding a leadership position for her is that it has helped her push herself out of her comfort zone.
“I’m typically someone who is more on the shy side,” said Laliberte. “I don’t go out of my way to meet new people–not because I don’t want to, but because it’s a little bit intimidating. I feel like being in a leadership role has really pushed myself to go out of my comfort zone by meeting new people and engaging in new ways. I think it’s helped me to grow as a person and be more okay with putting myself out there.”
Gagne Cloutier explained that the Leadership Award recipients were selected by a committee of five of their fellow students.
One of those students tasked with selecting award recipients was senior Evan Parker, who said the group of five students was curated by Gagne Cloutier and the tasked students had a list of between 40 and 50 nominees to sort through and select winners from.
“The purpose of the committee was to just talk it all out as a group, get different people’s opinions and perspectives and compare our thoughts and the information in the nominations to make sure that they match the award criteria,” said Parker.
Though the criteria for each award were slightly different, Parker said there was some overlap between award criteria as they all focus on “being a good leader and a good member of the community.” He also explained what the process was like for discussing each award and selecting the winners.
“[In] a lot of our conversations, we just got to talk about how cool these people are,” he said. “There were points after we picked an award winner for certain categories where we would all share little stories about the winner. That was definitely very heartwarming. It made me feel like we were making all the right choices and that these awards were going to people who care about Keene State and put good in their community.”
Parker said he thought it was “so important” to recognize students for their leadership on campus and that everyone deserves recognition for their hard work.
“I also think it says a lot about what our college prioritizes,” he added. “If they’re a school that gives money or gives recognition to leaders, it says that we value that in students. I think that’s really amazing and it tells you what [KSC] is looking for its student body to be.”
Justin Dearborn can be contacted at
