Student employees play a significant role in the day-to-day operations of the university. Providing part-time job opportunities to students helps them finance their college education, gain educational benefits, and allows them to explore career options, discover strengths, develop relationships, make decisions, and learn responsibility. We hope to continue to grow quality workers and citizens for the region.

17 of our outstanding student employees were nominated this year. Nicholls State University would now like to recognize all of the student employees nominated followed by an excerpt from each student’s nomination letter:

Andrew Liang

Nominator: Kristen T Anselmi
Department: Marketing and Communications

The biggest thing that stands out is the impact on recruiting at Nicholls that Andrew’s work has had. I think in many instances it has convinced countless future colonels to begin their journey at Nicholls through the visual stories told in his pieces. In addition to his past projects we are currently working on future projects for the relaunch of the Nicholls youtube channel. I believe that Andrew has paved the way for future content creators at Nicholls. He represents all of the nontraditional thinkers and true artists at Nicholls. His talent is as big as his personality and we have been blessed to have this Colonel with us in our department.

Anna Marie Daigle

Nominators: Brandy St. Pierre, April Adams, Lakeisha Johnson
Department: Financial Aid/Scholarships

Anna Marie takes pride in her job and will go that extra mile to complete whatever assignment she is given. She is dependable and will work the hours that best fit our department. For the past 4 years, she has proven herself as an exemplary student employee. Anna Marie helps with training and assisting new student workers in the department. Throughout her experience in the Office of Financial Aid, Anna Marie has assisted, empowered, advised, and mentored thousands of incoming students and parents regarding the financial aid process. Within this time, I’ve had the privilege of watching her progress into an exceptional student employee and an ambassador for Nicholls State University.

Annie Landry

Nominator: Angel Santiago
Department: Athletics

Annie is always very helpful and is very professional as a student employee. She is the last person to leave the field when everyone goes home. She has been very loyal even though she is going through intense studies in the pre-counseling program. Annie simply is always behind the scenes helping wherever she can. She has given the coaches and student athletes much confidence that things can be handled without constant oversight.

Christopher Oubre

Nominator: Ramaraj Boopathy
Department: Biological Sciences

Mr. Oubre is a creative and very enthusiastic researcher. He is very good at solving complex problems. He is a very intense and hard-working individual who is very concerned with understanding the fundamentals of the on-going research. He shows a determination to organize problems encountered in the laboratory and to work towards a complete solution. He has a naturally inquisitive nature and is not afraid to pursue activities that are outside his academic background and interests. Overall, I would say he is intelligent, creative, independent, reliable, hard working and needs very little supervision for research projects.

Dedra Stewart

Nominator: Heidi Dupre
Department: Student Access Center

Dedra is an efficient worker. She completes tasks with precision, speed, and accuracy.She has a can-do attitude. She completes tasks without hesitation and provides feedback regarding the efficiency of procedures and policies. She recently came with a recommendation on the collection and distribution of tests in the center. Her insight helped to make changes that are allowing better service to our students.

Devan Gallegos

Nominators: Brandy St. Pierre, April Adams, Lakeisha Johnson, Jashinna Henderson
Department: Financial Aid/Scholarships

Devan is very intelligent and an extremely hard worker. In the 2 years she has been here, she’s shown a tremendous work ethic that will assist her greatly in her future career. She goes above and beyond what a normal student worker is required to do, and she does any extra job duty needed with little to no assistance from staff members. Devan has a great work ethic. She is actively involved on campus and in her sorority. She is very knowledgeable about our whole office and assists when ever and where ever she can. She works very hard, and just wants to help others on and off campus. She is hardworking and dedicated to our office, truly a breath of fresh air and a fantastic student worker!

Dominique Smith

Nominator: Heidi Dupre
Department: Student Access Center

Dominique is efficient, responsible, reliable, cooperative, and kind. Numerous changes have occurred in the center in the last few months. Dominique has welcomed the changes and provided valuable feedback on policies and procedures. Her greatest attribute is the kindness and care shown to the students the center serves. She treats every student with the utmost respect and care. She is a joy to work with. The students are very comfortable when testing. I believe she eases their anxieties with her positive attitude and kind demeanor.

Garrett Frazier

Nominator: Katie Lasserre
Department: Little Colonels Academy

Garrett goes above and beyond his job duties. He is willing to come in on his time off to assist in any way. He is always cordial and willing to engage with the children he works with. He is bubbly and polite, as well as kind and considerate. Garrett comes in with a smile every day. He is hard-working and honest. Garrett works so well with the children and the staff of Little Colonels Academy. He is an asset in every single way. Garrett is a breath of fresh air! He has bonded with our children and staff and given our children, especially our little boys a role model to look up to, teaching them that childcare can be a profession for anyone who truly loves and cares about children.

James Murphy

Nominator: Dr. Mary Breaud and Ms. Tara Martin
Department: Bridge to Independence

James is a great tutor and support for the Bridge degree program students. He is very responsible and reliable in his job duties. James relates well to the Bridge degree students and helps them by tutoring them in various subjects and building positive relationships which helps the students to feel confident in their ability to complete assignments and have positive experiences in social settings which can be a challenge for individuals with Autism. James said, “I love watching the Bridge students grow in confidence and forming bonds with them in and out of the Bridge setting.” James always has a positive attitude and a smile. He handles all situations with talking in a calm manner and professionalism. His ability to tutor Bridge students in high level math and other specialized areas and bring grounding to those students needing confidence or motivation is a characteristic he possesses.

Kamryn Vicknair

Nominator: Alex Coad
Department: Residential Living

Kamryn is one of those student employees that everyone hopes to have on their team to lead and execute with great success. Kamryn knows her job responsibilities, but doesn’t see them as a requirement, she sees them as a benchmark that she uses to vault herself above and beyond. She has always been swift to assist when she sees that someone may need help. Beyond this, she is well-spoken and knows how to work with disgruntled or confused parents and students who call or come to the office. She uses excellent customer service skills to diffuse the situation and make the individual feel heard and helped. Kamryn is greatly respected and leads her team with such poise and determination. We could not ask for a better representative for our office.

Kate Chaisson

Nominator: Andrew Simoncelli
Department: Distance Education

Even though she is an Occupational Therapist major, she has the work quality of a marketing or public relations student. Kate will help with making social media posts during weekends and holidays for the office even when the school is closed. She is able to do web editing and other duties that aren’t normally in the job description. She creates professional looking posts and ads for us and constantly looks at the data of our posts and social media accounts. Kate has handled her role in a spectacular way!

Kelsey Gros

Nominator: Cambria Bouzigard
Department: Academic Services Center

Kelsey has such a kind spirit about her. She makes it easy for the students to reach out to her for help. She is patient and kind and really takes her time to help the students in UNIV 100 even if she has to spend a whole class period working with just one student. She is also a super hard worker. She goes above and beyond in this position in any way she can. Kelsey is our dream mentor. I know she will be a great teacher in the future and her students will be really lucky to have her as a teacher. She is a great example of a star student so having her as a role model to our UNIV 100 students is a great thing.

Laila Andras

Nominator: Controller’s Office Staff
Department: Controller’s Office

When Laila arrives in the office, she quickly begins her tasks. She independently determines where she is needed. You will never find Laila sitting idle or wasting time. Because of her desire to learn, she has efficiently adapted to working in the various areas of the Controller’s Office and has become proficient in all tasks. Each task that Laila performs is done carefully and precisely. She understands the importance of accuracy, urgency, and confidentiality due to the type of the business that is conducted within the Controller’s Office. Because of her work ethic and wanting to do an efficient job, she can be entrusted with performing important tasks, while we the staff, are confident the job will be completed timely and accurately.

Rynae Bazile

Nominator: Elizabeth Layton
Department: Library

Rynae has been a great student employee since the beginning. She always asks questions to make sure that things are done correctly and to make sure that people get the correct information. She is consistently calm and courteous to everyone. She always has been a self-starter and follows the rules. She’s diligent, calm, and professional in ways beyond her years. She is an advocate for the library and library resources even when she is off the clock and encourages others to utilize these resources that are provided to the students. She is an exemplary representation of what a Nicholls student is both on campus but also as a citizen.

Sadie Middlebrooks

Nominators: Brandy St. Pierre, April Adams, Lakeisha Johnson
Department: Financial Aid/Scholarships

Sadie is the perfect example of a student worker. Sadie takes pride in her job and will go that extra mile to complete whatever assignment she is given. She is very knowledgeable about our whole office and assists in training our new student workers. Her reliability, honesty, and trustworthiness are all attributes that are essential for a successful career and effective employee. She is very pleasant to work with and is a great example of professionalism when dealing with the office staff, students and parents.

Saurav Shrestha

Nominator: Louise Robichaux
Department: Tutorial and Academic Enhancement Center

Saurav meets and greets all of his students with a gentle caring smile. His welcoming, respectful demeanor is one he was blessed with. His welcoming attitude helps his students to feel at ease when seeking tutoring help, which is sometimes hard to do for some students. Saurav will do just about anything we ask him to do! He has tutored many students in 25 different subjects, including volunteering to conduct large group sessions for math. He also will tutor new subjects he may be unfamiliar with and takes the initiative to learn the material to better assist his students. He is intelligent, organized, and punctual just to name a few of his exceptional qualities.

Triston Monte

Nominator: Dr. Mary Breaud
Department: Bridge to Independence

Triston is in his 3rd year working for the Certificate track of the Bridge program. He is one of the most genuine student workers we have ever employed. His interactions with our students are wonderful and he always has their best interest at heart. Triston has worked with the special needs population for several years and this is truly his calling. We love having Triston on our staff shaping and changing the lives of our certificate students. He deserves to be recognized for the excellence he has displayed above and beyond his job duties for the past 3 years and currently in Bridge to Independence.