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. We would now like to recognize all of the student employees nominated followed by an excerpt from each student’s nomination letter:

Alexis Dantin

Residential Living
Nominated by: Emily Garrett

One of Alexis’ greatest attributes is her abundant patience. Alexis de-escalates situations that arise with parents and students alike. Her willingness to help others is astounding and is always a breath of fresh air. Alexis has strong leadership skills. She picked up the Residential Living policies and procedures quickly. She is able to run the front office smoothly and efficiently, sometimes alone if needed and has an outstanding rapport with students. Alexis’ approachability makes it easy to talk to her about challenges that they may be experiencing. Alexis has the ability to make anyone feel comfortable.

Alexis Gordon

Student Employment Office
Nominated by: Jashinna Henderson

Alexis is very knowledgeable and professional when helping students at the window and when she answers the phones.  The employees in other departments always rave about how pleasant and professional she is.

Ana Martinez

Office of Financial Aid/Scholarships
Nominated by: Lakeisha Johnson and Brandy St. Pierre

Ana is the perfect example of a student worker. In the almost 3 years she was here, she showed a tremendous work ethic with great empathy and compassion. Ana is extremely reliable, honest, and trustworthy; all attributes that are essential for a successful career. Ana demonstrates incredible initiative and ingenuity when assigned a task; she understands why she does it and truly cares about the results. Ana has a great personality and works extremely well with others. She is a complete joy to have in the office and her personality shows when she is assisting parents and students with their 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.

Anne Marie James

College of Education & Behavioral Sciences – Dean’s Office
Nominated by: Lauren Guidry

Anne is mature beyond her years and has a drive not often seen in college students. She sets a goal and achieves it through hard work and persistence. Her hard work is displayed through her academic accomplishments and long-term goals. She often serves as a sounding board for students when they are searching for advice or guidance. She has a calm, welcoming presence in the dean’s office for students, faculty, and visitors. Anne is described by other department staff as having a “good energy” and bringing happiness to the office.

Ashish Pandey

Tutorial and Academic Enhancement Center
Nominated by: Denise Collins and Louise Robichaux

Ashish stands out in both character and intelligence.  He displays maturity, motivation, and seriousness of purpose which we have rarely encountered in our combined forty-plus years of interaction with peer tutors. From the start of his employment, he learned the daily routine of the office and has always been willing to assist with any task. He has rarely been absent and possesses a work ethic rarely found in student employees. His friendly, calm demeanor is seen every day as he works with his students.  We have heard both his students and fellow tutors comment on his positive, upbeat attitude.

Braxton Bishop

Ellender Memorial Library
Nominated by: Rob Stephens

Braxton’s greatest attributes are his patience with patrons, his superb reliability and knowledge of the Access Services Desk, and his calm and welcoming demeanor. Working the Access Services Desk calls for a student who can solve problems quickly and do so while maintaining a professional and calm demeanor, and Braxton excels at serving his peers in this role. Braxton is an incredible example to the other student workers of what good work looks like. Since hiring Braxton, we now have a team of devoted student workers who all take the job seriously while also being friendly and fun, and I think a lot of that is due to Braxton’s example of good work.

Caroline Bernard

Athletics Department
Nominated by: Stefanie Slekis

Caroline plays a vital role in Nicholls Athletics. She is the behind the scenes person that keeps our department moving at a high level and creates a huge impact on our student-athletes’ experience at Nicholls and the general student body when it comes to game day. I am continually amazed by her positivity and the time she commits to our department. She is essential to game day operations, makes our marketing team better, and leads by example for other student workers. The fact that the Southland Conference recognizes how special she is speaks to what we see every day in Barker Hall.

Ethan Henry

Office of Admissions
Nominated by: Amy Delatte

Ethan is such a positive person both professionally and personally.  Ethan has worked in the Office of Admissions for the past four years, and I have never heard him complain about anything.  He is such a great asset not only to our office but our entire campus. The first thing Ethan says when he walks in is, “how is your day going and do you need me to do anything?”  Ethan has that initiative and work ethic that stands out, compared to other student workers.  He is humble, and a true leader.

Haley Thomas

Office of Development
Nominated by: Mary (Mitzi) Z Jackson

Haley’s greatest attribute is her easy-going, pleasant personality.  When asked to perform a task, no job is too little or too big for Haley.  She pleasantly states, “Yes ma’am, I’ll start that right now.”  Haley is punctual, polite, respectful, and bright.  These character traits help to improve the overall environment of our office.  She works well with everyone.  She performs her duties in an organized and efficient manner.

Jade Cunningham

Makerspace
Nominated by: Jeremiah Johnson

Jade brought to the HUB an interest in learning all the processes, education, leadership, and a personable, cooperative attitude in the studio. She is a self-motivated individual who also proves to be articulate, even tempered and committed to listening and understanding others. Her energy and commitment are an inspiration to us all, and I always look forward to what she’s doing next. Jade has recently attracted new students that keep coming back to the makerspace daily to use the space for a variety of purposes beyond their major. She helps to build family within our makerspace community and her enthusiasm helps to encourage all of the Nicholls Community to be a part of this new space.

Jordan Gallegos

Office of Financial Aid
Nominated by: April Adams

Jordan is an extremely hard worker. This attribute contributes to the position in so many ways. In just the short time she has been with us, she has been able to handle most situations on her own with little to no help. She is willing to stay after hours if needed. She will make sure everything is taken care of before leaving for the day. Jordan will not hesitate to ask questions. If a student needs to know something she will find out the answer. She wants to take every opportunity and learn from it. Jordan is a great example of what we look for in a student worker.

Katie Falgoust

Office of Financial Aid/Scholarships
Nominated by: Maija L Turner, Anna-Marie Benoit, Britanny Plaisance, April Adams, Lakeisha Johnson and Brandy St. Pierre

Katie is an exemplary example of a student employee. She is dedicated, organized, faithful and a huge help in our office. She is eager, energetic and definitely an asset to our department. She knows what needs to be done before it is asked of her and she is willing and eager to work. There is never a dull moment, whether she is telling funny stories or helping out students at the window, you can guarantee she is doing it with pride and a smile. Good student employees are hard to find, and she continues to amaze us everyday with her loyalty. She has shown a tremendous work ethic that will assist her greatly in her future career.

Kennedi Johnson

Student Access Center
Nominated by: Kaci Bergeron

Kennedi is a wonderful advocate for our department and is always expressing concerns if there are areas that we are lacking in terms of assisting our students. She offers ideas to improve efficiency of the department and is more than willing to assist in any way that she can to implement them. She has an incredibly positive and calming presence for our students when they arrive for testing. She has definitely had an amazing impact on both the students we serve and the staff here within the office.

Kristen Roten

Office of Financial Aid
Nominated by: April Adams

Kristen works very well with others. She has a great attitude and always has a smile on her face. This attribute contributes to the position in so many ways. Her positive attitude and smile make parents and students feel welcome and that they are a priority. Kristen has taken so much initiative in just a short time. She does things without having to be asked. In just a few months, she has gained our trust to work independently. She is very dependable and it is appreciated. Kristen shows confidence when speaking and does not shy away from conversations.

Marie Gonzalez

Maintenance Department
Nominated by: Kristy Terrio

Marie has excellent leadership skills among many other things. She is always available if I need her. She is always ready to assist others in other departments if they need it and always goes above and beyond.  Marie’s professionalism, maturity and dependability are beyond her years. She is an asset to the maintenance department no doubt. Marie’s personality and smile that she brings to the office is contagious for everyone who enters. Everyone loves Marie. We all are proud of her BUT will miss her when she graduates this coming May.

Melba Parnell

Chemistry and Physical Sciences
Nominated by: Uttam Pokharel

The best quality I have observed in Melba is her communicating skills. She is also self-disciplined, motivated, and has an outgoing personality. She is the recipient of the state funded SURE grant. Her efforts in research and creative work have brought positive impacts in the department. Her research will be presented in different scientific meetings. Such presentations make positive impacts in the evaluation of the department.  Her fellow juniors can follow her foot-steps so that more and more chemistry majors will be attracted to research in chemistry.

Mollie Ordoyne

Little Colonels Academy
Nominated by: Katie Lasserre

Mollie is hard-working and reliable. She is always on time for her shifts and has a great attitude.  She is such a joy to have on our staff. She is cool, calm, and collected.  Mollie not only cares for the children, she is always smiling and giving her all. She never complains, is always so positive, and the parents love her! Mollie is such a good worker that several staff members have asked for her to work in their classrooms.

Rebecca Kluck

Athletics- Equipment Room
Nominated by: Andrew Adams

Rebecca continuously goes above and beyond and takes the extra step to ensure our Football team and Equipment Staff run as smoothly and as efficiently as possible. She is always looking for ways to keep herself busy and does not wait for someone to tell her what to do. She has a great feel and sense of what and when something needs to be done. Rebecca is very good at creating friendships with all players, coaches, and staff. She is very well liked, appreciated, and respected by everyone who knows her.

Sadie Middlebrooks

Office of Financial Aid/Scholarships
Nominated by: Anna-Marie Benoit, April Adams, Britanny Plaisance, Lakeisha Johnson and Brandy St. Pierre

Sadie is very reliable, considerate, and responsible. Sadie is the one student worker everyone wants because of her determination and dedication to campus. Sadie is very hard working, has a charming personality and is hard not to like. She has made it a priority to ask staff questions in order to learn as much as she possibly can to better assist students and their families navigate the financial aid process. Her honesty and trustworthiness are all attributes that are essential for a successful career and effective employee.She has been a vital part of our office for the past few years and our office will miss her presence immensely once she graduates this Spring.

Samantha Bach

University Police & University Parking
Nominated by: Lt. Laverne Glenn

Samantha’s greatest attributes are reliability, teamwork, and adaptability. She is always willing to stay after Parking Services has closed to finish her tasks for the day. She is able to do her task at hand without me telling her what needs to be done.    Samantha is willing to work on weekends for functions for our department if necessary. She not only assists in Parking but in University Police as well. She is always willing to go that extra mile even without me asking.

Tammy Johnson

Department of Biological Sciences
Nominated by: Katherine Galloway

Tammy consistently makes sure that the biology office is locked at the end of the day and is always willing to help faculty with whatever they need. She always resolves issues with a smile on her face. Tammy helps the biology department so much! All of the faculty know her and we are all so happy that she is staying for a masters at Nicholls!

Zackary Pitre

Office of Financial Aid
Nominated by: April Adams

Zackary is a very friendly and kind person. He has an amazing heart that cares for all people. Zackary will always do what is asked of him without complaint. He is willing to stay after hours if needed. He is always willing to find out the answer to a question. He has assisted students and parents beyond their financial aid questions without hesitation. Zackary is always willing to learn new things and continues to keep his grades up while being active in campus organizations.