The winners of OCU’s 2020 Campus Leadership Awards have been announced.
The Campus Leadership Awards honor students, faculty members and student organizations for outstanding campus leadership and involvement.
This year’s winners were announced exclusively online due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Students and campus organizations applied for the awards through submitted recommendation letters, which were then reviewed and evaluated by a judging panel.
Levi Harrel, dean of students, said there were more nominations and winners this year than ever before.
“This is the fifth year that the Campus Leadership Awards has been held, and every year we receive more and more applications from our student body,” Harrel said. “It goes to show how many of our students are getting out there and applying themselves.”
Harrel said this is the first time the awards have been announced virtually.
“Rather than having our usual on-campus ceremony that includes a dinner and is overall more traditional, we utilized both Instagram and Facebook,” Harrel said.
Taylor Downey, youth ministry junior, received the Outstanding Junior award.
“I really enjoy that our school gives out awards like this,” Downey said. “It’s recognizing the university’s students and organizations who have worked really hard to make our campus a better place.”
Downey said she was previously too nervous to apply for the awards.
“I just never really felt like I could do it, but I spoke to Levi and he said, ‘You know, you can’t win if you don’t apply,’” Downey said. “That gave me a push to do it. So, if you’re feeling nervous about applying, that’s what I would say. Just remember that. We all have outstanding qualities and characteristics.”
Downey said she is grateful the winners were announced online, despite the ceremony’s cancellation.
“This pandemic has shown just how strong our campus community is,” Downey. “All of the winners are so deserving, and I’m so happy everyone was able to be recognized.”
Meredith Crain, music theater/vocal performance sophomore, received the Outstanding Sophomore award.
“I think awards like these bring to light a lot of people who do more than you may realize,” Crain said. “I’m very active in my sorority and involved with a lot on campus, and while I’m not looking for recognition in any way, receiving it meant a lot to me. It was very special.”
Crain said the online announcement came as a surprise.
“In real life, the winners are invited to the ceremony, so I just found out when everyone else did,” Crain said. “I was just standing in my closet looking for what I was going to wear that day, and I got a notification that I had been tagged in a post announcing that I had won,” Crain said.
Crain said friends and family showed their support online.
“People from all different areas of my life shared a lot of love,” Crain said. “It’s a different type of love because it’s not in person, but it doesn’t feel any less valuable. People went out of their way to tell me ‘congratulations,’ and it was really sweet.”
Harrel said this year’s Campus Leadership Awards highlights why the awards are so important.
“These awards recognize the triumph of the efforts and endeavors of our students, and helps not only to raise campus morale, but provides examples of ways we can all live and grow as a campus community.”
Harrel said he is proud of this year’s winners.
“I am so proud of the students and organizations that were recognized,” Harrel said. “They truly went above and beyond, and it speaks so highly of how much is being done for our study body and campus.” A full list of winners can be found in a post on the OCU Student Affairs Facebook page and at @ocustudentaffairs on Instagram.
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