The University of Denver’s 2,500+ student employees form the backbone of the University, gaining important professional development experience while supporting the entire community. In recognition of their outstanding contributions and achievements, the University coordinates an annual selection process to choose our undergraduate and graduate Student Employees of the Year, as well as our Supervisor of the Year!
In an indication of just how important the student employment relationship can be, we had 115 incredibly strong nominations this year! These nominations showed just how much our student employees and supervisors have shown up for one another across a string of incredibly difficult years, displaying incredible teamwork skills as they navigated not only the ongoing crisis of a global pandemic, but also issues of societal injustice, leadership turnover, and personal challenges.
The Student Employment team invites all student employees, supervisors and supporters (including family and friends) to celebrate with us as we honor our Student Employees of the Year, Cap Kelly and Andres Pulido, and our Supervisor of the Year, Jordan Hernandez, and recognize all of this year’s nominees!
Check out nominee spotlights on our Instagram throughout National Student Employment Week, April 10 – 14!
Cap Kelly is a graduating senior who will receive his BSBA in Finance with minors in Public Policy and Leadership Studies. He is deeply involved in the Fraternity & Sorority Life (FSL) community and previously served as the President of Beta Theta Pi and the Director of Health & Safety for the Inter-Fraternity Council Executive Board. Currently, he works as both an Engagement Assistant and as a Peer Career Advisor. After graduating, he will join Deloitte Consulting as a Government & Public Services Analyst in Washington, DC.
Cap was nominated by his supervisor Jeremy Vera for his work as Engagement Assistant at the Burwell Center for Career Achievement:
“Cap has had a major positive impact at the Burwell Center. Having started during a shut down/partial shutdown, we had to open the building during a time most people where not able or willing to come on campus. He showed a great deal of flexibility and drive to come and learn a lot of procedures and practices in a new building where most of these procedures and practices were newly being created. I cannot imagine the Burwell Center without Cap (although I have to since he graduates this year!).”
Andres was nominated by his supervisor Yutang Xiong for his work as a Data Team Lead with the Pardee Center for International Futures:
“Andres truly cares about his team’s development as a whole. With clear organization and communications, he ensures that the students he supervises gets chances to grow their technology skills and knowledge areas, so that they get an even better job after Pardee, as he shares with each when interviewing students. Last year, him and his team co-lead were the first team at the center to create core values. These values recognized that each team’s unique strengths matter and that sharing these gifts and unique perspectives is appreciated. Further testament to Andres focus on unifying, despite the center being closed for construction at Korbel and the year barely even starting, this year already, Andres organized an after-hours trivia social. I’m excited that this experience will help reach his goals to do a PhD in Economics and be a Professor.”
Jordan Hernandez has lived in Colorado his entire life and feels privileged to call the Centennial State his home. Originally hailing from the Colorado Springs area, he decided to attend the University of Denver for his undergraduate degree, obtaining his BA in Social Sciences in 2020, and is now pursuing his Masters in Higher Education through the Morgridge College of Education. Graduating freshly into the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging, albeit highly transformative time in his life, as he felt immensely supported by the faculty and staff of DU in navigating such a confusing post-graduate experience. The unending opportunities afforded to him by DU both in undergrad and beyond inspired him to return to the University as a full-time employee, having worked both in Undergraduate Admission and Undergraduate Programs with the Daniels College of Business. He feels honored to return to his alma mater to work closely with the DU community to ensure a productive, meaningful, and positive experience for all persons who walk the paths of our beautiful campus.
Jordan was nominated by many of his student employees, including Emma Slatnick, Jacqueline Michel, Berkely Rebman, and Kayla Fatemi, for his work as Campus Visit Program Coordinator with Undergraduate Admissions:
“Ask any tour guide on campus and they’ll tell you that Jordan is a pillar for admissions at DU. As the faces of the campus, I think this is pretty significant. I have worked for Undergraduate Admissions for 5 years now and in that time I’ve seen the culture of our community completely transform in the best ways and I think Jordan has been absolutely central in this. The campus tour guides are some of the closest student employees on campus with one of the healthiest work place/out of the work place dynamics I’ve ever seen (and I’ve had 4 campus jobs). We all feel very supportive of one another and display this to the families that visit who consistently tell us that DU has one of the best admissions departments/staffs they’ve seen in all their college visits. Again, I think Jordan is the key to all of this that has enabled us to thrive so much!”
Congratulations as well to our other nominees this year! Check out nominee spotlights on our Instagram throughout National Student Employment Week, April 10 – 14!
NOMINEES:
| Undergraduates | Graduates | Supervisors |
| Alisa Sautter | Alison Shimoda | Alex Martinez |
| Ashley Sanchez | Behrouz Sohrabi | Aleyshia Whitmore |
| Ava Moin | Carson De Fries | Amin Khodaei |
| Camille Popiel | Carson Koinzan | Amy Gossman |
| Cari Reichel | Chelsea Ernst | April Shelby |
| Débora Rocha | Daniela Barrio | BeeJay Williams |
| Esme Schiff | Daphne Rajenthiram | Behrouz Sohrabi |
| Hunter Edgerton | Emma Rau | Bernadette Tynan |
| Iris Stanfill | Grant Powell | Beth Goad |
| JoAnne Migaki | Grishma Neupane | Brian Schreckinger |
| Jocelyn Buenrostro | Ivelisse Dyson | Damon Vine |
| Marisol Jara | Jacqueline Jacobs | Darcy Thompson |
| Megan Banks | Jeffrey Bernstein | Dmitri Obergfell |
| Preeti Saldanha | Jessica Phelps | Ethel Swartley |
| Samantha DeMarco | Julia Olson | Janet Redwine |
| Vander Georgeff | Kate Daley | Jeremy Vera |
| Zac Abero | Katherine Connolly | Jessie Stellini |
| Lina Kaldawi | Jill Low | |
| Maeve Moynihan | Jodie Catlow | |
| Martin Gonzalez | Juli Parrish | |
| Mayumi Beckelheimer | Karen Hodel | |
| Natalie Impraim | Kendra Richard | |
| Olivia Schauls | Kevin Alt | |
| Qiunan Liu | Kimberly Chiew | |
| Sean Finlay | Liana Moss | |
| Shubham Sapkota | Liz Spooner | |
| Victoria MacClements | Mark Isenburg | |
| Yanxin Bill Luo | Max Manoles | |
| Yue Wang | Melanie Assis | |
| Michael Caston | ||
| Paul Riola | ||
| Paula Martin-Noble | ||
| Philip Drescher | ||
| Robyn Thomas-Pitts | ||
| Ross Logan | ||
| Ryan Wadleigh | ||
| Sarabeth Wolbrom | ||
| Sierra Dwyer | ||
| Stephen Campbell | ||
| Susan Goodwin | ||
| Tiamo Katsonga-Phiri | ||
| Trapper Lee | ||
| Yuliya Kaplan | ||
| Zarin Xavier |
