Winners of this year’s Student Employee of the Year, Student Supervisor of the Year, and Outstanding Service awards pose with their nominators during a ceremony at the Metcalf Ballroom in the GSU, April 13.

Accolades

BU Ceremony Honors Undergraduate and Graduate Student Employees and Student Supervisor

Awards presented to them included supervisor and student employees of the year, and outstanding service awards

For students juggling rigorous class schedules, intense homework loads, and multiple extracurricular activities, an on-campus job might be the last thing on their mind. 

But Gabriela Mogavero (Wheelock’26), who has been an office assistant for Student Services at Wheelock College of Education & Human Development for the past three years, is all for it. Mogavero balances lots of other responsibilities as well: she is a Wheelock Dean’s Host, a research assistant, a writer for Wheelock’s undergraduate newsletter, and a mentor for Wheelock’s Transitional Mentor Program. 

“I always try to encourage them to still apply to these jobs,” she says, referring to incoming students and freshmen. “Most of the time your supervisor will be really collaborative with you and understand that you are a student.”. 

For all her good work, Mogavero was named this year’s Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year. She was honored at a ceremony on April 13 at the Metcalf Ballroom in the George Sherman Union, along with other student employees and a supervisor. 

Mogavero cites her time working at Wheelock as the reason she wants to pursue a career in higher education. “No one really knows what higher education looks like besides professors, but there’s so much behind-the-scenes and planning going into creating and curating wonderful experiences for college students,” she says.

Mogavero, who’s also a library assistant at the North of Boston Library Exchange and a marketing intern at Candlewick Press, has advice for staying organized: finding a job you like and using Google Calendar. 

The April 13 ceremony honored several other people:

Dan Liu, Graduate Student Employee of the Year

Dan Liu (STH’27) has two positions in the School of Theology’s Office of Students & Community Life: community life coordinator and international student life coordinator. He organizes and hosts community lunches every Wednesday, and, to date, has served more than 5,100 meals, he says, adding that he’s implemented the food labels, food manual, and allergen information for the lunches. He also helps with community engagement activities and outings. 

Liu, who was named Graduate Student Employee of the Year, says he wants to make whatever contribution he can to give back to his “beloved community” at BU.

“It’s a huge honor that I didn’t expect,” he says of the award. “I just simply do whatever I can, whatever [is] the best I can.”

Liu is a full-time student in the Master of Divinity program and works about 20 hours a week. He hopes to become a higher education administrator. His strategy for fulfilling his course load and degree requirements while balancing his role as a student worker is straightforward: “I do my roles as best as I can, not for getting any awards,” he says.

Katie Kelso, Supervisor of the Year

Katie Kelso has found her place at BU as the full-time manager for the College of Engineering’s Singh Imagineering Lab (SILab), a space for students to work on projects and engineering designs. At the SILab, she helps students use equipment and passes her knowledge down to a team of her own handpicked student staff; the staff, in turn, show their peers how to use the equipment safely in a way that allows them to achieve their goals. 

“Seeing them grow into themselves and become more confident in using the tools and [be] excited about teaching others to do it, that’s just been really nice,” Kelso says of the students she has hired and trained. 

Kelso also runs or helps guide student workers through several competitions and workshops throughout the year. “It’s been great,” she says of her time at BU. “The students are a real joy. They’re enthusiastic about the work that they’re doing and excited to learn and try new things.” 

A Supervisor of the Year runner-up award was given to Sean Andersson, ENG professor and chair of mechanical engineering.

Lionel Wolfe, Undergraduate Outstanding Service Award

For Lionel Wolfe (ENG’27), the key to balancing academics and work is doing what you enjoy. “You don’t feel as bogged down with all the work because it’s fun,” he says. 

Wolfe is a lab assistant at BU’s Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC), where he is trained on how to use the tools in the shop and teach others how to use them. He also runs workshops and helps with events hosted by the lab.

EPIC is Wolfe’s favorite place on campus and one of the main reasons he came to BU. “It is like the dream workshop that any machining nerd could imagine—and it’s a super welcoming team,” he says. Outside of work, he’s been involved with the Symphonic Chorus and the BU Singers through the College of Fine Arts. 

EPIC is a space that caters to everyone from fashion design to architecture students, Wolfe says. “If you ever have just an inkling of wanting to make anything, [if] you have any idea, no matter how crazy or complicated or even just silly or goofy, you should definitely swing by,” he says, “because we’ll help you build pretty much anything.”

Cassandra Marzke, Graduate Outstanding Service Award

Cassandra Marzke (SSW’26), is a communications prevention intern at BU’s Survivor Advocacy, Response & Prevention Center (SARP), a space that supports trauma survivors and works to prevent interpersonal violence. 

Her role includes running events and the SARP Instagram account, conducting event outreach, and creating information posts on topics related to trauma. She also takes night classes. “I put in the effort to make it work,” she says of her role at SARP.

The job gives her the opportunity to support people after they’ve been through a hard time. “It can be hard to balance busy schedules,” she says, “but having that thing that you really care about can make it all worth it.”

A cohort of eight student employees chose the Supervisor of the Year and runner-up awards. Professional staff members selected the Student Employee of the Year and Outstanding Service awards. The University has given the awards since 1989.