Editor’s note: This issue of the newspaper was written prior to The STUEYs. A list of winners will be published in issue 24.
Faculty, students and staff gathered for the 24th annual Student Life Achievement Awards, known as the STUEYs which were held in person for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The award show took place in the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m. on April 12, filling its 500-seat capacity.
The STUEYs are an awards show that recognizes outstanding conduct and achievements by those who work for NSU and its students.
The event, which was free for students to attend, included a pre-reception at 5 p.m. in the DeSantis building. Some of the award categories that students were nominated for were “Student of the Year” and “Undergraduate Organization of the Year.”
The STUEYs have become well known in the NSU community for their student hosts. Students audition to host and three students are typically selected. The hosts this year are senior Breanna Brady, senior Ritchy Laguerre and junior Maria Valentina Rativa. Although the theme is different every year, this year’s theme played off of the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” The hosts dressed as famous characters and found their way to NSU, so to speak, where Brad Williams, vice president of student affairs and dean of the College of Undergraduate Studies, greeted them. The hosts followed the yellow brick road that led them to NSU, dressed as Dorothy, the cowardly lion and the tin man.
Rativa, a junior communication major, said, “There’s a lot of focus on ‘one NSU’ and how we all as a community here can gather and appreciate each other.”
Brady, a senior biology major and community engagement director for the student government association and another host, stated that the show’s theme informed the hosts’ performance. However, the other acts, such as the Sharkettes and student musician Paul Cauchi, were independent of the theme.
Gerard Wheeler, assistant dean for campus life and student engagement, and Christina Rajkumar, associate director of campus life and student engagement and director of the STUEYs, earned praise from their hosts.
“I definitely think it’s so cool to work with my fellow hosts and the entire team. Gerard and Christina and our [graduate assistants] have been so incredible in helping us get everything together,” said Rativa.
Brady echoed the statement, said, “We’ve been working with pro staff like Gerard Wheeler and Christina… they were very supportive of us.”
Rativa, Brady and Laguerre have bonded over the course of production.
“I feel like we extended beyond the job description, which I feel is very NSU. We all got the chance to find new strengths in each other and lean on each other in different ways to make a show that really embodies the event,” said Brady.
