How to recommend a Ball State staff member:
Email sga@bsu.edu and include the staff member's name, where they work and how they exceeded expectations.
Some staff members who go above and beyond their jobs will be rewarded by the Student Government Association starting next month.
SGA's Hidden Angels program will recognize these employees with free tickets to John R. Emens Auditorium events.
Matt King, SGA at-large caucus chair and head of the Hidden Angels program, said work began on the project last semester, when SGA discussed sending its guest speakers tickets to Emens events. King suggested that SGA instead give them to staff members who deserve recognition.
“I spend a lot of time on campus, and I see, sometimes, how we don’t notice the small things, and we don’t say 'thank you,' and we don’t appreciate the workers on campus,” King said. “This is something where I wanted to figure out a way ... to just say thanks.”
King, a junior emerging media and telecommunications major, said he saw a lot of staff members in Noyer Complex, where he is a residence assistant, go above and beyond their job descriptions.
Workers can be nominated by emailing SGA with a recommendation. The recommendation must include the nominee’s name, where to find him or her on campus and an explanation of how this person exceeded job expectations. Once a person is recommended, King and other SGA members will select winners of the tickets and award the winners in person. Winners will get a vignette piece, such as a video, photo or short article, about them.
Katrina Ent, a junior public relations major, said this program may help inspire Ball State employees.
“If [workers] see students appreciate the work they do, they become motivated to work even harder at their jobs,” Ent said.
Ent said she often sees custodians in the library who go out of their way to help students by throwing away their trash and making conversation with them. She plans to nominate a staff member when the project launches.
“I just really like how Matt has brought up this idea because this is something students often don’t think about,” Ent said.
Dining, Housing and other departments will be informed about the program, King said. He also hopes students will spread awareness themselves by word of mouth. He said he has already gotten a positive reaction from people.
“The student really is not getting any incentive to do this, so, in theory, you’d think that it would fail, but I think it’s going to be the complete opposite,” King said. “People like doing good for other people.”
Junior social work major Brianna Van Vleet said she sees a lot of great work in dining and is glad SGA is implementing a program that recognizes Ball State employees.
“I think [Ball State Hidden Angels] is important because SGA is a campus organization all about making change, and if they’re for it, then more change is going to be implemented and people are going to be recognized that need to be recognized,” Van Vleet said.
King said he would like to see a Ball State Hidden Angels banquet at the end of the year, where all of the angels would come together and be recognized.
“We want to show them, ‘Hey, you may be here for 20 years, but we’re only going to be here for the next couple years, and while we’re here, we want to let you know how important you are to us,’” King said.
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