Another award on my bulletin board

You all know that each year in the first or second week of June I leave the human race and spend the entire week on the Norwich campus (I sleep in my own bed, but my hours are pretty much 7 am to 8 or 9 pm) shepherding students and faculty through a Residency week, which brings all Norwich's online students together for the first time.  Each program creates activities of one kind of another for their students, and the week culminates in graduation.

At the end of June we have an all-hands celebration that brings all the Residency and post-Residency activities to a close.  It's a delicious pot-luck lunch followed by a fun-loving awards ceremony.  The Associate Dean sends out an email requesting nominations for things we've seen one another doing or saying that deserve an award.  Somehow everyone manages to get an award for something.

This year there was the "Mr./Ms Congeniality Award" to two staff members who spent each meal (we took all three meals on campus) with a different group of students, and between the two of them met students from every one of our programs.

My friend Sophia got the "Energizer Bunny Award" because she did everything everywhere. She just kept going and going and going.

One Program Director had to manage activities for and interact with students in three different programs.  He was always on the run, always too busy, always smiling.  He got the "Synchronized Swimmer Award" for smiling above the water while frantically paddling below.

Another Program Director, when in his academic robes, wears three large academic medals on ribbons. They denote his chairmanship of the National Nursing Educators Board, and two other kinds of academic honors.  He got the "Heavy Metal Award". 

Our Residency Director was praised for the vast amount of planning he did, and the vast number of tasks he managed to completion.  The praise ended with "We all knew that, if required, Kevin could leap tall buildings with a single bound." He got the "Man of Steel Award." You see how it goes.

In 2005 SGCS rented cell phones for all the staff, to make it easier for us to communicate with one another.  All of you know that - at least in Vermont - my cell phone is never on.  One day, sitting at the lunch table with MSIA students and SGCS staff, I heard this little musical sound. Several times.  "I wonder what that is?", I said.  And Dr. Kabay (then Program Director) looked at me over his glasses and said, "Elizabeth, that's YOUR CELL PHONE."  Riotous laughter erupted. At the 2005 post-Residency celebration I got the "Alexander Graham Bell Award", and it's still up on my bulletin board.

Today it happened again.  I was sick the first three days of Residency with a horrible cold.  One afternoon I got to that  inevitable "I have to take a nap" stage.  Since I didn't dare fall asleep in a lecture hall full of students and a guest speaker, I left the room by its back door, which leads to a stairway.  I sat on the landing floor, leaned against the wall, and dozed off.  I was awakened by the concerned voice of the Residency Director: "Elizabeth, are you OK?"  Well, this afternoon I received the "Rip Van Winkle" award. Riotous laughter erupted. It's assumed its rightful place on my bulletin board.

Thankfully all these awards are given with humor and in good spirits.  It's good that we can laugh at ourselves as well as recognize and appreciate the hard work that each of us does.