Fall 2012 RAIL Award Recipients
August/September’s Outstanding Student Leader: Keely Fitzgerald
Keely is a strong mentor in the community. In her work with CPK, she worked to increase the involvement of Site Leaders in the organization. One way that Keely did this was through involving them as active facilitators throughout tutor training. She wanted to make sure that all of our organization’s leaders are assisting with the training process and having more overall buy-in in the organization. She has a sincere focus on building up others and helping them become extremely successful. This was exemplified through her work as a student teacher, tutor, and mentor in the local community. She was extremely dedicated to the academic and personal achievement of the students that she works with; a long-standing passion of hers.
October’s Outstanding Student Leader: Kerri Mahoney
Kerri helps lead in her role in the Graduate Education Association as she is actively involved in meetings, discussions, and events. Kerri founded the first ever School of Education Journal and already had an editorial board in place for the first ever publication. Kerri taught a graduate level course (which is not common in the EPPL program at the SOE). She was also actively involved with SURN, organizing conferences of more than 100+ attendees as well as professional developments for teachers.
November’s Outstanding Student Leader: Kevin Deisz
Kevin strikes a very unique balance between assertiveness and compassion. He is incredibly entrepreneurial in nature but not overwhelmingly so; he is willing to take risks and propose his ideas but will never push through if one of his fellow officers is not on board. He is charismatic, a wonderful public speaker, and cares quite deeply for each of his involvements. He sees the members of his organizations not as "followers" but as teammates, working together for the same goal. He guides his organizations assertively and effectively, ever striving to leave them better than when he came upon them. Members of his organizations will readily refer to his ability to be their friend but also a necessity to respect him as a leader. Kevin is an absolute stand-up gentleman and leader.