Award-winning organization
UIC Student Activities Board members at the National Association for Campus Activities.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog about how proud I was of my organization (Student Activities Board) for being nominated for two prestigious awards at the National Association for Campus Activities regional convention. With the help of Sladjana Grbic and the rest of the Campus Programs department, we were able to send a couple of members (Andrea Zelen, Ryan Salzeider, Almasa Pecanin, Anne Fan, Jairo Flores, Alvin Stanley) to the convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to learn how other universities operated their activities board.
Not only did SAB go to the convention to learn, but also to teach. SAB was invited to give an educational session on how to create a community through the use of student activities boards. Our vice president Almasa Pecanin and member Anne Fan presented to over 40 different student representatives from universities like Michigan State University, University of Norte Dame and Bradley University. When I asked Anne, a senior majoring in communications, how the presentation went, she gave a huge smile that told it all.
In addition to the presentation, SAB was formally recognized at the regional dinner as the winner of both the Innovative Program of the Year and the Program of the Year for “Jaws: Dive-in Movie” and “Final Fling,” respectively. When asked about the recognition, Almasa said, “It felt awesome! Since we’re only going into our third year and a lot of these orgs have been around for a while, like Michigan State, it felt awesome to get recognized for our hard work.”
The impact that we’re having on campus, and around the nation, is extremely gratifying to say the least. My members exemplify the cliché “work hard, play hard.” The selfless dedication they have to the organization and to the university is something that I, nor the university, should not take lightly.
Christian Gray is a senior majoring in marketing with a focus in promotion and communications and a minor in economics. He is president of the Student Activities Board. When he’s not planning events or doing schoolwork, you’ll catch him watching something sports related (#KOBE) or vibing out to music. His career goal growing up was to be Batman. He won’t tell you if he was successful on that mission, but let’s be real – have you ever seen him and Batman in the same place before?
