Ways to celebrate your on-campus student employees:
Easy, Inexpensive Ways to
Celebrate Student W
orkers
The National Student Employment Association has declared that the second complete
week in April each year be set aside to recognize the value of student employees.
18.
• Give coupons/gift certificates for on-campus or off-campus use.
• Prepare "care packages" with popcorn, candy, soft drinks, hot chocolate mix, etc.
• Create fun computerized certificates - "You Rock" award, "Best Telephone Voice," etc.
• Bring them flowers or a plant.
• Give them a basket of home-baked goods.
• Give an office "life saver" a gift bag of Lifesaver candies, "Extra" gum for always going the "extra" mile, etc.
• Have the staff sign a thank you card for each student.
• Verbally thank students for their contribution to your department or offer students to be a mentor for them as they continue to navigate
their undergraduate/graduate experience.
• Make a banner of appreciation to hang in the office.
• Give students 'good job candy bars,' coupons, or written acknowledgments of a job well done.
• Pull names from a hat to win prizes.
• Decorate a bulletin board with posters/banners expressing appreciation to your student workers and list their names.
• Display a collage of pictures of your students at work.
• Decorate your students' office or workspace for the week. This can include creating a banner that reads, “We appreciate Our Student
Employees” or “Our Student Employees Rock!”
• Take pictures of your student employees, post them in your department, and list the wonderful things they do for your department.
• Have a potluck, pizza party or sundae bar to celebrate your student employees achievements.
• Present “Good Egg Awards.” Buy plastic eggs, fill with goodies, and give out with “Good Egg Certificates” listing what the student did to
deserve the award.
• Tons of Puns – Every day, give your student a small “gift” with a fun one-liner, such as a Bag of Lays with a sticker that says “You’re all
that and a bag of Chips!” Other ideas: Milky Way bars (“You’re out of this world!”), peanuts (“We’re nuts about you!”), and/or gum
(“You always go the EXTRA mile!”)
• Have raffles or drawings, get donations from any on-campus department or off-campus employer. Possible items include: food, gift, or
grocery certificates, free night in hotel, free game or concert tickets, video coupons, fast food coupons, textbook coupons, free movie
tickets, bus or subway passes, even coupons for photo developing are welcomed by students.
• Treat Week – each day bring something different – cookies, popcorn, candy, etc.
• Friendship Plants - take cuttings from a plant in the office and give to each student as a live "connection" to the office
• Bright Ideas - spray paint a light bulb gold, screw into a jar of play-dough and make a label around the jar naming who is receiving the
“Bright Idea” award
• "You Rock" award - print "You Rock" on a rock and present it to someone when they go a good job. Encourage the student to present it to
another member of the staff when they observe someone doing a good job.
• Change the department phone message to recognize student employees
• Use this week as an opportunity to start an award recognition program. Look around the office or at home for a white elephant item.
Name the item for the award (Employee of the Month/Week, Great Idea Award, Gotcha Award - catch someone in the act of doing
something good) and then make the first presentation of it during Student Employment Week
