McKay from IT Systems is Student Worker of the Year
On Thurs., April 11th, Human Resources gave senior Lucas McKay of IT Systems the Student Worker of the Year award.
All departments who employ student workers on campus have the opportunity to submit a nomination for the award, along with a document stating why they believe that employee should win. Human Resources examines all the nominations and selects the best one.
Rebecca VanHook, assistant to the director of IT Systems, receives all the department’s emails from Human Resources. She said that when she found out about the award, she immediately thought of nominating McKay and suggested it to his supervisor.
“Lucas was here before I started, and I have seen him grow and develop so much,” VanHook said.
McKay works under the supervision of Project Manager Morgan Adams.
In the report Adams wrote about McKay, he said, “I consider Lucas a co-worker, not a student worker, because of the value he adds to our department.”
The feeling is mutual for McKay.
“I feel very valued as a team member,” McKay said. “I enjoy the level of shared responsibility with Morgan.”
This is McKay’s fourth year of working with IT. He is a first-generation college student, which made him eligible when he came to Lee for the First-Generation program. Along with giving students the chance to meet other first-generation classmates and providing them with mentors, this program guarantees its students an on-campus job opportunity.
For McKay, that first job was in the web development section of Information Technology. He worked there for two years, and then moved to project management.
McKay said his job in project management consists mainly of helping coordinate projects with different IT teams, including the Help Desk. He is also part of the creation of process maps.
Process maps, according to McKay, essentially draw out a game plan for upcoming projects.
“They outline what to expect so that we can avoid mistakes,” he said.
Adams said in his report that McKay’s role also includes constantly working with full-time faculty and staff.
“These situations could easily become frustrating, but Lucas seems to handle them with great empathy,” Adams said. “He is consistently professional and always courteous in his interactions with university employees.”
The entire department, Adams said, agreed that McKay is someone Lee can be proud of.
McKay, again, feels similarly.
“Two thumbs up,” he said of the department.
McKay said that there has always been student worker appreciation in the past, but that this is the first time that it has been so personal for him.
“In all honesty, and I’m not trying to sound corny, I feel very much appreciated,” he said.