Students Receive Governor's Volunteer Awards

July 13, 2015

Eleven Buena Vista University students and the BVU College Republicans were honored at the 2015 Governor's Volunteer Award ceremonies held in June on the BVU campus.

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds attended the event, and more than 65 individuals and organizations from northwest Iowa received awards at the event in Storm Lake, which was one of six awards programs held across Iowa.

The BVU College Republicans was nominated by the Iowa Department of Transportation, and accepting the award on behalf of the organization was Chase Werden, a senior political science and public administration major from Carroll; Mathu Meiners, a senior political science major from Templeton; and Machensey Shelgren, a senior psychology major from Holstein.

The individual BVU students were nominated by Dr. Ashley Farmer-Hanson, director of civic engagement at BVU, who is a member of the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and co-chair of its volunteer engagement committee. BVU's 11 student recipients have been involved in a variety of volunteer organizations and activities, including BV Buddies, an organization in which students serve as mentors to local middle school students; Student MOVE, which coordinates service programs and events that focus on direct service, education, and reflection; and Iowa College AmeriCorps, a federal program that students apply to be a part of that meets local community needs by volunteering 300 or 450 hours of service during an academic year.

The students who received awards are:

• Jessica Stocker, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in accounting from Des Moines.
• Jennifer Marshall, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in social work from Sioux Rapids.
• Dana Korell, a recent BVU graduate with a distributive degree from Saint Joseph, Missouri.
• Egypt Clayton, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in business with a concentration in human resource management from Early.
• Chelsey Bernhagen, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in social work from Pella.
• Zachary Ahrens, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in exercise science and human performance from Carroll.
• Natalie Bellairs, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in biology from Osage.
• Caitlin Bach, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in biology from
• Nereyda Manriquez, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in accounting and Spanish from Storm Lake.
• Hannah Zimmerman, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in corporate communications from Council Bluffs.
• Jordan Flynn, a recent BVU graduate with a degree in Spanish and educational studies from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Governor's Volunteer Awards program was created in 1982, with inaugural awards presented in 1983. What began as a small program only available to state government agencies has expanded over the years and now provides all Iowa non-profit, charitable and government organizations with a way to honor their volunteers with a prestigious state-level recognition award.

Several hundred volunteers are recognized each year with awards in one of several categories: Individual, Group, Length of Service or Disaster Volunteer. The program is coordinated by the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and the Governor's Office.