EPHRAIM—The Snow College Staff Association has selected three exemplary staff members who are filled with the “Snow Spirit” as their Employees of the Semester—Spring 2021.
The honored staff members are Donna Birk, Jon Knudsen and Wayne Bushman. They are being recognized for pitching and going above and beyond their regular duties during this difficult time of COVID stress. Here are their stories:
Like all of us, Donna has experienced a crazy year. She has been a leading member of the COVID care team taking on many extra responsibilities in addition to her own. She helped with testing, follow up, clinic visits, student moves and meals for students in quarantine to name a few.
She was always running and making sure everyone was well taken care of. One staff member commented that a couple months ago they ran into Donna at Walmart on her lunch break where she explained she was grabbing a few things really quick and also a treat for a depressed student who was in quarantine.
Another staff member commented that Donna often would take students care packages that she personally paid for or baked cupcakes for them; she has such a big heart! She has completely reworked the Snow Fun program to allow for more groups to come to campus. She is always positive and upbeat, and has worked with over 70 groups coming to campus this summer alone. Donna has shown how much she cares about our students and truly exemplifies what it means to have the Spirit of Snow!
Jon has taken on huge responsibilities this year with a smile on his face. He handles the stress well and has stepped up to manage and train other members of the team. He has taken on huge projects which are outside the scope, which resulted in huge compliments from the commissioners and state auditor’s office. Jon oversees the cashier’s office on Ephraim campus and has made changes in their processes to better serve students, faculty and staff at the cashier window.
He also worked with IT to get bar code scanners up and running to scan student IDs to make processing payments quicker. He always has a positive can-do attitude. Jon is also a title IX deputy helping do investigations and write reports for individual title IX cases on campus. He never complains. He asks for help when he needs help and he helps others when they need it. He is a huge asset to Snow College and truly contributes to the “Spirit of Snow.”
Wayne Bushman is an office of one, yet he takes on the work of many. As Snow College’s internal auditor, he is responsible for conducting reviews of programs and departments and suggesting areas of improvement.
As one employee stated, “The work that Wayne does has a positive impact on Snow College and the departments he audits. Some of Wayne’s audits have been used as tools to transform the way we do business and to make Snow a better place.” One of Wayne’s larger projects has been the development of a campus-wide risk assessment that involved faculty and most managers across both campuses.
He has also taken on significant, unplanned assignments due to COVID-19 and other unexpected events. As a member of the COVID Steering Group, he helped with the development of a campus plan and the execution of a successful strategy. In spite of his packed schedule, he has also been involved with the Snow College Staff Association and takes time to hire and train student workers. As one employee stated, “Wayne is terrific example of professionalism, hard work, and integrity.”
