Natalia Parra
Contributing Writer
Student leaders and members of the administration have been working on a proposal for an awards system for seniors to give a medal to a staff or faculty member of the College upon graduation.
The award, to be called an “Arch Medal,” was first proposed by Maggie Sestito ’18, the president of the Student Government Association (SGA) and Jordan Griffith ’19, the chair of Campus Council (CC). Dean of Students Scott Brown has also been working closely with the pair to help the idea gain traction, according to Sestito.
“The Arch Medal would give each graduating senior an opportunity to think about their journey at Wooster and think about all the individuals who made a big difference in their journey,” Sestito said. “This also would then allow a platform for seniors to show appreciation for the individual who really made a difference in their college years.”
Since the idea is still being developed, there is a need, according to Sestito, for student voices and for the student body to not only be informed on the Arch Medals, but also to advocate for them. If the Arch Medals idea becomes reality, the medals would be distributed in time for this year’s seniors to distribute medals.
“[The medals] would be announced officially before spring break, and then distributed after break so people have some time to reflect on who they’d like to give their medal to,” Griffith said.
Griffith and Sestito eventually desire student input on the idea, and hope it will allow Arch Medals — should the idea be approved — to become a tradition at Wooster. However, they said that more details will need to be figured out, including how the medals will be funded.
“We want this to be driven by students, and we want the campus to take an active interest,” Sestito said. “But before we get people involved, we want to make sure we have the funding figured out.”
Sestito hopes that the funding can be figured out by the end of this semester, allowing the work of planning the logistics of the medals to begin in the spring.