25-26 UW-Madison Student Employment Award Recipients

Hometown: Darien, CT

Major: English and Journalism

Graduation: Spring 2027

Other Campus Involvement: Lilly served last semester as the Social Media and Public Relations Manager for The Badger Herald.

What is your favorite part of your job? Lilly enjoyes brainstorming content with other student employees and the rest of the Communications team!

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job? Lilly has learned how to measure digital analytics on social media in order to identify what type of content UW-Madison students interact with on a high level.

Hometown: Minneapolis, MN

Major: Marketing and Psychology

Graduation: Spring 2028

Other campus involvement: Alexa is involved in the Wisconsin Marketing Organization.

What is your favorite part of your job? Alexa’s favorite part of herjob is getting to be an advocate for mental health for her peers, and working alongside such a fun, creative, and welcoming team.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job? Alexa has learned how important a collaborative environment is. Everyone on the UHS marketing team offers such a unique, valuable perspective, and she has learned so much in her role.

Hometown: Arlington Heights, IL

Major: Data Science and Economics

Graduation: Spring 2027

Other campus involvement: Outside of class and work, Jessica is a part of dotData and the Statistics Club, taking part in their statistical and data science-related challenges. Jessica loves collaborating on projects with others, particularly ones with different majors and interests than herself. Jessica is also a member of the Hoofer Sailing Club and likes to get out on Lake Mendota to sail or kayak whenever she can.

What is your favorite part of your job? Jessica’s favorite part of working at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center is learning about the studies and findings that the researchers are working towards. Alzheimer’s Disease and other cognitive impairment are currently not very well understood, so being able to contribute anything to this work is really fulfilling.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job? Jessica has learned a lot at her current position, such as how to split and optimize her workload to increase efficiency. Jessica has also improved her written communication skills through developing standard operating procedures and commenting code for future use.

Hometown: Ellsworth, WI

Major: English with certificates in Health Policy and Teaching English as a Second Language

Graduation: Spring 2026

After graduation, Ann plans to get her nursing degree and eventually continue her research in the intersection of health and literature.

Other campus involvement: Ann is a GUTS Conversational English Tutor as well as a writer and editor for the Wisconsin Undergraduate Law Review.

What is your favorite part of your job? The best part of Ann’s job is the people she works with. Ann’s supervisors, fellow Leads, and the swim instructors she works with every day create a supportive and welcoming environment where she feels comfortable learning as she go. Ann is able to ask questions, make mistakes, and grow in her role, which makes it a great place for her to continue developing and improving in her position.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job?  Through this role, Ann’s learned how to communicate effectively in a lot of different situations, whether that’s working one-on-one with instructors, addressing a larger group, or speaking professionally with members and people in the community. Ann has gained confidence in leading a team by making decisions, asking for input, and knowing when to lean on others for support. She’s also learned how to plan and run trainings and in-services that are engaging and focused on skills people can actually use. This role has helped Ann grow both as a leader and as a teammate, and it’s made her more comfortable taking initiative while still staying connected to the people around her.

Hometown: Madison, WI

Major: Elementary Education

Graduation: Spring 2027

What is your favorite part of your job? Zainab’s favorite part of her job has to be interacting with the students. When Zainab was in highschool she was in the same pre-college program that she now works for. Serving mainly low-income students of color, Zainab sees a lot of herself in the students. Zainab loves being able to be a positive role model and provide them the mentorship needed to pursue higher education. After Zainab graduated from ITA, she matriculated into the PEOPLE college program, a program that provides support for first-gen students of color as well as students who come from low-income backgrounds.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job? ITA was where Zainab awakened her love for teaching. Zainab was deadset on majoring in a STEM field, like engineering. She was discouraged from pursuing education because of the financial drivers. Getting a taste of teaching through ITA, Zainab realized that her true passion resided in education, and she couldn’t see herself doing anything else. Being an educator has and will continue to make Zainab rich in the ways that matter most.

Hometown: Greenville, WI

Major: Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Finance

Graduation: Fall 2026

Other campus involvement: Lucas is involved in Risk Management and Insurance Society, and Actuarial Club

What is your favorite part of your job? Lucas’s favorite part of the job is the opportunity to help students, parents, and staff from all parts of campus. It’s rewarding to solve problems alongside a dedicated OSAS team.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job? Lucas has learned to maintain clear, effective communication during stressful or uncertain situations. This mindset helps him stay calm under pressure and allows Lucas to find a solution to any challenge that comes his way.

Hometown: Wisconsin Dells, WI

Major: M.S. Human Ecology

Graduation: Spring 2026

After graduating, Kane plans to continue working in roles that support Indigenous communities, cultural education, and community-based leadership. Kane is also interested in learning from internationally based Indigenous and community initiatives, an interest inspired by his recent trip to Japan, where he gained new perspectives on place, culture, and community.

Other Campus Involvement: Collaborator with Wunk Sheek, UW–Madison’s Indigenous student affinity group.

What is your favorite part of your job? Kane’s favorite part of his job is serving as a storyteller, a role that holds deep respect in many Indigenous cultures, including his tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. Being able to share Indigenous histories and relationships to the land through storytelling allows Kane to engage participants in meaningful ways, especially those who are learning about Indigenous culture for the first time. This role also connects Kane to his family, many of whom have served as storytellers representing the Ho-Chunk Nation.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your job? Through Kane’s work with FNCLT, he has come to understand the importance of recognizing relationships to land and place. Although Kane had visited Madison since childhood, he once viewed it primarily as a modern, Western city. Through the tour, he now understands it as Ho-Chunk land, and this shift has reshaped how he see places and is connected to. Kane has also learned how storytelling, grounded in the Indigenous principle of reciprocity, can encourage others to reflect more deeply on their own relationships with land, history, and community.

Alex Hopp is currently working as a College Success Specialist with the PEOPLE program. In his role, Alex oversees a multitude of student employees that support the PEOPLE  students including: PEOPLE’s First Year Seminar Teaching Assistants, College Writing Mentors, Math Success Tutors, and a Data Analyst Intern. These positions provide support from teaching and tutoring to operations. Aside from those duties, Alex also teaches for the Asian American Studies Program and is a member of the DDEEA Advisors Group, the Transfer Advising & Success Committee, the Asian American Program Advisory Committee, and the Hmong Studies Consortium.

Alex’s favorite part of supervising students is seeing all of the ways that the community grows together. PEOPLE operates on the idea to “lift as you climb,” and it’s an incredible privilege to see the students leave a legacy in the PEOPLE program and at UW-Madison through their work. Because the program admits students beginning in high school, Alex has had the unique opportunity to see student employees work the same positions that they relied on for support during their high school and college years. Those transformations—as student employees turn into leaders and into the mentors they needed—inspire Alex. He is constantly amazed at all of the ways that their student employees envision a better future and then work hard to make that vision happen: they choose community over themselves all the time, and Alex finds an element of radical hope in those moments.

Alex wants all student employees to know to take pride in your work and choose excellence in your day-to-day life. There is no job too small to make a difference, and as you work towards your academic, personal, and professional goals, remember that all parts of your college experience matter: your time in the classroom, your shifts at work, the opportunities for joy and rest…they all shape the future you’re working to create!