The second full week in April is celebrated by the National Student Employment Association as National Student Employment Week. To help UW-Madison celebrate, we are providing a mixture of in-person and virtual events and ideas for us to recognize and acknowledge the hard work that our talented student employees do. These events and ideas are meant to be used in any way that benefits employers and student employees alike, even if just as inspiration for your own personal communications to students. Thank you for showing appreciation for your student employees!
In-Person Events
Show appreciation for your student employees by attending these events with your team or sharing them with your employees! We have included a calendar along with descriptions of each event below. In-person events will be offered beginning Monday, 4/15 through Thursday, 4/18. All events are free and prior registration is not needed, students can just drop by.
No events returned.
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Free Professional Headshot Photos @ Nicholas Recreation Center
To celebrate National Student Employment Week, Rec Well is offering free headshot photos to Student Employees. (Headshots are a portrait that are usually used for professional purposes such as linked in profiles, websites, etc.)
When: Monday, April 15th Time: 1pm-4pm
Where: Nicholas Recreation Center, Momentum Studio
Free Trivia Night and Snacks @ The Sett
To celebrate National Student Employment Week, we invite student employees and their friends to a night of free trivia and snacks located at The Sett. Team trivia will be from 6:30PM-8:00PM and teams of two or more are eligible to play. Registration of teams will begin at 6pm. Snacks will also be provided.
When: Tuesday, April 16th 6:30PM-8:00PM
Where: The Sett @ Union South
Free Bowling, Billiards, and Video Games
To celebrate National Student Employment Week, the Division of Student Affairs is excited to host student employees and their friends to a night of free bowling, billiards (pool), and billiards in the lower level of The Sett. All activities will be on a first come, first serve basis.
When: Wednesday, April 17th 7:00PM-9:00PM
Where: The Sett Recreation @ Union South
Free Ice Skating, Sports Simulators & Pizza @ The Bakke
To celebrate National Student Employment Week, Rec Well, University Housing, Campus and Visitor Relations, and College of Engineering are proud to host an evening of ice skating at Sub-Zero Ice Center and Sports Simulators in The Bakke! Student employees can enjoy a night of free ice skating (skate rentals included), sports simulators (i.e golf, soccer, carnival games) and pizza to recognize their hard work to support the University of Wisconsin!
When: Thursday, April 18th 4:30pm-6pm
Where: Sub-Zero Ice Center and Skybox Suites @ Bakke Recreation & Wellbeing Center
In-Person Gathering Ideas
If you or your team are unable to attend our scheduled in-person events or would like to schedule your own appreciation activities for your team, we have provided a few ideas below that are offered to the UW-Madison community! Not only are these excellent appreciation ideas but great team-building activities as well!
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Indoor Activities
- Schedule a creative art activity through the Wheelhouse Studios!
- Wheelhouse Studios at the Memorial Union offers groups the opportunity to schedule their own private group class or activity – and it is up to you and your team to decide what that will look like! Some options include painting, pottery, jewelry-making, DIY crafting, etc. To host a group event for your team, click the link here.
- You can also sign your team up for existing classes that the Wheelhouse offers – link here!
- Rent a bowling lane or the climbing wall at Union South!
- Sett Recreation offers a variety of games and activities for group rental or private use! For more information, click here.
- Attend a Wisconsin Union Theater performance!
- The Wisconsin Union Theater offers a handpicked selection of shows, events, and performances that suit a variety of interests and backgrounds. Check them out here.
- Attend a live music show at Memorial Union!
- The Wisconsin Union Directorate Music Committee hosts artists and music shows at Der Rathskeller, the Memorial Union Terrace, and The Sett at Union South on a weekly basis. Click here for more information!
Outdoor Activities
- Schedule a high ropes course, low ropes course, or teambuilding workshop through ALPs for your team!
- Adventure Learning Programs (ALPs) offers a variety of outdoor and in-person teambuilding activities that you can explore here, on their website. Be sure to fill out a Workshop Request Form if you or your department is interested!
- Schedule an Outdoor Group Experience or an Outdoor Explorer workshop with Outdoor UW!
- Take a guided tour through UW-Madison’s Allen Centennial Gardens!
- You can find more information about group tours here!
- Attend an event or class at UW’s Arboretum!
- You can find a calendar with descriptions of each event/class here along with registration forms, if applicable!
Virtual Toolkit
Virtual spaces facilitated through Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or WebEx could also be great ways to engage with student employees. These can provide an opportunity to check in with your employees, offer updates to your team, or highlight graduating seniors for their contributions.
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Synchronous Gathering Ideas
Virtual campus offerings:
- Set up a virtual group class through RecWell
- Set up a virtual team building activity through Adventure Learning Programs (ALPS)
- Set up a virtual Accapella performance featuring local UW-Madison student groups
Free virtual games & events:
- Play online Pictionary
- Host a trivia night
- Create a Jeopardy! trivia game
- Host a virtual BINGO game
- Do a virtual escape room
- Play the virtual mystery game: Among Us (mobile download required)
Pay for virtual games & events:
- Host a virtual game night through JackBox Games
- Reserve a virtual Game Night In experience
- Host a virtual guided painting session
Social Media Shoutouts
Show appreciation for your student employees in a Tweet, Instagram, or Facebook post! We have included examples below but as always feel free to create your own appreciation content to be shared on your department or division’s social media. We encourage you all to engage with any student responses that you receive on social media as well.
Share your appreciation on Twitter using the hashtag #ThankyouUWstudentemployees! Feel free to add this graphic to save some of your 280 characters!
Create your own post in appreciation of your employees or share this shoutout on your Instagram story! Be sure to add the hashtag #ThankyouUWstudentemployees!
Coming soon!
Make a Facebook post on your department or division’s account using this graphic to share your appreciation with the rest of the UW community!
Coming soon!
Email Messages & Templates
If you would like to contact your student employees more directly, consider sending an individual email message! To help you get started, take a look at the following items you could address in your message:
- Extend your gratitude for the work that they do to support the UW-Madison community and be specific! Citing specific instances of outstanding work will mean more than broad statements.
- If the student is graduating, wish them well in their future endeavors.
- If the student is not graduating, express your excitement about the opportunity to continue working together in the summer and/or fall.
Example messages may look like the following:
Hi (Graduating Student Name),
We hope your week is going well! In celebration of National Student Employment Week we wanted to thank you for all you do to support our team. Your hard work, adaptability, and dedication to your work is recognized and continues to make a lasting impact on our UW-Madison community. While we are sad you are graduating this semester, we are so excited to see all that you will accomplish and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors!
Thanks again,
Hi (Returning Student Name),
We hope your week is going well! In celebration of National Student Employment Week we wanted to thank you for all you do to support our team. Your hard work, adaptability, and dedication to your work is recognized and continues to make a lasting impact on our UW-Madison community. We are so thankful to have you returning next semester and we look forward to seeing everything you will accomplish both in and out of work!
Thanks again,
Video Messages & Scripts
Should you choose to send a video, we encourage including multiple supervisors and members of leadership within the department or division as multiple “clips” in the same video. This is a simple and effective way to showcase the importance of student employees to your team. Consider creating a video with leadership answering the question “what do our student employees mean to you?” A video message can be linked in an email to your student employees or shared at an all team gathering!
Example video message scripts may look like the following:
- Introduce yourself:
- Name, title, unit/department
- Introduce the student or team receiving the specific recognition or award: (if applicable)
- The student(s) names
- Student(s) current job title/unit
- How long the student(s) has worked for your unit/department
- Provide a few paragraphs on why this student or team is being recognized
- Be specific! Adding details or real examples of their work can be meaningful.
- Share the student(s) next steps
- Student(s) year in school
- Student(s) major/degree they are pursuing
- If they are graduating, their future plans (if known) – i.e., grad school, career employment, accepted to an academic program, etc.
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- You can also include a few sentences acknowledging their next steps, wishing them luck in future endeavors (if graduating), or that you’re looking forward to them continuing to have a positive impact in their unit/dept.
Final sentence: On behalf of the [department], we would like to thank you for the exceptional work you have done this past year, and would like to congratulate [name/team] on being an outstanding [student employee/team].
Looking For Additional Ideas? We've Got You Covered!
We understand that it might be easier to recognize your student employees away from a large group setting. Check out some of the ideas below:
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Create an Appreciation Jar
Create an Appreciation Jar where student and staff can anonymously submit small notes of appreciation for team members
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- Share these with your team in meetings, teams chats, or emails!
Gather Student Testimonials
Gather quotes via a Google Form about what students appreciate about the job
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- Create a poster or word cloud you can share with your students
Have Students Recognize Fellow Coworkers
Send a Google From to students and ask them for a sentence or two recognizing a fellow student coworker for their outstanding work
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- Share these with your team or individual(s) in meetings, teams chats, or emails!