My Student Experience: Dean’s Office Student Workers Set Stage for Event Success

Just before the NC State College of Education’s December 2024 Graduation Ceremony came to an end, Mr. and Ms. Wuf appeared at the back of Reynolds Coliseum and unleashed a barrage of beach balls above the cap-and-gown-clad celebrating crowd of new alumni. 

The mascots’ arrival was a moment of culmination, not just for the new graduates but also for two Teaching Fellows, Lauren Dudley and Meredith Stroud, who spent the past few months engaged in the necessary work — poring over spreadsheets, rolling scrolls, double checking dissertation titles and putting together binders for the speakers —  to ensure the event, like so many other College of Education events over the past year, went off without a hitch. 

As the Dean’s Office’s student workers, Stroud and Dudley play an important part in supporting the College of Education’s graduation ceremonies, as well as its all-college meetings, Don C. Locke Symposium, Scholarship Banquet and other college-wide events and activities.

“It’s a lot of behind the scenes,” said Stroud, an elementary education major with a special education add-on. 

While they may not stand front and center, their work often does. When someone picks up a name tag, chances are it began its life as a piece of paper that Dudley and Stroud printed out and cut into an individual tag. When an attendee is in search of their table, they’ll likely find a table tent placed by the dean’s student workers, letting them know where they’re supposed to go. 

In addition to supporting College of Education events, they also work under the direction of Trish Sandman, the executive assistant to the dean, to facilitate a variety of projects and programs. Serving as a student worker has “opened up a lot more opportunities within the college,” said Dudley, an elementary education major with a special education add-on. 

For example, this summer, Dudley worked on a project for Dean Paola Sztajn, in which, with some assistance from University Distinguished Professor Hollylynne Lee, Dudley compiled a report about the success of NC State College of Education graduates.  

“I definitely learned a lot about the college and how it operates,” she said. “The statistics were really cool to see how the College of Education prepares us as educators and pre-service teachers.”

As the Dean’s Office’s student workers, Stroud and Dudley also support the college’s Student Success team, and this fall, Stroud played an important role in planning the Teaching Fellows’ cultural immersion trip to Surry County, where she is from. 

“We went to high schools, middle schools and elementary schools,” Stroud said. “We tried to jam pack as much into two days as possible.”

Whether they’re preparing gifts for donors or ensuring flyers get into the hands of prospective students, each project provides Stroud and Dudley with the chance to gain administrative skills they will one day be able to employ in the classroom when they graduate in May 2026. Until then, however, you can spot them at the college’s upcoming graduation ceremonies, waiting for the last beach ball to land.