Per her nominators, “Keara’s position is to support the front-line customer service for the Housing department that includes email, phone and in-person. Our office took over 17,000 phone calls last academic year. From June to September, our office was getting in excess of 200 calls per day and 200 emails per day. She began making decisions, triage and deescalating the abundant highly concerned families, and with professionalism, poise, and a care-centered approach.
Additionally, no job or office task is beneath or above Keara and she is always happy to help out with whatever is needed. Keara has been essential to our daily operations leading her fellow student employees by example and helping to train some of our newer full-time staff. Keara even presented at Admissions events and tours.
Our team has been in a hybrid model over the last year, and the shifting of work from the office to home and back has not slowed Keara down at all. Keara manages our call center from home, maintains electronic communication with our staff via teams, and gives public presentations on Zoom, all things that were learned in a matter of days. She offered to work additional hours, extended her time during breaks, and worked with everyone in the office to learn their specific areas so she is able to provide additional support.
Keara has been an invaluable resource for us. In an office that manages so much data and information, Keara is able to provide simple and elegant solutions for keeping reports and databases organized and easy to navigate. Keara’s problem solving and quick thinking allows the rest of the office to work at peak efficiency. She has been eager to use these skills to transition to law school after graduating, and then onto a career in criminal justice. We are proud to know that the interpersonal skills and problem-solving abilities that she has been honing while working with us will be used for a truly honorable purpose, helping those who need it the most.
Keara has proven herself an asset to our team and does so with wonderful positivity. She has taken on a high level of responsibility for the front desk operations within our office. She has demonstrated leadership in this role which has allowed our office to continue to effectively function at a high level throughout this time of change and short staffing. Keara has learned our many and ever-changing processes quickly and is able to explain them to customers in way they can understand. Keara's positive attitude, support of customers, and initiative have made her invaluable in our office.
It is very difficult to articulate in so few words how we truly could not accomplish what we did without her. Keara is more than a student employee. The commitment she shows to our office, team, and the University of Colorado community as a whole is both praiseworthy and inspiring."