Employee of the Quarter | Noelle San Souci

With the stressors, hardships and discovery that comes with the college experience, it’s vital that students have supportive and compassionate people in their campus corner – people like Employee of the Quarter Noelle San Souci.

Noelle, who’s Director of Student Engagement, is constantly dedicating her time and effort to helping students. Plus, she knows what it’s like to be on campus as a student herself, having earned her graduate degree at UCCS in Student Affairs and Higher Education (SAHE).

“I was working down at CSU Pueblo, with coworkers who’d done the SAHE program,” Noelle said. “They spoke very highly of it, and Patty Witkowsky, who was overseeing the program at the time, convinced me to apply. The program gave me so much hands-on experience and knowledge into how a university runs, and helped me make both professional and personal connections to people I still keep in touch with.”

After seeing UCCS as a student, Noelle knew she eventually wanted to join its staff as well.

“I wanted to get back here because I loved the campus, and the people I met here were really great,” she shared. “But there wasn’t a job that aligned with my experience and goals for a few years until the associate director job opened, and it was similar to what I was already doing but at an elevated level with more student engagement opportunities.”

Noelle wasted no time taking advantage of those opportunities once she joined the university, overseeing the LIVE Leadership Scholarship students and over 200 student-run clubs, advising the Student Government Association (SGA), teaching a GPS course and more. It keeps her busy but brings variety to her work and allows her to be in a student-supporting role, which she especially loves.

“What’s typical about my day is that it’s never the same,” Noelle laughed. “We do a lot of activities, event planning and programming out of our office, and working with students means many small things pop up during the day. It comes with lots of student one-on-ones. You’re trying to help them grow as an individual, give them the tools to be independent and help them build conflict-management skills. Then there are some conversations we have with students that are more about helping them learn to balance responsibilities and how to pass the baton and avoid burning out. The reward of working with students – seeing their success and watching them work through challenges – always feels really good.”

Part of Noelle’s work includes large-scale efforts in addition to her daily duties, like the Engagement Leader Program and annual Friendsgiving event she helped the students establish. The Engagement Leader Program is a newer initiative that sees current students pair with new students to attend campus events and help acclimate to UCCS in general.

“We hired around twenty students last year, prepared them with GPS classes and they then worked through Clyde’s kickoff and Gateway Days, meeting up with the incoming students to attend events and help them learn about the resources they have access to,” said Noelle. “It was really successful and we saw significantly increased engagement in our welcome week events, and we were able to hire even more students for this year and expect to nearly double the Engagement Leaders next year.”

“For the Friendsgiving celebration, our students really wanted to do something that brings them together, and it morphed into a large-scale event to bring students together to share a meal, and to also give the students who may not have somewhere to go a place to be for Thanksgiving break,” she added. “I advised the students through planning and executing the event, but it was all their ideas. They basically fill up Berger Hall and have a different activity each year, like bingo or crafting, and it’s turned into a really cool, new tradition that they worked very hard to put together.”

Noelle is deservedly proud of the work she’s accomplished on campus, but also of what she’s achieved in her personal life: raising a 16-year old daughter, Brooklyne, with her wife, Sara, and watching Brooklyne come into her own. The three of them enjoy spending time outdoors together and attending hockey games at Colorado College, where Sara works in human resources.

“We all love to be outdoors and traveling to national parks,” she said. “I’m also in an LGBTQ+ sports community called HotMess sports and we just finished with our kickball season with our team getting second place. Next up, we’ll be doing sand volleyball and sometimes we have dodgeball sessions. Those have been really fun and enjoyable. It’s pretty competitive, but also very friendly and accepting of all different folks.”

Noelle’s daughter even has plans to visit campus with her Air Academy High School Student Council classmates for a school trip to meet the SGA, sit in on one of their meetings and observe student government at the university level.

“I’ve always been advisors to student government, and she joined her student council, and was elected as junior class president for the upcoming year,” said Noelle. “She’s seen me during busy times where I’m run ragged but still wants to be part of student government, so that’s exciting.”

Noelle was also one of many who worked even harder over the spring semester after February’s tragedy. She and her fellow Student Life staff worked together to create a healing space in the Student Life Lounge for students to have the option to come together and support each other however they felt comfortable doing so.

“What we heard from a lot of students was, ‘I just don’t want to be alone.’ Not even necessarily needing to talk, but being in a space where they can color, watch a movie or just come in and eat snacks and be around others,” Noelle explained. “We brought therapy dogs and games in, and we saw a lot of organic things happening in there – people who didn’t know each other, but were sitting together and talking and working through things.”

Knowing firsthand the challenges that staff and the campus community faced in the following months made receiving EOQ even more momentous for Noelle, and she noted the hard work and care put in by those she works with.

“I was so shocked,” Noelle said. “It was really nice to be acknowledged, especially after such a hard semester. I have so much respect for so many people on this campus and everything that they’ve done to get us through this past semester. That made it even more special at the time that I got it, because I knew that there were so many people on this campus that are deserving of recognition for all that they have done and do.”

Noelle clearly excels in her role and support of students and doesn’t see herself leaving it anytime soon, to the benefit of the Mountain Lion family.

“I want to take the next steps in my higher education journey and continue to work on myself as a leader,” she said. “I think I’d be disappointed if I didn’t work with students, so staying in the student-facing role while taking on more responsibilities and challenges.”