I want to highlight the “deepest bench” with whom I have had the pleasure to work: the staff in the Office of Financial Aid. I cannot choose one “unsung hero” because each person is a vital part of the whole. Shelby Maguire (pictured), Jamie Baltz, Jeff Metz, Marsha Hess, Tracey Berton, and Michelle Pretopapa are the epitome of excellence, integrity, and dependability. These individuals never seek merely the good; they seek the best.
Throughout countless appointment hours on Zoom or Google Meet, phone calls, lengthy emails in response to not-so-happy parents, and the like, this group of folks has turned nights into workday extensions and weekends into weekdays—all while being loving parents, spouses, siblings, and children of aging parents.
I offer my heartfelt thanks and admiration for these unsung heroes in Financial Aid.
—Forrest Stuart, assistant vice president of financial aid.