Download Nominee Profile Erin Bocock Major/Minor: Financial Management

Nominee Profile
Erin Bocock
Major/Minor: Financial Management
Leadership: SHINE President, Tommie Disciple Committee Member
Scholarship: Dean’s list (Fall 2012 – Present), Beta Gamma Sigma (Business Honors Society)
Campus Involvement: Enactus Financial Literacy Project Manager
Leadership : Gibney Student Board
Campus Involvement : Flynn Hall Council
Testimonial
I am not surprised that Erin Bocock has been nominated for the Tommy Award. She is a brilliant student with
an outstanding record in scholarship, leadership and campus involvement. These and Erin’s determination to
use what she has learned in college to help others make her a very special type of student. Since her freshmen
year Erin has consistently being involved with on- and off-campus activities where she uses her college training
to help others in need. I am pleased to write this testimonial on her behalf.
As Erin’s professor I am very glad that she decided to take one of my courses (Business Forecasting). She is the
kind of student that we all want in our classes: smart, hard-working, very respectful of the professor and her
classmates and a pleasure to talk to. During her time at St. Thomas Erin has had many demands on her time,
still she has performed exceptionally well in all her classes. This clearly speaks to her commitment to
scholarship achievement.
Erin’s excellence extends beyond academics: while at Saint Thomas she has partnered with other students to
work in programs that are focused on the community; she has being involved in students’ matters; and she has
worked with off-campus organizations oriented to help underserved families and individuals. It is worth noting
that her involvement with student and community organizations has not been limited to putting in service time.
She has played a significant role in leading these programs and making them more effective. She is certainly a
role model for other students and for members of her community.
Erin truly exceeds the expectations of what a Tommy Awardee Student should be. Her scholarship
achievement, her leadership in student-lead organizations at Saint Thomas and her off-campus service work
combined with her exceptional compassion and desire to help others make her the ideal candidate for the
Tommie Award. I am sure that after graduation Erin will continue to work hard at generating change for those
in need.
Luz A. Saavedra
Relationship to Nominee: Professor
Testimonial
Erin was one of the first people to include me on the St. Thomas campus and in the community when I was a
freshman. She was a leader through SHINE which was a Christian community I joined on campus. Erin took me
out to coffee and listened to any troubles I had about adjusting and offered advice where she could. She also
never complained to me about anything going on and stayed true to her time commitments. Erin is one of the
most well organized and managed people I know. She also is very aware of her values and morals and is a
driven person to set and accomplish goals for herself and the communities she leads on campus. In her senior
year she put together the first ever Tommie Disciple all by herself and is now leading a small committee for it.
She is also the President of Shine now and leads all of us leaders effectively while being careful to encourage
our ideas and help us to learn to lead on our own. Erin is an excellent example of positive leadership on campus,
and excellent student and mentor to me and many other students she has encountered, and also has managed to
be very involved in campus ministry and retreats and involved in clubs like Enactus and Shine!
Monica Gagne
Relationship to Nominee: Friend
Testimonial
I met Erin at the beginning of freshmen year, and we became friends right away. Over the past four years at
UST, our friendship has transformed into a deep bond that I trust will last for years to come. I am so thankful
for our friendship which is why it is my honor to share with you the ways Erin has touched my life and the lives
of others as well as why I think she deserves the title “Tommie of the Year.”
Erin is the friend who asks me about little things I told to her a month previously and who takes me out to
coffee to listen to me talk for an hour straight (even though I feel like only ten minutes pass by). She has a gift
of lifting others up subtly and almost unperceivably; but over time, anyone who is close to her will start to
notice a change in them. They will begin to see their own potentiality which Erin had the ability to show them.
Only after Erin offered her compassion, loyalty, patience, and steadfast listening did they notice new gifts and
talents within them.
I’ve noticed this change in myself over the past three years; however, I am not the only person Erin has
left an impression on. She has shared herself with many different people on and off campus and has responded
to the needs of others in many different ways. She is determined and dedicated to hard work, which has allowed
her to be successful in her studies, clubs, volunteer work, and internships. This hard work is rich and rewarding
because Erin directs it always towards the good of others. She has served through leadership positions on
campus including President of Shine, leadership team member for Tommie Disciple, member of the Gibney
student board, and project manager for Enactus.
As president of Shine, Erin planned and facilitated a mission trip to Colorado with ten St. Thomas students. As
a member of the Gibney student board she worked with six of her classmates in the business school to choose
different non-profits to award grant money to. And as the financial literacy project manager for Enactrus she
helped create a basic finance course to teach those in the Twin Cities who were previously homeless. Off
campus, she has served the community as a development intern at Arc Minnesota, a non-profit that advocates
for people with disabilities. In this position, she does research, applies for grants, and coordinates events to raise
awareness and support for this marginalized group of people. At her job as a cashier at the Binz, she provides an
intentional friendly face to all those who come for dinner – and we all can recognize how remarkable a simple
smile can be!
After all of these responsibilities, she is still able to be devoted to her studies of financial management and has
consistently been on the Dean’s List since 2012 with a composite GPA of 3.80.
As Erin’s friend, I am truly grateful for all the kindness and self-worth she has shown me. She has been a leader
to me by encouraging me to share my gifts with others, and she has taught me an important lesson through her
role as president of Shine about true leadership: never leave a place unable to operate without you. When Erin
graduates in the spring, she will leave UST having built others up, allowed them to be leaders, encouraged their
growth, and overall just loved them immensely. For all of these reasons, I think Erin Bocock would be a
wonderful representative of our school as Tommie of the Year.
Anna Fry
Relationship to Nominee: Friend