September Citizen-of-the-Month

For those of you who have never heard of this award, the Office of Community and Ethical Standards once a month, honors a student who has served as a role model to other students by exhibiting the Clemson core values of integrity, honesty, and respect. Anyone from the campus community can nominate a student for this award. If you know of someone that serves as a role model for other students and exhibits these three values, feel free to email a nomination to Justin Carter, Associate Director of the Office of Community and Ethical Standards, at jcarte2@clemson.edu. All nominations are due by the 20^th of the month.

Rickey E. Taylor, Jr.

For the first time in the two-year history of this award the Office of Community and Ethical Standards collectively would like to nominate one of our own, Rickey E. Taylor, Jr. When Rickey first came to our office, he was facing some personal problems that quite honestly affected the quality of his work. He did not take responsibility for his actions, he made excuses, he would not show up to scheduled hours, and he generally showed distaste for volunteer hours.

I will let Rickey tell you in his own words what he was going through at that time, “When I came to OCES it is was because of a DUI. When they didn’t suspend me, I was like cool! But when they told me what I had to do, I was like man I don’t want to do this. Some days I just wanted to find an excuse about why I couldn’t come and I felt like I could not make that big of an impact.”

All of this came to a climax in the Fall 2008 after Rickey had missed several community service hours. After a meeting with our Director and a conversation with his mother and others, a noticeable change occurred. Not only was Rickey appearing for his hours, he was hanging out in the office beyond his community service hours looking for things to assist with. He became a part of a student group in our office dedicated to community education called the Community Educators. Through this opportunity he talks to other students about his experiences with drinking and DUI and encourages students to make smart decisions. He has impacted many students with the pictures from his accident and his personal story.

This year he not only is a part of the Community Educators he has taken over as Chair of the organization. His goal is to grow the organization and aid in the transition from being a departmentally sponsored program to an independently recognized student organization. This is one of the many good things for the Community Educator organization this year. Thanks in part to a young man, who didn’t want to participate in anything community service related to begin with. Rickey also, wanted to make sure we mentioned that if you have an interest in learning more about the Community Educators, they meet every Thursday at 6:00pm in 700 Union.

CONGRATULATIONS Rickey!

Sincerely,

Justin Carter

Associate Director, OCES