{"id":2355,"date":"2012-10-04T15:19:26","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T22:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www2.nau.edu\/news-p\/wordpress\/?p=2355"},"modified":"2012-10-29T14:21:24","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T21:21:24","slug":"inspirational-mentor-named-homecoming-dedicatee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/inspirational-mentor-named-homecoming-dedicatee\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspirational mentor named homecoming dedicatee"},"content":{"rendered":"

At\u00a0Gretchen Wesbrock\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0going-away party on Tuesday, the assistant director of Residence Life knew it was going to be difficult saying good-bye to her students, colleagues and the university where she has worked for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

What she didn\u2019t expect, however, was the ambush announcement that NAU\u2019s 2012 homecoming was being dedicated in her honor.<\/p>\n

The honor is somewhat bittersweet for Wesbrock, who recently accepted a position in Cottonwood, Ariz., as the coordinator of the Mingus Union High School District GEAR UP program, a national program\u00a0managed in Arizona through NAU<\/a>\u00a0that helps low-income students graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s farewell reception brought dozens of people to North Hall to wish Wesbrock well in her career move while at the same time bear witness to a touching campus tradition.<\/p>\n

\"Gretchen
NAU’s 2012 homecoming buttons feature dedicatee Gretchen Wesbrock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Midway through the send-off and unbeknownst to Wesbrock, members of Chain Gang\u2014a student group that maintains university traditions and which Wesbrock has advised for the past five years\u2014acted out the time-honored school custom of presenting unsuspecting homecoming dedicatees with a button emblazoned with their photograph. Wesbrock was in disbelief upon seeing her image, noting that one of her highest personal ambitions had been achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve joked that I wasn\u2019t leaving NAU until I was named homecoming dedicatee and had a building named after me,\u201d she said with a laugh while wiping away tears. \u201cTo be honored by students\u2014it\u2019s why I do this stuff. This is tremendous, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0custom dating back to 1936<\/a>, student organizations from across campus annually select a\u00a0homecoming dedicatee\u2014an NAU faculty or staff member for at least 10 years who students feel has demonstrated exceptional service to the university and interest in its students. Dedicatees are honored during major events during\u00a0Homecoming Week<\/a>, which includes a banquet in their honor and a place in the homecoming parade.<\/p>\n

A two-time alum with both a bachelor\u2019s and a master\u2019s degree from NAU, Wesbrock has strong ties to the university\u2019s residential community. She was a resident assistant in McConnell as an undergrad and a resident hall director in Gabaldon and North Morton\/Campbell during grad school. Over the past decade, she\u2019s contributed her talents to the Office of Residence Life in a number of professional roles: as conference manager, Freshman Connections coordinator, and most recently as assistant director for hall staffing. She’s also served as adviser to student groups like Chain Gang, the Edge and AURH.<\/p>\n

\u201cGretchen touches student lives daily,\u201d said\u00a0Sammy Smart<\/strong>, president of the Associated Students of NAU. \u201cShe is one of the first faces freshmen see on campus. She provides them with great leadership experience and models to them what it means to be a Lumberjack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having had many front row seats for past dedicatee tappings, the significance of the honor is not lost on Wesbrock.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing an alum and knowing how special this tradition is and knowing I\u2019m among those who have been honored before\u2014I am super humbled and incredibly honored,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wesbrock will be celebrated at the annual Homecoming Dedicatee Banquet scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, at the High Country Conference Center. Tickets are $9.50 for students and $15 for non-students and are available through ASNAU in the University Union, room 206. Cash, check, dining dollars and JDE accepted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At\u00a0Gretchen Wesbrock\u2019s\u00a0going-away party on Tuesday, the assistant director of Residence Life knew it was going to be difficult saying good-bye to her students, colleagues and the university where she has worked for more than a decade. What she didn\u2019t expect, however, was the ambush announcement that NAU\u2019s 2012 homecoming was being dedicated in her honor.…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":2357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}