A NAIT alumna has been recognized for her outstanding contributions to student life. Jorgia Moore, former NAITSA VP Internal and Campus Activities Board Events Coordinator, recently won the 2021/22 COCA School Student Member of the Year for Western Canada. The award was granted by the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities (COCA), an organization that according to their website, “focuses on improving and constantly enhancing student-life on post-secondary campuses across the nation.”
The award was given during the COCA 2022 Student Life Summit, a four-day conference held in Ottawa. Moore was unable to attend the conference as she was out of the country. She found out she won the award through a message from Jen Sieben, NAITSA Campus Life Director, who nominated Moore for the award. Sieben and other NAITSA delegates were at the conference.
“First, I told my friend, and we were jumping up and down in our hostel. Then I video called [Sieben] and briefly chatted with them, and they just said congratulations. [The award] would be announced formally at the awards night the following day, so I recorded a video from my hostel…and they played it at the awards ceremony,” said Moore.
“It felt really good to get recognized…after the year didn’t turn out the way that we thought it was going to, it was easy to be like, ‘Oh, whatever.’ But it was still a super successful year and [the award] showed that.”
In Moore’s nomination letter, Sieben praised Moore’s dedication to creating “Ooks Crew,” a program that connects motivated students interested in volunteering to opportunities on campus. “Lots of students fill out the form on the website that they want to volunteer, and we don’t have enough opportunities for them too…it was just an idea to break those barriers and fill those gaps, and it turned into a lot of students really liking it,” said Moore.
One of her highlights of her time at NAIT was seeing the way Ooks Crew impacted students’ lives. “There was a student who gave a testimonial, and they were like [Ooks Crew] really impacted their life and they were really grateful for their time on it and the opportunity to get involved and meet friends. It was really cool to see that they enjoyed it and were willing to tell others to join.”
Moore isn’t sure what’s next for her, but her time is currently occupied by charitable endeavors and volunteer work.
“My mom and I co-founded a free store for Ukrainian newcomers here, so that’s been taking up a lot of my time. Just helping them get started here, get the resources they need and everything there. So that’s what I’m doing in the interim until I figure out exactly what I want to do.”
For more information on the Free Store for Ukrainian Newcomers, including accepted donations, hours, and location, visit the Facebook page.
