Northeastern recognized seven staff members with the Black Heritage Award yesterday to honor employees for their years of typically unrecognized work, said Dr. Richard L. O’Bryant, director of the African American Institute.
The 2012 Black Heritage Award recipients were Joan Evans, Mark Harvey, Keyla Jackson, Ed Johnson, Patricia Neblett, Vita Register and Gloria Thompson, all of whom have worked for at least 20 years helping students through the African American Institute.
“They go on about their daily work, they come, they go, they do what they’ve got to do and nobody stops to say thank you. And it’s our opportunity to be able to say thank you to them for their many years of service, not just to the university, but to the Institute and to the students,” O’Bryant said.
In order to provide a college education for their children, Thompson and Evans first began working for Northeastern more than 20 years ago. Children of full-time staff members don’t have to pay tuition.
“I set my goals. I wanted my kids to get a college education. I knew I couldn’t afford it,” said Thompson, who has been with Northeastern for 24 years. “The university is a very, very good place to work. When I came here I met some nice people and I knew that this was the place I wanted to work.”
Evans, a payroll assistant with the university for 26 years, recalled her best memory at the university.
“My favorite experience was when I was in Richards I used to get to interact with the students more; now I don’t,” she said.
“Where we are we deal with, you know, we don’t really see the students anymore,” she said.
Six years ago, she said, her department moved to Columbus Avenue and her interactions with students became more rare.
Jackson, Thompson and Evans all said they were surprised when they found out they were going to receive the award.
“I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe it,” Thompson said, “but it is very well appreciated.”
Recipients got the awards from someone they knew – either the person who nominated them or someone that they had a connection with. Afterward, most recipients chose to say a few words of thanks.
Jackson has worked at Northeastern for 16 years and said the reason she has stayed at the university so long is because of the students.
“To see students as freshmen, and then five years later to see them graduate is what makes my work most rewarding,” Jackson said. “And to then go out and see them in the world working and moving on and doing other things with their life and they come back and say ‘Thank you, Mrs. Jackson, thank you for all the support.’ That, to me, is most rewarding. That’s what’s kept me at the university.”
Nearly every table at the Amilcar Cabral Memorial Center was full.
Northeastern’s Unity Gospel Ensemble sang two songs: “Lift Every Voice and Sing” along with a Zulu song whose title translates to “We are Marching in the Light of God.”
