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The Student Government Association began a new program this semester called, Bobcat of the Month. The purpose of this program is to recognize an undergraduate student that goes above and beyond within the Quinnipiac community with involvements and academics each month. Any student can be nominated by another student, faculty or staff member.

The reveal process was extravagant to show how big of a deal this honor is.

“Rather than sending the person a boring email saying, ‘hey congrats you won, pick up your gift card at the SGA suite,’ we wanted to make a really big, special thing, to make it a tradition,” Jamien Jean-Baptiste, SGA vice president for public relations, said.

Jean-Baptiste and the SGA Public Relations Committee reviewed all of the nominations and decided to select sophomore Megan Taylor to be the first Bobcat of the Month.

“It felt awesome,” Taylor said. “I really wasn’t expecting it, so it was definitely a surprise. I’m really honored to be the first one to get it”

Megan is a health science major on a pre-medical track. She also serves as the scholarship chair for her sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma, and the president of the new club volleyball team; however, she was selected for reasons beyond these involvements. Her roommate, sophomore, Olivia Murphy, nominated Taylor after witnessing her take action in class to assist her professor who was having a medical emergency.

“There was something about the way she acted that was very calm, cool and collected,” Murphy said. “It was just very respectful.”

Jean-Baptiste and the Public Relations Committee revealed to Taylor that she won during her sorority’s chapter on Sunday night.

 “It was crazy, I didn’t expect them to all to know before I did,” Taylor said. “I didn’t know that anything was happening. They all kept it a secret, and nobody told me, so I was really surprised.” 

As the winner, Taylor had the option to choose between a $250 gift card to the Quinnipiac bookstore or to get a parking pass for anywhere on-campus for a month. Taylor chose the gift card and plans on sharing it with her roommate for nominating her.

“Sometimes, people don’t always get recognized for certain things, and I’m super glad she did for this,” Murphy said.

Members of the Quinnipiac community can continue submitting nominations on SGA’s DoYouQU link throughout the whole school year. A new student will be selected each month.