Calvin Employee Honored with National Award

November 30, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

A key member of the Calvin College student life team has been honored by a
national organization as one of the best at what he does on the continent.

John Britton was named Orientation Professional of the Year by the National
Orientation Director's Association at the group's annual conference earlier
this month. NODA is an international organization chartered in 1976 and
serving orientation professionals at colleges and universities throughout the
U.S. and Canada.

Previous awards winners (the honor was first given in 1993) have represented
such schools as Kent State, Arkansas and Michigan. In fact Britton is the
first award recipient from a private college.

He says he is humbled by the award and honored.

"To be chosen by your peers and to have your hard work and creativity
recognized is very special," he says. "But the orientation program at Calvin
is such a team effort, so it's difficult to think of this as my award. We have
amazing student leaders who work on orientation and a terrific professional
staff, including my boss, Bob Crow, the dean of student development."

Britton says he believes the award is a reflection of how Calvin tries to
welcome first-year students and family members to the college.

"This award is typically given to large state schools," he says. "I think our
receiving it is an acknowledgment that our vision for orientation, with a focus
on hospitality, leadership development, community and mission embodiment, is a
vision that can be an example for other orientation programs."

NODA annually presents awards to outstanding professionals and contributors to
the field, as well as for excellence in publications. At the 2006 conference
Calvin also earned an award for "Outstanding Use of Theme" for its first-year
orientation materials.

Britton grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and attended Liberty University
for three semesters before transferring to Calvin where he was a secondary
education student with a major in physical education and a minor in Biology.
He began working at Calvin in the fall of 1996 in residence life work at
Calvin's Knollcrest East apartment and now is in his fourth year serving as the
associate dean of student development (but has been doing orientation for eight
years).

Among the twists he has added to Calvin's orientation program is a wilderness
orientation which takes small groups of first-year students away from campus
for a week of sea kayaking, rock climbing, rappelling, island camping, voyager
canoeing, sailing and solo time.

See http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/britton-honor.htm for the full
story and a JPG
Contact Britton at jbritton@calvin.edu or 616-526-6695
                    
    
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Received on Thu Nov 30 15:03:18 2006