Hopkins student named Bates Student Employee of the Year

Kaia Peterson, a sophomore environmental studies major from Hopkins, Minn., has been named the 1999 Bates College Student Employee of the Year by the Northeast Association of Student Employment Administrators.

Peterson, who has worked as office assistant to Maria Libby, environmental coordinator at Bates, has been responsible for drafting correspondence, researching effective environmental policies, scheduling speakers for special events and overseeing campus recycling and reuse of overhead transparencies.

“Kaia has consistently proven herself capable of independently executing multiple projects,” Libby said. “As a result of her work, my office has been far more productive than I can take credit for. On top of all this, she is affable and full of integrity.”

Peterson has served as vice president of the Bates College Outing Club, the nation’s second oldest collegiate outdoor activities club. She also sings with the Merimanders, the college’s all-female a capella group, and serves as a student delegate to the off-campus study committee and the Environmental Confederation. A 1997 graduate of Hopkins High School, she is the daughter of Nina Norum and Scott Peterson of Hopkins, Minn.

Located midway between the coast and mountains in south-central Maine, Bates is a 144-year-old undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences and is rated among the top 20 national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Bates offers majors in 23 academic departments and six interdisciplinary programs and encourages independent study, research with faculty members and participation in off-campus programs. Bates does not require standardized-test results for admission.