Every year, the St. Thomas community sifts through a multitude of candidates in hopes of finding just the right person to win the prestigious Tommie Award. While naming a “Tommie of the Year” is one of St. Thomas’ oldest traditions, it seems that this year’s well-connected group of candidates might bring a little more buzz to the process.
“Comparing it to my freshman through junior year, it’s definitely more amped up,” candidate John Busch said.
Although gauging the actual popularity of this year’s race compared to previous years is an inexact science, Busch thinks that one of the biggest indicators of how many people are staying interested can be found on Facebook. A quick search for the words “Tommie of the Year” on the social networking site yields a plethora of groups and events dedicated to winning votes for potential award winners. Busch has upward of 350 members in his group.
“It’s weird seeing a Facebook group made about you, [but] it’s amazing seeing all the support,” Busch said. “I’ve seen five or six groups made up of over 200 members.”
Another reason why this year’s election differs from others is the closeness of the candidates.
Candidate Derek Porter said he admires what the Tommie Award stands for and would be honored to win it, but that didn’t stop him from starting his own campaign to get close friend, Amanda Leaveck, to be part of the competition. Leaveck wrote Porter a letter of recommendation, and in turn, he wrote hers. Porter also added a little something extra — a music video dedicated to Leaveck, urging students to vote for her.
“She was embarrassed but super happy,” Porter said. “She showed her mom that same day.”
Busch, who was also nominated by a fellow candidate, believes that those kinds of gestures show how special the 25 candidates are this year.
Director of Student Engagement Amanda Niskode-Dossett said that while this is her first year coordinating the Tommie Award election, she can already tell that this group is a special one.
“It is wonderful to see the meaningful contributions each nominee has made to the UST and the greater community,” she said. “This group of Tommie Award nominees is truly exceptional.”
Some people think the closeness this year’s crop of candidates has with the community may have something to do with the perceived rise in interest for the Tommie Award. Many of the candidates have become familiar faces around campus. Porter and Leaveck are co-founders of the popular group PULSE, while Busch is one of many resident advisers recognized in this year’s group of nominees.
Porter just hopes that all the things that make each candidate special don’t get overshadowed by the Tommie Award’s “popularity contest” image.
Porter was adamant that the student body needs to elect someone they truly think represents them, not the person with the most friends around campus. His biggest fear is that people might think that popularity is something that drives these candidates, when really they are quite deserving of the award.
“Everyone who gets nominated is qualified,” Porter said, noting that this year’s group has raised the bar when it comes to accomplishments.
With a wealth of worthy candidates, Busch does not envy the job of the Tommie Award selection committee.
“It’s going to be interesting because there are so many great candidates,” he said. “It’s hard to narrow it down to just three.”
Note: To ensure complete objectivity, Tommie Award nominees and TommieMedia members Shane Delaney and Shane Kitzman were not involved in any of the writing or editing of this report.
Ben Katzner can be reached at bekatzner@stthomas.edu
This reminds me of high school. Lets all vote for the most popular guy and girl in our grade to be king and queen at prom! Judging by the results of the current poll, it’s kind of disheartening to see that the Tommie Award isn’t much more than a popularity contest… Whoever has the most friends is going to win this thing whether or not they really deserve it. Especially with the start of these facebook groups campaigning for individual candidates, just makes you wonder what the point is anymore…
The point is, Tony, that all of these candidates deserve recognition for their accomplishments on campus. I think it is rather cynical of you to assume that people are turning it into a popularity contest when really, every single nominee deserves it. It doesn’t really matter who wins, it is special enough just to be nominated.
While I get the thought behind the comment, I think yours is a little too cynical. Each of the candidates went through the selection process. That means they’ve been reviewed and recommended already. A strong case can be made than any of the candidates left are Tommie of the Year material. Therefore, why not let the community decide? If you were a personable, kindhearted person of course you’ll amass a lot of friends. I think an important aspect of being Tommie of the Year revolves around how you’ve influenced the community and that includes the friends you’ve made. It is not like we are asking everyone to tally up their friends and we decide it that way. Furthermore, being able to select 3 candidates reduces the popularity contest aspect as almost everyone is covered in the overlap. Like I said, there is a little truth to what you are saying but I think the rest of what I said answers the last part of your comment.
I wish Patrick’s commented had passed moderation before I started typing mine, needless to say I agree completely (still).
Haha, not the first time I’ve been called cynical… While i agree that they are all probably plenty qualified, I think that sometimes the person who DESERVES it the most might not win because someone else had more friends who voted for them. Thats why it’s kind of sad (but not surprising) to see that the “i voted for my friends” is so close to “i voted for the most qualified candidates”. just my opinion though.
I joined one of the groups on facebook. Sure, I knew the canidate, but I have to say that I would have voted for them anyway. I think that all of the nominees this year are extremely well qualified and each and everyone of them has really made a difference in our community. Popularity really has nothing to do with it, in my opinion. I don’t think that they would be canidates if they hadn’t contributed so much.