Hans Meyer Receives Founder's Day Award

April 13, 2005 — Hans Meyer, a senior in the Bachelor of Social Work program, is the college’s recipient of this year’s Founder’s Day Award. Below are Dean Belinda McCarthy’s remarks about Meyer as presented at the Founder’s Day Convocation, held in the Student Union on this date.

Hans Meyer began his academic career at UCF in the fall of 2003 when he enrolled in the B.S.W. program in the School of Social Work. He quickly established himself as an exemplary student — his GPA is 3.937 — who has a sincere interest and commitment to social work. He also quickly emerged as a leader and an excellent role model for other students in the program. He has made the most of his two years here at UCF and his future looks very bright.

Hans says his life was not always on a path to success. In 1994, he was a recent high school graduate living in Duluth, Minnesota, who was making, as they say today, some “poor choices.” After a run-in with the police, Hans says he broke down and called his father, who lives in Casselberry here in Central Florida. His father was compassionate and caring and invited his son to move to Florida and start over. Hans says, “It was a huge turning point in my life.”

After moving to Florida, Hans found a job and started taking courses part-time at Seminole Community College. He stuck with it for years and eventually completed his associate’s degree in May 2003. During this time he also started attending The Orlando Church, where he volunteered as director of the teen ministry. For three years, Hans coordinated and planned many activities and workshops for the ministry’s 150 teenagers. The experience ignited his interest in working with teens and families.

Hans continued his volunteer efforts when he came to UCF. For the past two years, he has held volunteer positions in no less than 16 organizations and events. These include serving as the state undergraduate representative to the Florida Board of Directors for the National Association of Social Workers, or NASW; secretary of the NASW Central Florida unit; president of the B.S.W. Student Association here at UCF; and coordinator of the “Get Out the Vote” campus campaign. He has also been a volunteer for organizations such as Heart of Florida United Way, Second Harvest Food Bank, Jewish Family Services Food Pantry, Seminole County Health Department, Habitat for Humanity, ESTEEM and Toys for Tots.

As president of the B.S.W. Student Association, Hans has been an advocate for volunteering among his fellow students. “Social work textbooks provide the basic information about the field, but volunteering brings things to life,” he says.

Hans also recently spearheaded a successful effort to procure funds from the Student Government Association to support student attendance at Social Work Lobby Day in Tallahassee this spring. “Hans is an exceptional person and student, says his advisor, Robin Kohn. “He is conscientious, intelligent, resourceful and reliable, and he has a talent for working with others.”

In recognition of his talent for and dedication to helping others, Hans was recently selected from among undergraduate and graduate students at 12 schools in the state as the 2005 Student Social Worker of the Year by the Florida Chapter of the National Association of Socials Workers.

Hans plans to continue his education here at UCF by enrolling in the M.S.W. program this fall. After completing his master’s degree he hopes to continue working with teens and their families. “It brings me great joy to imagine being able to help people from many diverse cultures and backgrounds and to provide them the means to function at a higher capacity than they might have otherwise,” he says.

Hans, we are already extremely proud of you and your accomplishments, and we wish you the very best as you continue your academic career in social work.