Illinois State University’s section of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) won Outstanding Student Section of the Year for 2018-2019.
The ISU chapter of ASSP was chartered in 1974, and Paul Ronczkowski has been the faculty advisor for 15 years. “The ASSP is a professional organization with a worldwide membership of about 35,000. The students become professional members when they join for a nominal fee,” he explained.
The Outstanding Student Section of the Year award was first awarded in 2007-2008. ISU’s student section initially won this award in 2016-2017, so this year’s win makes them one of only five student sections that has won this award twice. No student chapter has won the award more than that. There are over 70 student sections in the United States, and about 25 will apply for the award annually.
As award winners, ISU received recognition at ASSP’s national conference, as well as $6,000 that the section will use for scholarships, conference travel for students, and research.
Ronczkowski has served on the national review committee for the student award in the past, so he had a feeling that ISU’s student chapter would be competitive this year, as the students had exceeded many of the minimum qualifications for the award consideration, including holding and attending additional technical and parent chapter meetings. Some of the section’s other accomplishments and activities for the year included:
- Organizing and sponsoring a safety day at Bright Horizons Center, including coordinating local ambulance, fire truck, and police car there for the children to see
- Sponsoring a CPR certification course for other majors in the Department of Health Sciences
- Donated and decorated a tree for the Baby Fold fundraiser, and co-sponsored an additional tree with another club from the department
- Helped ISU’s Environmental Health and Safety office conduct fire extinguisher demonstrations at Festival ISU.
- Participated in an agricultural machine guarding study on combine guarding
- Hosted a coffee tent for the Homecoming parade route, raising $200 that went to the ASSP Scholarship Foundation.
In addition, ASSP was the Registered Student Organization of the month at Illinois State University for November 2018.
Learn more about the safety program and the student organizations.
