From doing the work of two because a colleague retired to putting smiles on faces despite their own adversities, Bull Brag will honor the most good-hearted people across all USF campuses during the celebrations of USF Week.

Bull Brag will be recognizing three students and two faculty or staff members from the USF community every day of USF Week. Winners of the award will be selected based on outstanding service or acts of kindness given to the USF community.

Individuals were encouraged to submit a nomination on the Marshall Student Center (MSC) website for the award. Due to the high number of applicants, the event planners decided to extend the event to last the entirety of USF Week.

“We were kind of overwhelmed with the amount of amazing stories that people had to share about a friend, a colleague or a professor that had really gone above and beyond to be there for them and a lot of times in spite of some personal tragedies that that person may have been dealing with in their own life,” said Christopher Liska, conference and event planner at the MSC.

Participants will be divided in three different categories including students, faculty and staff. Winners will be selected by their acts of service to others, and they will be awarded by being featured on the MSC website and social media.

The MSC’s event team, consisting of Associate Director for Event Planning Elizabeth Sorenson and four event planners including Liska, hope to not only honor individuals who have gone above and beyond to help support their colleagues or classmates, but to also inspire others to do the same act in the long run.

“This idea came up in one of our meetings about creating an award that would specifically honor  students, faculty or staff that had gone out of their way over the past year, which was a tough one for everyone to kind of help create that sense of community within [the] university,” said Liska.

With the purpose of creating a more online-friendly event, people will be able to have access to the awards anytime on the MSC’s Instagram page @usf_msc and official website.

“We found it was really hard to get student engagement and that there was a lot of fatigue, between being in other meetings and in classroom settings that were all virtual now, talking with their family, virtually … it was really difficult,” said Liska.

A small act of kindness can make a big difference, and Bull Brag is seeking to encourage those acts within the community, according to Liska.

“You’re just serving the USF community, and it goes a long way in inspiring them, and then hopefully inspiring others to continue to do that,” said Liska.