Dallin Squires won BYU Student Employee of the Year for his work in the Physics and Astronomy Lab. (Sophie Hansen)
The BYU Student Employment Office looks for the brightest and most diligent student employees on campus each year. This year, that student is strategic management major Dallin Squires.
The office accepts nominations for BYU Student Employee of the Year annually. Squires' supervisor nominated him for his work in the Physics and Astronomy Lab.
While physics and astronomy is not Squires' field of study, he said he enjoys the learning opportunities at his job.
Squires worked an apprenticeship in a machine shop after returning from his LDS mission. He uses the skills he was exposed to at his apprenticeship in his work on campus.
More than 16,000 students are employed on the BYU campus. This year, 101 nominations were submitted for the employee of the year competition.
BYU student Dallin Squires welds in the physics and astronomy shop. He has worked as a lab technician for over two years. (Sophie Hansen)
Brad Taylor, assistant administrative vice president and head of human resource services, presented Squires the award on March 26. Taylor shared highlights from the nomination letter that led to the student employment committee selecting Squires.
The letter outlined Squires' dedication, initiative, professionalism and uniqueness of his contribution on the job.
'Dallin has been invaluable to the physics and astronomy shop. Over the course of his employment here in the shop, he has shown what the meaning of reliability is to an employer,' Taylor read. 'Dallin is consistently here when scheduled but not only here to fulfill his time requirement; he is on a mission to accomplish as much as he can in that time period while producing the best product.'
Squires' supervisor, Jeremy Peterson, is the director of the research machine shop in the Physics and Astronomy Lab.
'I thought he had all the qualities that would match the student employee of the year,' Peterson said. 'I’m excited that he got it because he deserves it more than anyone that I know.'
Squires has worked at the lab for more than two years. Peterson has worked with him for the majority of that time.
'He’s always looking at how to make things better and he has a lot of integrity, so he’s always looking at the ethics of everything,' Peterson said.