The “now hiring” sign in the Office of Accessibility and Disability Support has been taken down as Northwestern State University of Louisiana welcomes Trevor O’Bannon as the new coordinator of OADS.
Though O’Bannon may be a new hire, he is no stranger to campus. O’bannon obtained both his bachelors and masters degrees at NSU. After graduating from NSU, O’Bannon worked as the Coordinator of Student Academic Support at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, located on the NSU campus.
In his LSMSA role, O’Bannon strived to ensure that offered programming would be accessible to every student. O’bannon now hopes to do the same in his new position so all students can feel his passion for NSU.
“Natchitoches is my hometown, so I am excited to be home and help the NSU’s reputation grow,” O’bannon said. “I genuinely love NSU and I want to help students feel that same love for the university.”
As coordinator, O’bannon assists Taylor Camidge, director of OADS, in her day-to-day tasks such as intakes, exam requests, instructor correspondences and events programming.
O’bannon shared his excitement to work with Camidge.
“Taylor has done an incredible job making everything flow within OADS,” O’bannon said. “My short-term goal is to be able to competently run and understand the office to her level so that we can put more focus on the long-term goals we both have.”
Camidge shows her respect toward O’bannon in the same likeness.
“I am excited to welcome Trevor to the team,” Camidge said. “His compassion to help students achieve academic and extracurricular success is unparalleled.”
O’bannon’s new position encompasses the responsibilities of OADS as well as Student Activities and Organizations. Half of his day will be spent in OADS, while the other half of the day is spent with the University Programming Council.
“There are a lot of possibilities for overlap and collaboration between SAO and OADS, and I cannot wait to see what happens with them coming together a bit more,” O’bannon said.
Kemasia Nash, UPC fall coordinator, described her experience working with O’bannon in the UPC office.
“Trevor takes his position very seriously, but he’s also very fun to work with, super nice and very helpful, just always there to help anytime you need,” Nash said.
Abigail Peterman, UPC Lady of the Bracelet and Lagniappe coordinator, shared that O’bannon goes above and beyond in his UPC responsibilities.
“He even comes to meetings that he doesn’t even need to be at, he’s just so passionate and just overall very involved,” Peterman said.
Peterman believes O’bannon will do well in his new role.
“He’s young enough that he brings a new perspective, but also he just brings a certain light with him,” Peterman said. “He’s positive, you never see him getting stressed, he’s very good with his time and gives us constant reminders, so I feel he’ll do very well in any position.”
While an adjustment period is expected, O’Bannon is beyond excited to make this role his own and make a strong impact at NSU.
