Correa lauded for giving a hoot

Correa
lauded for giving a hoot
…………………………………………………………………

BY DANA BENSON
Rice News Staff

Football season
and tailgate parties go hand in hand. But the parties go
beyond good food and good friends for a group of Rice employees
led by Nelson Correa.

Correa, an air-conditioning
technician in the facilities and engineering department,
is the executive director of the High Order of the Owl Tailgate
Society, or HOOTS. The organization raises money for Rice
students who are children of food and housing and facilities
and engin-eering employees through tailgate parties and
other events.

For giving back
to Rice through his involvement in HOOTS, Correa was honored
at the Dec. 7 meeting of the Rice Board of Trustees with
a certificate of recognition.

Presented by
President Malcolm Gillis, the certificate honors Correa
for making an impact on the lives of others through HOOTS
and for serving as a positive role model for his fellow
Rice employees.

“I feel
very proud to have received this recognition, but at the
same time, I have always felt it to be an honor to work
at Rice,” Correa said. “I think the one thing
that really impressed me was when Dr. Gillis thanked me
and gave me a hug.”

HOOTS has its
roots in tailgate parties that were organized by facilities
and engineering employees more than two years ago as social
events to boost morale among employees and improve the work
environment.

A year later,
the tailgate parties had turned into fund-raisers for student
scholarships, but Correa saw even greater potential. He
began working to organize an official scholarship program.
Rice Associate General Counsel Carlos Garcia volunteered
to draft the constitution and other official documents,
and a board of directors currently is in the formative stage.

In addition
to the tailgate parties, HOOTS has sponsored other fund-raising
events, including a dunking booth contest and a raffle for
a barbecue pit, and accepts donations. For the 2000-01 academic
year, HOOTS awarded $4,200 to seven Rice students.

Correa and the
others involved with HOOTS hope to have the scholarships
endowed in the future, and he is hopeful the organization
can raise the $25,000 needed for endowment, especially since
the Board of Trustees has announced that it will match donations
made to the program through the faculty/staff annual gifts
campaign.

Members of the
Rice community who would like to contribute to HOOTS may
do so anytime during the year by contacting the annual gifts
office. A special fund-raising appeal is made each year
to the faculty and staff via the faculty/staff annual gifts
campaign, encouraging support for this program and others
of interest to employees at Rice.