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Student seizes chance to thank parents

Greg and Ginnie Gietl stand with daughter Kassidy, a senior nursing student, after being named parents of the year during this year’s Family Weekend. Photo provided by Bradley University.
Greg and Ginnie Gietl stand with daughter Kassidy, a senior nursing student, after being named parents of the year during this year’s Family Weekend. Photo provided by Bradley University.

Bradley announced that Greg and Ginnie Gietl of Springfield have been named parents of the year during the recent Family Weekend that ran Sept. 18-20. They were nominated by their daughter Kassidy, a senior nursing student.

“I nominated my parents because they’re always going out of their way to make sure I am happy and as a daughter, I never knew how I could ever repay them for everything they’ve given me,” Gietl said.

Gietl said she saw the nomination as an opportunity to repay her parents. In order to nominate her parents for the Parents of the Year award, Gietl submitted an essay about how her parents have helped her succeed at Bradley.

Photo provided by Bradley University.
Photo provided by Bradley University.

“The essay was easy to write because I could talk about how grateful I am for my parents for a while,” Gietl said. “They’ve helped me succeed over my four years here in many ways. Sophomore year, I had roommate troubles and my parents took care of things right away. They called housing and found a new dorm for me within one week, and I was moved out and into my new dorm the following weekend. That is my number one example of them sacrificing everything for me just to make sure I am happy.”

Gietl wasn’t the only one who nominated her parents for this honor. She said she originally assumed that many people would send in essays for it, and her parents would be overlooked.

“It was the fact that I did it just for my parents [and] not for the recognition,” Gietl said. “If they would not have won, I would have read them the essay and let them know how much I appreciate all they do for me [anyway].”

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