Congratulations to the February CSIU: Living Our Values Winners!

As announced at 2022 Professional Leadership Day (PLD), the CSIU has implemented a new award program, "CSIU: Living Our Values". The program recognizes colleagues for their commitment to CSIU values: 

• • Service to others 
  • Passion for excellence
  • Equity in action
  • Innovation for growth

February brought in 12 nominations for the awards! Please take a few moments out of your day to read about these valued members of the CSIU family and to congratulate them for making a difference by Living Our Values through service to others, passion for excellence, equity in action and innovation for growth!

Christina Buck
Head Start
Living Our Values: Service to Others

Why Christina was nominated:

Chrissy is always ready to help at a moment's notice. She puts her time to great use and is always interacting positively with multiple families. She helps set up and organize Head Start family events at Watsontown Children's Center and White Deer locations. Chrissy is also willing to extend a hand to other programs when they need it. She strives to create positive relationships between the CSIU and families in our community. 

Dr. Timothy Campbell
LPN Career Center Director
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence, Nominated by Brooke Williams

Why Dr. Campbell was nominated: 

Dr. Campbell goes above and beyond to make students and staff feel better about themselves and reach their potential. He is kind, caring, motivational, extremely knowledgeable, and truly cares about everyone's success. He consistently works with a positive attitude and shares that positivity with all he comes in contact with.

Nannette Cooper
Five Star Program
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence

Why Nannette was nominated: 

Nan is a resource to everyone working at Five Star. As the Tier 1 coach for our School Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports team, she works diligently to communicate building-wide initiatives on a regular basis. Nan constantly looks for positive ways to get our students connected and single-handedly surveys students and staff about their interests, then creates clubs that provide students with opportunities to interact positively with peers and adults outside of their regular classroom. Nan helps arrange community service opportunities for our students, including the monthly Caring For Kids food packing for students of the Shikellamy School District. She also supports her coworkers throughout the building. When a staff member fell ill and could not take a student on a tour of their home district, Nan jumped in and facilitated the tour with about 10 minutes notice. Throughout the school year, she takes notes and uses the information to constantly refine and improve operations within our building. Nan puts countless hours and immeasurable effort into her work, and she does it all with a smile and good humor! We thank her for her service to the students and for the development of our program overall.

"Cooper is a clinically minded, student-centered, programmatically driven gem!"

Dawn Getgen
Five Star Program
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence

Why Dawn was nominated: 

Dawn didn't just take on the role of interim supervisor at Five Star, she fully embraced it. During her time with the program, Dawn made it a point to get to know every single staff and student. She regularly came to lunch to eat with the students and built genuine connections. She was always present and available. She truly listened and the staff felt heard and supported. Most importantly, she made staff feel valued, always taking the time to recognize strengths and a job well done. She showed up with a cheerful smile, a sunny personality, and a sense of humor on even the most challenging days. She genuinely cares about others and this work and it shines through. We will genuinely miss her and her positive leadership.

Melanie Haas
CARES Team
Living Our Values: Service to Others, Nominated by Dr. John Kurelja and Ronald Kline

Why Melanie was nominated: 

Melanie recently assisted a woman who was visiting her state representative’s office, located in the same building as the CSIU’s Bloomsburg Adult Education classroom. The woman accidentally tripped and fell, and Melanie heard her call for help. Melanie ran to assist the woman and had another staff member call for an ambulance. Melanie provided comfort and stayed with the woman until the ambulance arrived. She also collected the papers that slipped out of her hand when she fell. Melanie quickly jumped into action to help a stranger in her time of need. Thank you, Melanie, for exhibiting the truest form of service to others!

Steve Kennedy
Technology
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence, Nominated by Jill Snyder

Why Steve was nominated: 

Mr. Kennedy has gone above and beyond for our organization. Since we are outside the main CSIU building, Mr. Kennedy comes at non-traditional hours, goes above and beyond to help and make sure we have access to all of the websites we need, along with making sure our computers work properly.

"Mr. Kennedy models what an excellent, kind, and caring employee looks like. He always has a smile on his face."

Terri Locke
Special Education
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence, Nominated by Dr. Alan Hack 

Why Terri was nominated: 

Terri seeks to provide opportunities for the most vulnerable population of students the IU serves. She continues to support supervisors and program staff to offer the highest quality educational opportunities to our students. In addition, Terri skillfully leads our district’s special education directors in a spirit of collaboration and growth, working to collectively raise the impact these district leaders have on our CSIU region.

Tiara Magargle
Business Office
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence, Nominated by Katherine Vastine

Why Tiara was nominated: 

Tiara is dedicated to serving and supporting program operations as a CSIU budget analyst. She conducts business analytics to help guide fiscally responsible program management and decision-making. Her high level of communication, attention to detail, and commitment to service is exemplified by her everyday performance.

Micheal Pesare
Center for Schools and Communities
Living Our Values: Innovation for Growth, Nominated by Kelly Swanson

Why Michael was nominated: 

When several CSC initiatives shared their goal to create podcasts, Mike went into action researching best practices, equipment, and technology. As we roll out the first podcast, Mike continues to improve support so we can provide a professional product. This work will positively impact CSIU as other initiatives consider starting podcasts. I continue to be impressed with his innovative thinking and leadership.  

Emily Reedy
Head Start
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence

Why Emily was nominated: 

Emily Reedy has shown amazing leadership skills. She pushes herself and her staff to be better and strives to create a positive work environment for all. Emily has been thrown many curve balls in her position yet always seems to find a solution with a positive outlook. Her heart is truly in Head Start for the students and you can see this in the way she does her job daily. Thank you, Emily, for being the sunshine!

Kelly Swanson
Center for Schools and Communities
Living Our Values: Passion for Excellence, Nominated by Shileste Overton-Morris

Why Kelly was nominated: 

Kelly Swanson has led multiple projects at the Center for Schools and Communities (CSC) that have increased awareness about CSC's work to existing and potential customers. With the support of her team, Michael Pesare, Sherri Smith, and Stephanie Thorn, Kelly has increased CSC's social media footprint, improved marketing and promotional materials for our professional learning events, developed new products such as a podcast and videos that elevate CSC's work, and created a documented process to help CSC staff implement best practices relevant to communications, marketing, and resource development.   

"Kelly is one of our greatest human resources at the Center! She is extremely knowledgeable in the specifics of effective communications and marketing. She is able to articulate to the staff the importance of our brand and how their work contributes to its creditability."

Stacey Walmsley
Non-Public Services Team, Act 89
Living Our Values: Innovation for Growth

Why Stacey was nominated: 

Stacey is extremely knowledgeable about teaching reading and is always willing to help other team members be more efficient and effective in their teaching! She continuously stays up to date on the newest research regarding the science of reading and readily shares new methodology and materials with our Act 89 team. Her contributions to the Act 89 program are invaluable, and we are so lucky to have her as a colleague and as a friend!