Faculty, staff, students and their fans gathered Friday for an Evening of Recognition banquet to honor the top students seeking degrees and career training at Yavapai College’s Career and Technical Education Center.
In his welcome remarks, YC Dean of Career and Technical Education, extolled the quality of the 2019 student honorees and the people who have supported them along the way, namely YC faculty and staff. CTE employees “probably feel they learned more from you than you did from them,” he said, addressing the honorees and adding, “Teaching is an awesome profession.”
The evening’s highest honor, the President’s Award for Excellence, was presented to Nicholas “Cal” Whiteley, an agriculture technology management student, a Master Gardener, a working family man and community volunteer. “Cal is a stellar example of what can be achieved when one is driven, intelligent and passionate about education and community building,” Morgan said.
The Vice President’s Award for Excellence went to Jamie Welch-Cornell, a fire science student who has earned a 4.0 GPA while raising a toddler. Morgan said of Jamie: “She understands that education and dedication are imperative to reaching her goals and she proves that she has what it takes to succeed in the impeccable quality of her assigned work and projects.”
Along with recognizing high-achieving students, the team at CTEC annually recognizes individuals around the college district who have made valuable contributions to the center’s mission. This year, CTEC honored Molly Bushman, Patti Schlosberg, Kara Giannetto, Blaine Harris and Cassidy Grantham.
On behalf of YC, organ also thanked Ken Krebbs for his 22 years of service to the college and its students. A longtime instructor and the outgoing YC Fire Science Director, Krebbs has accepted the fire marshal position for the Copper Canyon Fire District. Among Krebbs’ accomplishments during his tenure were making fire science classes available online and guiding the fire science program through an important accreditation process.
Named CTEC Outstanding Faculty for 2019 was Liz Peters, an instructor in Applied Pre-Engineering. Peters was honored for her service on multiple college committees, for running CTEC’s summer engineering and robotics youth camps and for “modeling women in engineering fields to young girls, getting them excited about STEM fields and what they can do.”
Following is a list of 2019 Outstanding Students, by program, who also were recognized during the CTEC Evening of Recognition.
