The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Galveston District honored nearly 90 of its members during an awards ceremony for the third quarter of fiscal year 2021, July 1. This marked the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the USACE Galveston District was able to gather onsite for an awards ceremony.
The ceremony recognized employees from various professional backgrounds-engineers, scientists, program managers, biologists, and cartographers-for their significant individual achievements, group accomplishments, career milestones, and retirements from federal civil service.
District Commander Col. Tim R. Vail and DPM Byron Williams were on hand to present the awards and speak on the accomplishments of the awardees.
Earning Civilian Service Commendation Medals were:
Loretta Buddenhagen
Alvin Garcia
Debra Jones
Enrique Villagomez
Earning Civilian Service Achievement Medals were:
Marcos Garcia
Ollie Jackson
Chris Lanutti
Martin Puente
Receiving Civilian Service Achievement Medals as a group were:
Jaqueline Lockhart and Adam Tallman
Sara Delavan and Alison Peiper
Receiving a Certificate of Achievement was:
Fredalyn Colston
Earning Certificates of Achievement as a group were:
Michael Harris, Kimberly Roberts-Stroud, and Bryan Williams
Veronica Benavides, Katherine Bidot, Loretta Buddenhagen, Theresa Conley, Wanda Cook, Alvin Garcia, Kari Gauntt, Wanda Hollman, Debra Jones, Nancy Knapik, Barbara Layman, Tonya Lippe, Karen Milburn, Jocelyn Neyland, Erika Permenton, Stephanie Saturno, Bernice Taylor, Brett Ulekowski, Arthur Victor, and Bryan Williams
Receiving Certificates of Appreciation were:
Tracey Gardner
Orlando Ramos-Gines
Recipients of the Regulatory Division’s Teamwork Award were:
Broc Adams and Kevin Mannie
Recipients of the Regulatory Division’s Marie Patillo Customer Service Award were:
Tasha Metz and Diana Stevens
Vail and Williams also recognized Galveston’s “Heroes of the Week” for the quarter:
Toni Addison, the District Hero of the Week for the week of April 8.
The Wallisville Lake Project Team-consisting of Eric Angle, Rachel Gibson, Sidney Sliger, Mark Tyson, and Timothy Weaver-recognized as “Heros of the Week” for April 30.
Lisa Finn, Galveston’s “Hero of the Week” for May 13.
Jeff Pinsky, the District “Hero of the Week” for May 28.
Chris Lanutti, the “Hero of the Week” for June 11.
David Case, Galveston’s “Hero of the Week” for June 25.
Several Galveston District employees also celebrated career milestones and received certificates for their length of federal service.
Recognizing their five-year mark of service were Kelsey Ciarrocca, Amanda Hafemeister, and Jason Jordan.
Recognizing 10 years of service were Elizabeth Blake and Dority Trampus.
Recognizing 15 years of federal service were: Edward Benavides, Robert Buchalski; Shamekia Chapman; Alison Grzegorzewski; Robert Little; Franchelle Nealy; and Kimberley Reynolds.
Celebrating 20 years of service were Jennifer Bowers, Apryl Kilgo, Alfonso Moreno, and Alicia Rea.
Hitting their 25-year mark of service were Joseph Chun, Mark Lumen, Shakar Misir, Michael Sells, Andrew Smith, and Byron Williams.
Marking 30 years of federal service were Dwayne Johnson, Deborah Leighton, Belinda McFarland-Davis, Lynn Vera, and Lynda Yezzi.
Celebrating 40 years of service was Donald Haring.
“We work really, really hard and we rarely get accolades,” said Williams. “For everyone that gets an award today, there are probably four or five equally deserving people that will not get recognized,” he said, urging all district supervisors to continue highlighting the work their teams do for the USACE mission.