At the awards banquet during the final semester of classes, in addition to receiving their certificates, 3 students are chosen to receive "Peer Awards" in three categories. Earlier in the on-campus week, the class is asked to submit nominations for classmates who "have created professional growth opportunities for their peers, significantly contributed to the professional development of their classmates, and have demonstrated and/or developed exemplary knowledge in the areas of job development and placement." Peers are nominated in the following categories and according to the following criteria.
 

Excellence in Professional Development 2004: Susan Goff 2003: Sam Bishop 2002: Brenda Eadens 2001: 2000: Susan Adams	Outstanding Performance in  Peer Education  2004: Lily Moody 2003: Clara Cunningham 2002: LaBeth Vahr 2001: 2000: Susan Huggins	Exemplary Performance 2004: LaWanda Rausch 2003: Kathy Bowman 2002: Charma Hughes 2001: 2000: Bess Garrett and Doug Richardson
Criteria: This individual will have shown a sincere commitment to providing services for people with disabilities. They have applied the knowledge learned from the course to his or her workplace. The application of this knowledge has been shared with their student peers. Their successes in promoting job placement services are paramount.	Criteria: This individual has utilized the Academic Certificate Program to not only advance opportunities for people with disabilities, but to enhance the knowledge and experiences of his or her classmates. He or she has shown enthusiasm and commitment to the goals and objectives of the program. He or she has reinforced the importance of teamwork to work more effectively and efficiently. He or she is known to the class as someone who exemplifies the ideal rehabilitation professional and is a valuable asset in the field of job placement.	Criteria: This individual was innovative and creative. He or she had experience working with people with disabilties and empowered us when we felt overwhelmed in the program. He or she gave of himself or herself unselfishly to assist other students. He or she was our humor, our friend, someone who showed us that regardless of how difficult a task or assignment seemed, its purpose would benefit the client and the student.
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Susan Goff - Excellence in Professional Development, 2004 "Susan is a role model for the entire class, always responding first to guest speakers and representing us all well. She is knowledgeable of our field and as a result, very resourceful. Always enthusiastic and fun loving, Susan is serious about her work. All consumers, both rehabilitation clients and emplyers can rely on her to listen to needs and help with making a good match. Susan is a professional and gives 150%."
 
 
 

Lily Moody - Outstanding Performance in Peer Education, 2004 "Lily has a sincere desire for learning and involves others in the class in her enthusiasm. You can count on Lily to ber first to volunteer and take a leading role in seeing that goals are met. She is a team player. Lily is innovative, creative, and compassionate and has earned the respect and affection of her colleagues. Lily is a true picture of the ideal human resource professional."
 
 
 
 

LaWanda Rausch - Exemplary Performance Award, 2004
"LaWanda has a huge amount of responsibility and somehow manages to be successful in it all. She really cares about consumers, is able to empathize, and goes that extra mile to assure the right placement. As incredibly busy as she is, LaWanda is never too busy to help others...she never seems bothered by clients or peers. No matter how rough the situation, LaWanda remains upbeat. Although she exemplifies the ideal rehabilitation professional, LaWanda is modest about her own accomplishments. At this time, she is ranked #1 in her state for facilitating the greatest number of placements with people with disabilities!"

Suzanne Tew-Washburn - Outstanding Leadership, 2000 - 2004

Five years, and more than 150 students later...on behalf of students throughout these years...Suzanne was presented with the Outstanding Leadership Award "in recognition of an outstanding leader, educator, and humanitarian who shared her vision to positively impact thousands of people throughout the Southeast." A sample of comments:
"Suzanne is committed to her students, their goal to becoming better service providers and their consumers. She is willing to go the extra mile to make each of us successful."
"She listens attentively, can stand on her own, she is smart and gives you every opportunity to succeed."
"Suzanne is to be commended for her educational diversity and flexibiltiy in understanding people."
"She cares about the students and has a compassion to help others. I am thankful that I've had the opportunity to be under her teaching."
"She is all smiles, and soft-spoken."
Suzanne is very supportive and understands that there is a life outside of work and school. She is the kind of person who put herself last for the happiness of others."
"She can really teach!"
"Truly wishes us to succeed...not because it is her job, but because she cares."
"Suzanne is amazing in the things she accomplishes with seemingly no effort. She does not go after the glory, but quietly gets the job done...and more."
"She is an advocate for Auburn and the Rehab program."
"Suzanne goes out of her way to make others feel comfortable and involved. She has a contagious smile and truly cares about her students."

Sam Bishop - Excellence in Professional Development, 2003
"Sam seems to have vast knowledge in dealing with people with disabilities. He knows about computers and he is committed to whatever task he is assigned. Sam took a job in the disability field without having any prior knowledge but he was willing to learn. He is obviously the smartest individual in the group. He appears to be very dedicated to his job and his consumers. He had been very helpful in our time spent in Auburn. He is always positive and has a solution for all problems. He is a team player and knows he will accomplish what he sets out to do. When we began this adventure, Sam had just taken this job. He has changed professions and didn't really know a lot about the "rehab" world; he has researched, taken a leap of faith, developed new guidelines, created websites, etc. Sam has reduced our "mountains" into "molehills" and made our work easier and fun. Sam exemplifies the qualities of a great rehabilitation professional and student. He has made himself available to assist with all computer and other problems of his fellow students. He has become a valuable asset in the field of job placement."

Clara Cunningham - Outstanding Performance in Peer Education, 2003
 
 

Brenda Eadens -  Excellence in Professional Development, 2002
"This student has a great sense of responsibility and is a team player and a real advocate for people with disabilities. She is full of energy and shares her experience and expertise. She is the most enthusiastic person...she goes way far above and beyond what her position requires. During this program, she has been a wealth of information and has unselfishly taken her time and effort to cheer us up, make us laugh. She is the kind of example that makes you proud to work in this field." 

LaBeth Vahr - Outstanding Performance in Peer Education, 2002
"This student has shown commitment and dedication from the first day I met her. It was evident that this student is innovative and tireless in her desire to provide the best possible services. I’ve talked to her over the phone a lot this year. She is always on task with assignments. Regardless of her professional and personal responsibilities, she meets the program goals. I especially admire her tenacity, intelligence, and energy."

Charma Hughes -Exemplary Performance, 2002
"This students worked diligently and without  reservation on the most difficult and time consuming role of our person-centered  planning project. She makes a positive contribution to the unity and productivity of our group. She never complains and people look to her for leadership. When we get discouraged, this student helps us get back on track. She is a real credit to this program and the agency she works for."

Dawn Browning - Outstanding Service, 2002
"The recipient of this new award is not a student, but is a staff member...nonetheless, she is an important part of the SENCES team. She single-handedly visualized and then created our website so that students could easily have the course materials they need and could be able to keep in touch with the friends they make in this program. She instituted the rehab forum so that SENCES students could communicate with all our rehabilitation counterparts all over the region. Most of all, we appreciate the way that no matter how hectic her job is, she always takes the time to help...students come first with her. She is patient and supportive. I could go on and on...but I won’t cause I know she is already going to kill me for this...cause she’s modest, too."



 
 
 

- Excellence in Professional Development, 2001

- Outstanding Performance in Peer Education, 2001

 - Exemplary Performance Award, 2001
 
 
 

2000 Award Winners quotes are from peer nominators

 
 

Susan Adams - Excellence in Professional Development, 2000
This student has been in job placement for many years. While she gained some insight from our classes, she also contributed much to our learning. One thing in particular that captured my attention was her telling us how she volunteered to help take applications for a new company that opened in her area. Also, she has worked many of the jobs where her clients have been placed simply because she would not ask her client to do a job she herself would not work and also she wanted to gain better insight to how jobs are performed.

She "exemplifies the ideal rehabilitation professional and is a valuable asset in the field of job placement" She looks professional. She acts professional. She can easily cross the line between the client's perspective and the employer's perspective.

She was instrumental in obtaining one of the best speakers we had... Billy Griffin of Church's Chicken. Billy's praise for her quality of work solidifies what we suspected all along: She is a shining example of "excellence in professional development" in the field of rehabilitation.

I nominate this student because of her demonstrated desire to share her experiences and resources with the class. In our fall group exercise, she demonstrated a team building attitude which broke the ice during our first day of class. This helped us get comfortable with each other very quickly.

She is very professional in her approach to rehab. and I have a sense that she does not suffer fools gladly. Her focus seems to be singularly on serving her clients to the best of her ability. I, for one, consider myself much the better for having met her. I hope our paths cross again.

If she is representative of all the rehab. professionals in North Carolina, the NC folks are a fortunate group indeed.


Susan Huggins - Outstanding Performance in Peer Education, 2000
 

There is just something in the way she talks about her clients and other experiences that makes me think she really cares. Her nature seems to be gentle and caring. Sincere is the word.

Although I live in a different state, I have made several phone calls to her office to speak with her co-workers. She works as a rehabilitation team member in sharing information, opinions and suggestions to better serve the clients in her local area. She works persistently until job related outcomes are achieved. She is a very dedicated individual who is a hard worker and in return expects everyone else to do the same.

It was evident that this student is innovative and tireless in her desire to provide the best possible services. She also shared with classmates throughout all sessions her experiences-what worked and what did not. But what impressed me the most was the way her team went about planning services and conducting job analyses for their fictitious client. She made the comment that if the team was going to do it the right way, they needed to go out into the community and pretend the client was real-they ended up conducting interviews at Mental Health and going to actual job sites and support departments, such as transportation, that were not arranged ahead of time by the instructors. And what subsequently happened was that the team did indeed experience what person centered planning is all about. If I were a client of hers, I would feel that she was truly committed to assisting me to become employed and to live as independently as possible. I have truly enhance d my knowledge of community employment services by sharing classes and experiences with her.

During the entire program, she so readily gave of herself and her time. She is kind and compassionate. She appears to be the kind of case manager we all would probably like to have were we in need of services.

She is very sincere in how she serves her clients, and she keeps us informed with her newsletter on how she continues to work with the hard to place population.

She has shown a commitment to providing services for people with disabilities. She has developed a number of relationships with business partners in the community. She was instrumental in building a strong Statewide Rehabilitation Council by presenting a panel of successfully employed clients with various disabilities who were assisted with obtaining and maintaining their positions. She is currently on several committees within her agency. She constantly shares any information she receives from various employers and other businesses in the community. She places the candidate and will help with job coaching if needed. 

When we get discouraged, this student helps us get back on track. She is tireless.

She is an outstanding Account Representative and a credit to the Georgia Division of Rehabilitation Services. "We've worked with all the rest, now let us see the Bess."

Doug Richardson - Exemplary Performance Award, 2000

I was very impressed with his knowledge of rehabilitation and his commitment to working with persons with disabilities. He had a good sense of humor and could always put things in perspective for me when given an assignment. During the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters, he drove to and from Auburn, but he was always willing to stay late to finish team assignments, especially during the Person Centered Planning sessions. I was always struck by his good common sense about clients and their needs and the creativity he showed when working in teams.

Although this student was a man of few words in class, he was an inspiration and a leader in our group work sessions. He always volunteered to do the job that others did not want to do. With his strong background in serving individuals with disabilities, his expertise and organizational skills were very helpful during our work sessions. To tell you how special he is, he commuted from home (an hour drive), but volunteered to stay late at night to assist with our project. When members of the group would get into heated discussions and the pressure was on, he was the calming force that kept all of us going. He typed for hours with three headstrong women looking over his shoulder and all giving advice at the same time on how the project should be done. All I can say, this man is extraordinary because he gives untiringly of himself and he is so patient.

His sense of humor- though subtle- often made tedious situations fun. This student's innate kindness and steady, even-temperament often was the oil poured on troubled waters. His ability to get along with others without compromising his personal values was evident in his interaction with his group and with each of us.