Good people doing great things

Olympia schools recognize five with Employee Recognition Award

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At the Olympia School District regular board meeting on May 26, the district’s Executive Director of Human Resources Scott Niemann announced five recipients of the 2022 OSD Employee Recognition Awards.

"This annual award program is designed to recognize employees throughout the district in five categories," Niemann told the board of directors and visitors at the meeting. He said their colleagues nominated them for the awards.

Recipients include:

Connor Schober, OSD Community Relations coordinator, was recognized as "The Innovator." The award was given to any staff member demonstrating innovation strategies that significantly improve the district's mission.

Tagg Seyer, Speech Language pathologist at Capital High School, received "The Champion of Differences." The award is given to any staff member who celebrates the values and differences of individual groups by their actions.

Nancy Swanson, bilingual family engagement specialist of Roosevelt Elementary School is this year's recipient of "The Unsung Hero" for continually going the extra mile on working and getting results with little or no fanfare.

David Johnston, a graduation specialist at Capital High School, received "The Coach" award for taking a unique role in enabling students and his colleagues to excel.

Hansen Elementary School's Development Learning Center team led by Sarah Wernke and Instructional coaches Katie Savinski and Jennifer Cronquist of the Teaching & Learning Department won the Dream Team award. The award is given to staff members who worked together to help students succeed in or out of the classroom.

All winners received engraved wooden plaques crafted by the Washington Middle School students attending the Marketing and Manufacturing class under teacher Brian Morris.

Schober expressed appreciation for the award. "I am very fortunate to have been able to work for our school district and see the little things that you do throughout the day that impact others."

Schober has been with the OSD for 10 years.

Margo Hoffman, OSD communication assistant, shared why she nominated Schober. She said he is innovative and adaptable to almost every situation.

"Connor is always humble. He rarely takes credit for his work. He has shown a lot of ability to adapt to changing times," Hoffman said.

She added Schober is always studying the newest and most effective communications.

He diligently trains staff in every department to become web techs to design and maintain their school department or teacher website, according to Hoffman.

"Whether his trainee has the limited or diverse related experience, Connor is always there to guide them. People can always come to Connor with questions ranging from really basic like how to format a Word document to complex issues such as how to operate professional video equipment or troubleshooting document accessibility," she said.

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