Congratulations to our 2025 nominees for the Spirit of ESD 112 Award! Even though we can only choose one main campus and one district-based winner, each of these nominees deserves recognition for going above and beyond with their work. These nominees had coworkers take the time to recognize them by submitting examples of how they truly are “the spirit of the ESD”.  Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination. The 15 nominees are…

Amy Nuttbrock, Student & School Success

“Supervisors such as Amy, have the option of conducting supervision via zoom. Yet she maintains in person supervision a priority for all she oversees. Amy is in the field and travels to elementary, middle, and high schools over multiple counties within Washington ensure the relationships she leads are prioritized.”

Angela Mazza, Specialized Student Services

“Annie takes her job and her work with our students seriously. She ‘gets’ that working in Special Education, especially, is a labor of love. She locks in with laser focus and is able to juggle multipe tasks at once, uses both her intuition and expanding knowledge of Special Education to make quick decisions on the job which is essential in this field. She is adept at assisting teachers and administration with extra tasks during busy times of the school year, and takes it all on with grace and ease. “

Chris Wilson, Specialized Student Services

“Chris spans a huge swath of territory (eight districts throughout the Gorge) but never complains. He always has good advice to dispense and is consistently to preserve the peace under tense circumstances. No matter how adverse the circumstances; Chris finds a way! He keeps our morale up despite increasingly challenging circumstances and meager resources.”

Matthew Gaffney, Information Technology

“Gaff always responds to IT ticket requests; emails a ‘be right there’ or schedules a time to swing by. He always knows how to find the problem and fix it. If an item goes bad again (usually my headset), he swings by as soon as he can.”

Sharon Green, Specialized Student Services

“There’s not a problem she doesn’t come up with a creative solution to. If she doesn’t know off hand she will research it. She has been doing this job so long she understands certain intricacies and brings ideas that never even crossed my mind.. Her creativity and inherit wealth of knowledge across different departments is truly impressive.”

Dusty Wirtzberger, Specialized Student Services

“Dusty is a natural leader who brings out the best in every team she’s part of. She fosters collaboration, listens with empathy, and makes everyone feel valued. Her ability to guide and support others creates a strong, united team wherever she goes.”

Spero Center, Specialized Student Services

“The whole team at Spero pours their hearts out for their kids. The teacher in the classroom is so supportive, the outreach coordinators know what they are doing through and through, and it is always inspiring to watch. I have watched this team assist students with a positive attitude this year. They meet every intervention with curiosity and empathy, it is exciting to see.”

Joy Lyons, Student & School Success

“Joy has encouraged her team to collaborate and gives us the space and time to do that. She also has promoted inter-departmental collaborations. She demonstrates the value of networking and collaboration and does this in the office and out in the field when she visits her team.”

Susan Peng-Cowan, Student & School Success

“Susan has been creative in helping our team in Kalama find solutions in creating policies and procedures to identify and provide intervention for our most vulnerable students. Her presence in our district is so valuable! When Susan is coming to a meeting we know we can expect to have a warm discussion with wise counsel about how to move forward.”

Vickei Hrdina, Student & School Success

“What sets Vickei apart is her ability to think differently about persistent problems. She doesn’t accept ‘we’ve always done it this way’ as a reason not to innovate. She finds new ways to meet school districts’ evolving needs, whether by redesigning career pathway programs, integrating dual credit and apprenticeship models, or leveraging data to uncover opportunities others may overlook. Her creative solutions are grounded in reality but driven by the belief that we can do better for students.”

Jennifer Lootens, Specialized Student Services

“Even though Jennifer covers a large service area she arranges her schedule to attend most meetings in person. She lets school teams know when she will be coming in to provide service, and is alway easy to connect with. It is amazing how ‘present’ Jennifer is in each school she serves.”

Robin Curry, Specialized Student Services

“Robin is always going above and beyond–cleaning and putting together equipment for students, maintaining equipment, getting extra things the students may benefit from, brainstorming about what’s best for students, and even changing her schedule around to accommodate the best interests of her students!”

Florens Academy, Specialized Student Services

“The staff at Florens Academy are not only the most dedicated and hardest working group of educators, but they are the utmost at creativity and problem solving. No matter the challenging behavior a student may present with you can find the team collaborating and creatively seeking to solutions to help the students experience success.”

The Information Technology Team

“Hand in hand with their positive attitude, the patience of the IT department is beyond measure. No matter how many viruses we fall for, or how many times they have to tell us to try restarting our computers (or make sure they are plugged in in the first place), I challenge anyone to name a time when they’ve seen IT get frustrated with anyone.”

Congratulations to all of these nominees! We are lucky to have you on our team at ESD 112.

The two winners will be announced at the End of Year staff celebration on June 18! We hope to see you there!