ProAct leaders nominated several staff for Outstanding Achievement Awards in the fourth quarter of 2020. Check out the details and please congratulate these individuals:
Dannielle Mullins
Dannielle (Danni) is a virtual enrichment instructor who has naturally taken the lead for ProAct’s group of virtual instructors. She has been, and continues to be instrumental in improving how the nonprofit implements its virtual services.
Danni has taken initiative and created many handy “tools” to make it easier for other virtual instructors to conduct their classes.
When managers observe Danni in class, her communication skills have been quite impressive. She is able to diffuse arguments, provide articulate directions to complete the activities, and offer clear directives if there are technical issues.
Her supervisor can’t say enough about how appreciative and impressed Danni’s work performance has been over that last few months. Her peers and families of participants have also noticed and send praise and positive thoughts about Danni.
Teresa Ziegler
Teresa (Tes) has been providing support for all Eagan coordinators and her supervisor by assisting in the intake process, filling out and sending funding documents, and providing tech support and sign-ups for virtual enrichment services.
Tes rapidly picked up on the processes and even improved the quality of how documents were laid out, using her excellent and advanced skills with Microsoft Excel. Because of her advanced technology skills, Tes is able to think in a way that improves everyone’s time management.
The entire team of coordinators and DSPs have expressed their appreciation for Tes’ role and flexibility in wearing all sorts of “hats” during this time.
Cindy Besonnie
Cindy is an employment specialist, who has singlehandedly grown ProAct’s employment services in Scott County. She is creative in working with students to explore different careers, even during the pandemic. Cindy has a special talent of meeting people where they are at, and supporting them to reach their goals.
Her style and skills have been noticed at the VRS and county levels, and an increase in referrals have resulted. She has grown services to the point where ProAct brought on another employment specialist in October 2020 to support Cindy with coaching services.
She recently celebrated 90 days of employment for one of her participants. This person thrived due to the level of support that Cindy provided.
In addition to the creative, caring, and skilled services Cindy provides, she is also seeking certification in Customized Employment. ProAct and the community as a whole are fortunate to have Cindy has an advocate for participants, her manager explained.