66th Honor Awards Convocation

I don't like bragging, I figure if I work hard enough-people will notice, and if they don't--I'm either not working hard enough or they don't care-and that's okay too.
For the first half of every year, my job revolves around the Department of the Interior Honor Awards Convocation. This year was the 66th Convocation the Department has put on. The event is a formal awards ceremony honoring employees who have received the highest honor awards the Department gives. These awards, the Distinguished Service, Valor and Citizen's Award for Bravery are for employees who have changed the Department for the better(we have 60k employees and only a dozen receive this award a year, ) and employees and citizens who risked their lives to save the life of another.
The ceremony is a Secretarial event, and I found out that putting the event on during a transitional year creates its own kind of excitement. We have slides, videos, a choir, an honor guard, a reception afterwards in our South Penthouse (hard to beat that view), our own Vanna White giving the awards. I coordinate with various Department Bureaus and Offices to pull it off. Many, many (close to a hundred, and I'm not exaggerating) employees and citizens are involved with pulling this event off the ground, and it was my pleasure to work with each and every one of them. That being said, we pulled it off this year, everyone including the Secretary was complimentary, and most importantly--all the award recipients and their families seemed very happy.
This year, the Valor/Citizens Award for Bravery story that stood out to me was a park ranger and guide who flew up Mt Rainer to rescue a climber who was hurt on the most dangerous part of the mountain. The helicopter crashed, the ranger was covered in oil, the park ranger and guide stabilized the pilot who was injured, called for help, made sure help got there and then continued up the mountain to rescue the stranded climber. The least I can do is make sure the ceremony allows the Secretary of the Interior to give these employees the honor they deserve.
Now it's off to create a work-life utopia, but before that? Miami for a benefits training tomorrow. Me voy mañana en la mañana.