You might be asking yourself what an “Unsung Shero” is. Broken down, unsung is pretty easy to define – not praised or acclaimed.
But what’s a “shero?” You won’t find it in Webster’s dictionary. It’s an invented word that combines “she” and “hero” and for the definition, think heroine.
The Unsung Shero Award has been presented annually since 2007 to a worthy recipient in the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Federally Employed Women “FEW” by one of our FedSmith authors, Ann Vanderslice, and her firm, Retirement Planning Strategies. It began when Ann noticed that a lot of the employees she met through her retirement classes were doing remarkable things with little or no recognition.
Having worked in corporate America for more than a decade, Ann knew how valuable people who go above and beyond their job descriptions are to an organization. She approached FEW to see if there was a way to partner with them to present an award during their annual Rocky Mountain Regional Training Event. FEW enthusiastically agreed, and the Unsung Shero Award was born.
This year, the Unsung Shero award was presented to deserving federal employees in four FEW regions – Great Lakes, Rocky Mountain, Southeast and Western. For the first time, a National Unsung Shero will be selected from the regional winners and will be recognized at FEW’s National Training Program to be held in Atlanta in July.
Public Service Recognition Week has been celebrated during the first week of May since 1985 as a way to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county and local government employees. This makes it a particularly good time to share a little about each of the four regional Unsung Sheroes.
Great Lakes Region
The FEW Great Lakes Region Unsung Shero is Teresa Pack Hockey. Teresa works for DFAS in Cleveland, Ohio, and was nominated by her supervisor, Anita Jenkins. As Anita wrote in part of her nomination:
Teresa is always engaged in seeking ways to move the organization forward. Teresa’s actions earn her the respect and gratitude of those for whom she serves, her senior management, and her peers. Collaboration across sites and functional areas is difficult, but Teresa makes it look easy.
oads/2018/05/cassandra-getter.jpg” alt=”Portrait of Unsung Shero award recipient Cassandra Getter” width=”350″ height=”377″ /> Cassandra Getter[/caption]
The quality of these winners is just a small sampling of the character of dedicated public servants working across the country. After reading the short descriptors of this year’s winners, you’ll likely understand the definition of an “Unsung Shero.”
