FREEPORT — Highland Community College recognized four outstanding colleagues at its spring semester kickoff with the 2024 Opel and Excellence Awards. The Excellence Awards recognize employees for demonstrating work quality, creativity, honesty, integrity, self-development and excellence in their professional relationships. The Opel Award is named after Don Opel, who helped establish the Highland Community College Foundation. It recognizes the outstanding effort and commitment of an employee who goes “above and beyond” to support the College while contributing to a positive environment.

A committee made up of award recipients from the previous two years selected winners in the following categories: Administrative/Professional Excellence, Part-Time Employee Excellence, Classified Excellence and the Opel Award.

Madonna Keeney (Winslow)

Administrative/Professional Excellence Award: As bookstore manager, Keeney is credited for her exemplary organizational and customer service skills, ensuring instructors and students can access the highest quality educational materials and products. She demonstrates respect, courtesy and kindness and is highly valued by her staff and student workers.

Jackie Schultz (German Valley)

Part-Time Employee Excellence Award: Schultz is an administrative assistant for Lifelong Learning. She manages a substantial amount of work details and performs a wide range of duties while providing excellent service and communication to her customers. She recognizes that everyone, whether internal or external to Highland, is her customer.

Stacey Benkert (Freeport)

Classified Excellence Award: Benkert is a student accounts coordinator who tirelessly pursues improvements in student-facing processes through education and technology. She is an efficient and reliable team player who investigates and simplifies complicated issues, gathers feedback and implements helpful changes.

Karla Giuffre (Freeport)

Opel Award: Giuffre is a biology instructor who is also an active co-advisor and recruiter for Women+ in Science and Student Senate. Outside of her normal classes and labs, she provides extensive support to her students. She ensures they have the resources and understanding they need to be successful in her classroom, even when it requires hours of work outside of it.