Air Force employee one of five selected for special award

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WASHINGTON D.C. (AFNS) --  Michael Nakai, an information technology specialist at the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., was selected as one of five recipients of the 2011 Judith C. Gilliom Outstanding Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with Disabilities Award.

He was presented the award during a ceremony at the Department of Labor headquarters here Aug. 5.  Maj. Gen. Gregory Feest, the Air Force chief of safety, accompanied Nakai to co-accept the award.

The Workforce Recruitment Program, or WRP, is a government‐wide program co‐sponsored by DOD and DOL. The goal of the program is to increase the representation of persons with disabilities, especially severe disabilities, in the federal workforce.

Candidates are rated on the basis of communication skills, maturity, direction and qualifications, in addition to an overall rating. In order to be included in the program, participants must have been assigned an overall rating of "3" or higher. More than 400 WRP students are assigned to positions within DOD.

This fall Nakai will enter his junior year of college at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, with a major in criminal justice, concentrating in computer forensics. His interests include photography and fine arts.

When asked about being recognized for his outstanding performance, he said, "I am very honored. To be one of the five awardees in the whole program is overwhelmingly exciting. I enjoyed working for the Air Force Safety Center even for a short period of time. I look forward to coming back next year."

He is known as a "top performer" with unlimited potential and his leadership and computer skills are priceless and have paid huge dividends for all HQ AFSC, an AFSC official said. During his second workday at HQ AFSC, Nakai was charged with fully migrating the organization to Windows 7 standard desktop configurations. He executed this task without any system failures or issues.

"We are all proud of Michael's accomplishment and his being recognized for superior effort," said Mike Collins, deputy division chief of the Analysis and Integration Division, who accompanied Nakai from Kirtland to attend the award ceremony. "He is an exceptional young man and we look forward to his return to work with us next year."