Power-Up Awards

In her time at Evans Equestrian Sports, Sarah Walton exceeded all expectations, and showed true leadership skills, accompanied with a positive, can-do attitude. Her unrelenting dedication to detail and the highest of standards allowed her to seamlessly fit into the staffing needs at our busy Dressage and Eventing barn, and allowed her to quickly gain extra responsibilities in the care and riding of the horses. When I had an unexpected death in the family and had to travel out of town, Sarah assisted in "helming the ship" and was an excellent communicator with the daily activities and tasks completed each day. Everyone on the team at Evans Equestrian Sports, enjoyed and appreciated hosting Sarah as an intern, and LEC should be proud of her as a student and graduate of their program.

We would like to nominate your student, Vishaka Giri, for the "Outstanding Experiential Learning" award for all she has done to advance the Forbes House mission to end the cycle of domestic violence. Vishaka began her time with us as an unpaid intern before quickly becoming a paid part time family advocate moving up the ranks as a trusted team member working full time as our Housing Specialist and Team Trainer. She has embraced every opportunity to learn. As a result, she is a Registered Advocate, a Sexual Assault Advocate, Certified Safe at Home Application Specialist and is certified bi-lingual in Nepali by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Language. Vishaka completed training on crisis calls, de-escalation and LGBTQ+ Safe Space. She also learned other components of service including court advocacy, donor engagement and aftercare. Along the way, Vishaka has accepted every challenge, fulfilled every request, took on every opportunity presented to her and shared her perspective and insight to better our team and ultimately our agency. She is receptive to feedback and is willing to learn as well as teach because nothing can truly prepare you for everything that occurs in shelter because client needs are independently unique. A 24/7 emergency crisis shelter is not an easy work environment, as our clients live where we work and that is a dynamic much different than a traditional 9am-5pm, weekends off workplace. Because of her time at Forbes House, Vishaka has first hand experience and knowledge of how mental health conditions appear, how to manage through a crisis, what to do for a suicidal client or even how to manage client disagreements and navigate the splitting of staff. These valuable experiences have given Vishaka a head start on experience from what she learned at Lake Erie College to how that shows up in real time in real life situations. We believe this has tested her decision making skills, increased her confidence and enhanced her skill set to help her achieve all of her future career goals. Vishaka is graduating next month and will undoubtedly continue to be a gift to all who cross her path. We are simply grateful that she crossed ours. No one deserves the Outstanding Experiential Learning Award more than Miss Vishaka Giri. She will always have a home at Forbes House.