Our long awaited announcement is here! 

Employee of the Year

Employee of the Year is selected out of the outstanding employees who were selected as Employee of the Quarter throughout the year. Nominations are collected each quarter for employees who did an outstanding job throughout the quarter, took initiative to do something beyond his/her job, or completed a task that greatly surpassed everyone’s expectations. All awardees are then voted on by the Kawerak staff to select the overall Employee of the Year winner.

2023 Employee of the Year is Katie Bourdon!

“Katie Bourdon started Project REMOTE in June 2023. I was out on Longevity Leave and then emergency medical leave for 3 months. Katie hit the ground running and has been instrumental in the successful administration of the Project REMOTE Grant. Katie is very well organized, optimistic, follows Kawerak policies, takes pride in her work, is sincere, passionate, extremely hardworking and dedicated. Her first major accomplishment was taking the lead on Project REMOTEs video promotion. Ms. Bourdon had to organize travel (and lodging) for the film crews and participant interviews in each village – with a few hiccups from the weather. She personally traveled with the crew and attended interviews, so our participants felt safe and calm. The videos are amazing and undergoing final edits. Among her duties was to get our Lifel Learners program off the ground – again she has done amazing work. She traveled out to 14 of our villages to inform and sign up our Alaska Native residents over 50, then she has been working tirelessly making sure her participants have received their technology and internet set up. Over 360 Lifelong Learners applied, and she has been working with the 330 people who are eligible and completed the application processes, bringing them their technology and showing them the basics. While emerging herself in these tasks, she is also holding zoom webinars with those who have the technology teaching them how to Zoom! She has also become a board member for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Osher Lifelong Learner Institute and is encouraging our Lifelong Learners to become instructors. She has big plans for this program, and we are in the process of writing a grant that will take this program to the next step. Ms. Bourdon does outstanding work for Kawerak, and truly cares for the people of our region.”

-Pamela Cushman, nominator Q4

Matthew Iya

Each year Kawerak employees have the opportunity to nominate a fellow employee who helps make Kawerak a great place to work. This award is in memory of the late Matthew Iya, who was our Eskimo Walrus Commission & Housing Improvement Director in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. Matthew was a very hard worker, professional, and kind. He accomplished a lot, always had a great attitude and a smile on his face. He brought a sense of fun and camaraderie to the workplace, he was a creative thinker, who thought of our people first, he went the extra mile to reach the goals, and to make sure services were improved. Matthew is missed by many who knew him, it was an honor to know him. This award honors his legacy.
The employee who is awarded this honor has accomplished a lot, has a can do attitude, comes up with innovative ways to improve services. They should be professional, pleasant, kind, creative, fun, organized, who genuinely cares about our people, goes the extra mile, creates a healthy & positive work environment, has a good sense of humor, and someone who makes Kawerak a great place to work! All regular status employees who have passed the 6-month probationary period are eligible to be nominated. The final award is selected by All Staff through voting.

The 2023 Matthew Iya award goes to Roy Walluk Jr!

Roy’s nomination for the Matthew Iya Award read:

Roy’s contribution to Kawerak as a Building Maintenance Technician has been monumental and I’m proud to supervise him. Among Roy’s many unsung hero accomplishments:

  • Roy not only shows up on time every day, but when snow is expected on the horizon, he shows up early to remove snow before the rest of us arrive and salt/sands the walkways to prevent slips, trips, and falls.
  • He does a walk around of the grounds every day at all our facilities.
  • He’s also polite and cordial and adaptive to his schedule as he listens to staff and clients explain their issues and promptly reports concerns to me.
  • When the pipes froze and burst over Christmas break in Brevig & Teller at the same time, Roy traveled by every means available to repair the pipes (we flew out, drove out when the road was open, and even snow machined out a few times)… With limited time and resources, and very little outside assistance Roy has demonstrated many times that he is ready, willing, and able to take whatever has been thrown at him and make the best of it… Not even the 10 mile blowhole around Cape Wolley in near white-out conditions was enough to dampen his spirits… We just drove right on through it & got to work sweating pipes, and replacing manifolds… Only to find out that more pipes were broken downline from our anticipated repair. Roy and I accomplished what we could for the day and he made plans to fly back out as soon as possible with parts in hand to finish what we had started. He didn’t throw down his tools in disgust, he just worked as much as he could, and put together a list of what is needed to get the job done right the next time and chalked up a lesson learned.