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Patriot Awards presented to Perpich leadership

Sue Mackert, executive director of the Perpich Center for Arts Education, and Mike Zabel, administrative management director for the center, have received Patriot Awards from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a program of the Department of Defense.

 

They were nominated for the award by Todd Goetze, accounting officer at Perpich, who serves as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve and returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan earlier in 2013.

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The award was presented by John Kingery, a volunteer for the ESGR, and a former staff member in the administration of Gov. Rudy Perpich, the founder of the Perpich Center.

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“We are so proud of Todd and very humbled by this award,” said Mackert. Zabel, Goetze’s immediate supervisor, said, “I’m very honored that he chose to thank us in this way.”

 

“It means a lot when you’re over there to know that you have the support of your family and friends,” Goetze said. “I got a lot of support from everyone at Perpich with messages and care packages. And I got an incredible welcome back.”

 

According to the ESGR only 321 Minnesota employers received Patriot Awards in the past year. The Patriot Award was created by ESGR to “publicly recognize individuals who provide outstanding patriotic support and cooperation to their employees, who like the citizen warriors before them, have answered their nation's call to serve.”

Perpich Center for Arts Education is a state agency serving all schools in Minnesota. Created in 1985 by the Minnesota state legislature, the agency seeks to advance K-12 education throughout the state by teaching in and through the arts. Perpich staff and faculty experts provide outreach, professional development, research, curriculum and standards development. Perpich also is home to a public arts education library and an innovative, two-year, statewide residential high school that serves as a living laboratory for creative development in the arts.

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