Blackhawk Honors Partners, Alumni, Faculty, Staff at 3rd Annual Golden Brick Awards

Front row, left to right: Cynthia Delcourt, Lisa Johnson, Tiffany Garrison, Tinika Kilgore, Elizabeth Howard. Back row: Rebecca Veium, Marissa Greuel Hainstock, JP Brummond, Rachel Pregont Andres, Scott Fischer.

Blackhawk Technical College held its 3^rd Annual Golden Brick Awards on Thursday afternoon to honor community members, industry partners and Blackhawk alumni and staff who have gone above and beyond in the past year to advance Blackhawk’s mission and vision of preparing students for work and life.

“For over 100 years, Blackhawk Technical College has continued to strive to be a primary partner to train our community’s future workforce. And this afternoon, as we recognize those who have gone above and beyond in their support of our mission, we also pay tribute to the spirit of collaboration that truly defines us,” said Lisa Hurda, Blackhawk’s Director of Advancement & Foundation.

The 2024 award winners are:

• Technical Education Champion Award – Prent Corporation
• Philanthropic Award – Alliant Energy
• Community Partnership Award – Boys & Girls Club of Janesville
• K-12 Partnership Award – South Beloit Community Unit School District #320
• Distinguished Alumni Award – Tinika Kilgore
• Rising Star Alumni Award – Kaleb Shafer
• Distinguished Faculty Award – Lisa Johnson
• Distinguished Staff Award – Cynthia Delcourt, Tiffany Garrison, Marissa Greuel Hainstock and Elizabeth Howard

The event was held at Blackhawk’s Conference Center on Central Campus and included several sponsors:

• JP Cullen – Presenting Sponsor and Distinguished Staff Award Sponsor
• First National Bank and Trust Company – Technical Education Champion Award Sponsor
• SSM Health – Philanthropic Award Sponsor
• Ceroni Mechanical, Inc. – Community Partnership Award Sponsor
• Blain’s Farm & Fleet – K-12 Partnership Award Sponsor
• Angus-Young Associates – Distinguished Alumni Award Sponsor
• Gallagher – Rising Star Alumni Award Sponsor
• TDS Telecom – Distinguished Faculty Award Sponsor

About the 2024 Award Recipients

Technical Education Champion Award – Prent Corporation

Prent Corporation, the leading global manufacturer of thermoform packaging for the medical industry and a fast-growing leader in packaging for the electronics and consumer industries, is the recipient of Blackhawk’s Technical Education Champion Award, which recognizes a key community or industry leader who demonstrates an exemplary level of partnership with Blackhawk to promote technical education and economic development.

Prent is a key collaborator in making educational opportunities available to Blackhawk students through partnerships with the college’s Community and Workforce Development Team and the Manufacturing, Apprenticeship, Technology and Transportation Division. The company also donated $250,000 to the Blackhawk Technical College Foundation last October to fund a cutting-edge manufacturing lab space within the college’s new Innovative Manufacturing Education Center.

Rachel Pregont Andres, Prent’s Executive Vice President, is a member of the Blackhawk District Board and she, along with her siblings, Joseph and Michael, and their parents, Joe and Tina, recently established The Pregont Family Foundation Scholarship, which is a full-tuition scholarship awarded to a recipient through the course of his or her degree program at Blackhawk.

Philanthropic Award – Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy, which provides energy service to one million electric and 425,000 natural gas customers across Iowa and Wisconsin, is the recipient of Blackhawk’s Philanthropic Award, which honors a company or individual whose generosity has made an impact on Blackhawk and the Blackhawk Foundation with their contributions to open doors for students, programs and facilities.

In 2012, Alliant Energy began offering Manufacturing Scholarships to Blackhawk students in the Welding, CNC Technician and Electro-Mechanical Technology programs. In 2019, the scholarships shifted to Electrical Power Distribution students to better address workforce demands within the energy industry. These scholarships, totaling $6,000 annually, along with a $200,000 contribution for the naming rights for the Electrical Power Distribution outdoor classroom and dig pit, which is part of the Public Safety + Transportation Complex, underscores a commitment to addressing critical college needs. In addition to financial backing, Alliant Energy's in-kind donations, including vital vehicles for industry-aligned training, exceeded $40,000 in value.

Alliant Energy also works closely with Blackhawk's Workforce & Community Development Team for contract training services. In 2022-2023, nine Alliant Energy drivers received training through Blackhawk, with seven more drivers receiving training this academic year.

Community Partnership Award – Boys & Girls Club of Janesville

The Boys & Girls Club of Janesville is the recipient of Blackhawk’s 2024 Community Partnership Award, which honors organizations that have made significant contributions through a sustained and reciprocal partnership with Blackhawk.

Formed in 1989 and currently lead by Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Veium, the Boys & Girls Club of Janesville serves hundreds of youth through after school and summer programs. In partnership with Blackhawk, BGC offers opportunities such as hosting student interns and serving as a stop for the college’s shuttle service. Blackhawk’s Workforce and Community Development Team also facilitates college and career readiness programs for teens at the BGC, which includes tours of Blackhawk’s Central Campus in Janesville.

Angie Kablar, a Blackhawk employee, serves as a member of BGC’s Board of Directors, helping to facilitate connections between the two organizations, including the partnership between the college’s Culinary Arts Program and BGC’s Let Loose & Laugh fundraising event featuring Charlie Berens. The Culinary Arts students make and serve desserts for the event at the Janesville Performing Arts Center.

K-12 Partnership Award – South Beloit Community Unit School District #320

South Beloit Community Unit School District #320 is the recipient of this year’s K-12 Partnership Award, which recognizes an exceptional K-12 school partner with Blackhawk that has a common goal of growing a high-quality talent pipeline for the next-generation workforce for our communities.

Through dual enrollment programs, South Beloit has set an example of how collaboration between Blackhawk and K-12 partners can shape the future. Superintendent Scott Fischer, Principal Dr. Jeremy Schaaf and College & Career Director Emily Roer are key collaborators in this partnership, which includes dual credit options for students to obtain either a 2 or 4-year college degree and a dual credit experience in the trades and technical fields. Both programs help South Beloit students work toward their career goals while in high school. In fact, the South Beloit dual credit students earned nearly 230 credits from Blackhawk in the last academic year.

This partnership is a blueprint for how other school districts and community or technical colleges can be successful together to meet the needs of their communities.

Distinguished Alumni Award – Tinika Kilgore

Tinika Kilgore, a nurse practitioner for UW Health, is the recipient of Blackhawk’s Distinguished Alumni Award, which honors an outstanding Blackhawk graduate who has demonstrated the value of a technical college education through career accomplishments, community service, continued personal and educational growth, and support of the technical college system.

Following her graduation from Beloit Memorial High School, Tinika worked at a restaurant with aspirations of making culinary arts her full-time career. But at the advice of a cousin, she opted to work at a nursing home and attend Blackhawk to receive her certified nursing assistant technical diploma. Tinika’s work ethic was quickly noticed, and she decided to work toward her associate’s degree in Nursing from Blackhawk.

After her Blackhawk graduation in 2004, Tinika started what would become a 20-year career at the Beloit Health System. In December 2022, she moved on to UW Health and is now considering a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. Cooking remains a passion for Tinika, and she hopes to one day become a personal chef.

Rising Star Alumni Award – Kaleb Shafer

Kaleb Shafer is the recipient of Blackhawk Technical College’s Rising Star Alumni Award, an award that recognizes an alumnus who graduated from the college within the past decade.

As a student at Parker High School, Kaleb worked at The Diamond Center, which gave him flexibility to pursue a degree from Blackhawk upon graduation. It was at Blackhawk that Kaleb crossed paths with Steve Zimmerman, former Chief Information Officer of Prent Corporation, who became a significant influence. Zimmerman hired Kaleb as an intern and then as an employee.

During this time, he explored entrepreneurial ventures, always nurturing the dream of working for himself. The pivotal moment came when Nate Rodgers, owner of Badger State Maintenance, offered Kaleb an opportunity to handle the low-voltage systems, such as cameras and a door access system, for a new building. This opportunity led him to meet John Favreau of Evergreen Designs.

This marked the birth of Kaleb's own business, Superior Technologies, which has since grown into an LLC with five employees and over $2 million in revenue.

Distinguished Faculty Award – Lisa Johnson

Lisa Johnson is the recipient of Blackhawk Technical College’s Distinguished Faculty Award, which honors an instructor who contributes in significant ways to a program, department and the Blackhawk community.

Lisa is the lead instructor of Blackhawk’s Dental Hygienist program, which she launched at the college in fall 2022. Since then, she has started the Blackhawk Dental Clinic, which is open to the public. Lisa also will help lead an expansion of the dental program over the next few years.

Growing up in Marinette, Lisa graduated from UW-Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology before working in insurance marketing. It was while working with group dental insurance that she discovered an interest in the dental field.

After returning to school for Dental Hygiene at Madison College, Lisa worked at the school as a supplemental instructor for Microbiology and Anatomy & Physiology courses. She then worked as a dental hygienist clinician for several years and graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a Master of Science degree in Dental Hygiene Education.

Distinguished Staff Award – Cynthia Delcourt, Tiffany Garrison, Marissa Greuel Hainstock and Elizabeth Howard

Cynthia Delcourt

Cynthia Delcourt, Blackhawk’s Teaching and Learning Specialist, is one of four recipients of this year’s Distinguished Staff Award, which honors staff who contribute in significant ways to their department and the larger Blackhawk community.

Cynthia, who will retire in June, has been at Blackhawk for nearly 15 years, supporting college faculty through use of instructional technology and instructional design. She serves as the lead administrator of Blackboard, the college’s learning management system.

Cynthia has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an associate degree in Computer Technology from Southern Maine Community College. She also has a master’s degree in Education from Ferris State University and holds a Wisconsin Teaching Certificate and a graduate certificate in E-Learning and Online Teaching.

Cynthia is a lifelong learner who enjoys Tai Chi, traveling, camping and playing music.

Tiffany Garrison

Tiffany Garrison, Blackhawk’s Dean of General Education and Transfer Pathways, is one of four recipients of this year’s Distinguished Staff Award, which honors staff who contribute in significant ways to their department and the larger Blackhawk community.

Tiffany came to Blackhawk in 2017 as a full-time Science instructor. After becoming Academic Chair of Math and Science, she moved into the role of Administrative Chair of the General Education Department, becoming Dean of General Education and Transfer Pathways in 2024. Her position oversees Blackhawk’s Associate of Arts and Associate of Science programs.

Tiffany studied Biological Science/Pre-Med at Quincy University in Illinois. Working as a microbiologist in the Chicago area after graduating, she moved to Wisconsin to attend graduate school at UW-Madison, studying to be a neurosurgeon. However, Tiffany quickly realized that research and surgery did not ignite the passion she was looking for in a career. She then began teaching Gross Anatomy and other Anatomy and Physiology courses and discovered a new passion for instruction.

Tiffany believes the technical college system is an integral component of bettering the community and the opportunities of those who live here, and she enjoys seeing her students succeed.

Marissa Greuel Hainstock

Marissa Greuel Hainstock, Blackhawk’s Transfer Coordinator, is one of four recipients of this year’s Distinguished Staff Award, which honors staff who contribute in significant ways to their department and the larger Blackhawk community.

After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Elementary/Middle School Education from St. Norbert College, she moved back to her native Stevens Point and taught high school math and science. She then moved to Madison to work at UW-Madison’s School of Education. After meeting her husband, they moved to Janesville, and Marissa started working for Blackhawk’s Recruitment team. She eventually transitioned to an Academic Advisor position, primarily for the Nursing program. She also obtained her master’s degree in Higher Education from UW-Whitewater.

Now as Blackhawk’s Transfer Coordinator, she is an integral part of Blackhawk’s Associate of Arts and Associate of Science programs. The ability to impact students’ career and life goals is what drew Marissa to a career in higher education.

Elizabeth Howard

Elizabeth Howard, Blackhawk’s Financial Aid Specialist, is one of four recipients of this year’s Distinguished Staff Award, which honors staff who contribute in significant ways to their department and the larger Blackhawk community.

Elizabeth is an alumnus of Blackhawk’s accounting program, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Upper Iowa University.

As a lover of numbers and solving problems, Elizabeth enjoys helping students navigate financial aid and veteran benefits. Specifically, she helps process financial aid applications and package federal and state aid awards. She also is the certifying official for veterans, working closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs.