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Navy education office named best in service

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  • By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jessica R. Vargas
  • Strategic Communications Wing 1 Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  From helping a Sailor choose the right degree plan to guiding a chief petty officer through the tuition assistance process, the hard work

and dedication that Strategic Communications Wing ONE Navy College Office Director Chris Kern-Garcia displays everyday was recognized when she earned the 2009 Exemplary Navy College Office of the Year Award for the small category.

The award, presented by the Center for Personal and Professional Development Commanding Officer, Capt. Jonathan Picker, honors NCOs which exemplify the CPPD voluntary education goals of providing educational services world wide, anytime, anyplace to Sailors and their spouses supporting their lifetime goals and the Navy's mission. The award was presented July 27 at the 2009 Department of Defense Worldwide Education Symposium, in Atlanta.

As the only NCO counselor at Tinker, Ms. Kern-Garcia is responsible to 1,600 personnel assigned to the Take Charge and Move Out community and eight other Navy commands in the region, who wish to earn college degrees.

"Chris Kern-Garcia has taken an average program and built it into one of the best in the Navy," said Capt. Dwight Shepherd, SCW-1 commander. "She loves our Sailors and it shows through the hard work she has put into building a quality education program."

NCOs in the small category normally consist of two to three employees but for Ms. Kern-Garcia, the challenge of being the only person in the NCO is also the reward.

"As a one-person office I do it all ... tuition assistance processing, administer tests and provide academic counseling," said Ms. Kern-Garcia.

Master Chief Yeoman Jason Eckard a former TACAMO Sailor, who has dealt with other NCOs, came to Ms. Kern-Garcia with one college course under his belt and in a period of two-and-a-half years left TACAMO with a Bachelor of Science in Management from Bellevue University which he credits to Ms. Kern-Garcia's desire to see people succeed.

"She inspired me as I'm sure she's inspired many others," said Master Chief Eckard.

Ms. Kern-Garcia, who has dedicated 24 years of service in higher education serving all branches of the military, has excelled by improving on existing processes and using new technologies that provide educational services on demand. Some of the NCO procedure improvements include transitioning from paper based to online TA processing.

"Not only have we improved on TA processing but we have been a leader in on online processing and it's something I'm proud of," said Ms. Kern-Garcia. "Last October we were at 100 percent paper based processing and the goal was to be at 100 percent online processing by October 2009. Right now we are at 90 percent. Out of all the NCOs only about half have made this transition."

Other improvements include Ms. Kern-Garcia implementing a one day turn-around on TA applications, which could take three to five days in the past.

"This improvement helps in the planning and processing phase because members are up against deadlines to get into classes," said Ms. Kern-Garcia.

The SCW-1 NCO also makes it easier for a member to take courses by using new technology.

"The Navy's mission can make it somewhat of a challenge for Sailors to go to school in a traditional classroom setting but there are alternative ways such as online classes, palm pilot classes, and iPod classes," said Ms. Kern-Garcia.

Together, these improvements have resulted in Sailors taking a total of 724 college courses and submitting 542 TA applications since the beginning of 2009, an 11.5 percent increase from 2008.