ELLSWORTH – Ellsworth Correctional Facility Warden Marty Sauers announced the Outstanding Contract Employee of the First Quarter for Fiscal Year 2018. Nicole R. Serpan was honored by Governor Sam Brownback at a reception at the State Capitol on Aug. 14.
During their visit to Topeka, Serpan, along with her family members, took a tour of the Capitol and Kansas Department of Corrections office complex. On Aug. 23, she was honored at the Employee of the Quarter Ceremony at the ECF.
Serpan began her career at ECF with Barton Community College on June 1, 2016, in her current position of career adviser. Prior to ECF, Serpan was employed at St. Francis Community Services in Great Bend as a compliance technician.
“She has been a perfect fit for our ECF and BCC family and has transitioned seamlessly into our Central Kansas Reentry Team,” Sauers said. “She is appreciated and valued by her coworkers for how hard she continuously works to make sure that she meets with the large caseload of offenders who need Vocational and BCC’s Building Academic Skills in Correctional Settings (BASICS) programs.
“She is committed to helping them understand what they will need in order to be eligible to take a class through BCC,” he said. Programming opportunities available to the offender population through BCC include vocational programs such as welding, manufacturing skills and introduction to craft skills, in addition to adult education classes to assist them in working toward an associate degree. Serpan meets with the offenders to help assess their needs, work on motivational skills, and is there to assist them during class time.
She is spearheading a new “intrusive” counseling technique to further enhance her advisement efforts, which will allow her to work with more offenders both at Ellsworth and the Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility.
She earned an associate degree in psychology from BCC and is working on a dual degree in psychology and criminal justice from Fort Hays State University, with the goal of becoming a forensic psychologist. Her passion for this came from her experience at Larned State Hospital where she worked as a mental health technician and grew even deeper during the time she worked as a case manager at the Center for Counseling and Consultation in Great Bend.
She resides in Great Bend and has a 10 year old son, Kiah, and is the daughter of Cherry Rosendhal of Ellinwood.