Jo Jones and her colleagues get the job done correctly and on time at the FAA Academy, the facility that trains the air traffic controllers, technicians, engineers, and aviation safety inspectors who ensure the National Airspace System (NAS) runs safely and efficiently.

Jones designs, revises, and updates in-person and virtual training for the FAA’s aviation professionals. She finds deep fulfilment in her work, and recently that fulfillment and drive to succeed grew even stronger….

"In that moment and now, it was such a warm and positive feeling to know that we are valued for our hard work – it made me very proud and humble," said Jones, reflecting on receiving her ONE-AMA Recognition from her supervisor JE Smith, manager of the Training and Evaluation Branch. "It’s really motivating and makes us a stronger team," Jones added.

Jones’ teammates Michele Sprague and Glenn Weston also received the award through the Academy’s new peer-to-peer recognition program. They are among 28 Academy employees who have received recognition since the program launched Aug. 1.

The three of them updated a safety-critical Technical Operations (Tech Ops) "train-the-trainer" course. The in-person course is designed to teach certified FAA airway transportation system specialists (ATSS) how to properly train and certify new ATSS personnel on the job, in the field. ATSS personnel maintain flight navigation, communications, and environmental equipment essential to a safe, efficient, and sustainable NAS.

"Everyone cooperated and focused on how we can make the training better for the Tech Ops student in the field," Sprague said. "It was a huge team effort, and we had great support from AJI. This is a really important course; it was a high priority."

Jones, Sprague and Weston collaborated with curricula specialists in ATO Safety and Technical Training (AJI), located in the building adjacent to them on the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center campus, to develop five new technical lessons and make other revisions throughout the course – in less than 35 days.

In response to the recently updated Air Traffic Organization Technical Operations Training and Personnel Certification order, the training team incorporated performance exams, on-the-job training simulation, and guidance to trainees for documenting their on-the-job training into eLMS. Weston ensured the NAS equipment used in the training is up to date.

"AJI-2 is very pleased with the course revision, and it would not have turned out as well as it did without the steadfast leadership and expertise of these three individuals," wrote their AJI counterpart Robert St. Marie, a former ATSS who evaluates Tech Ops curricula for the Training Programs Team. Smith included St. Marie’s praise in the AMAONE Recognition certificate each of them received in their email.

ONE-AMA recognition is a user-friendly app that an Academy employee simply navigates to from the Academy’s main SharePoint site, identifies the employee they want to recognize, selects the AMA value being recognized, provides a description of what they are recognizing their peer for, and submits it. The FAA Academy director’s staff reviews the submissions and then a recognition email is sent to the recipient’s and their manager’s inbox once approved. The program fosters immediate recognition to supplement the more formal end-of-year award programs.

The Academy’s federal workforce comprises about 350 people – the majority being technical instructors and curricula specialists. They’re faced with tight deadlines to revise critical training conducted in person and online.

"We’re making additional improvements to our AMAONE program constantly, " said Matt Taylor, staff manager of the Academy who helped to launch the recognition program with IT specialist Shaun Harris and management and program analyst Melanie Erolin. "You can now select the ’Recipients’ box, and it will highlight previous award winners in AMA."

Brianna Aragon, a management and program analyst in the FAA Academy director’s office, is another recent ONE-AMA awardee who was pleasantly surprised.

Aragon, who has worked at the Academy for three years, has a master’s in composition and leverages her strong communication skills in writing and editing standard operating procedures (SOP) for technical training curricula. She’s been a maintainer and champion of the SOP database that enables personnel to collaborate, learn from one another, and maintain standards.

"I can’t say enough about Brianna," said Aragon’s nominator, Randy Starnes, Central Services Branch manager for the NAS Technical Services Division (AMA-900). AMA-900 provides technical support for Academy training systems for Air Traffic and Technical Operations students throughout the NAS.

"She is a difference-maker, and the Academy is a better place because she’s on the team," Starnes added. "She’s working four jobs right now and doing an outstanding job in all of them."

Aragon had received verbal recognition from Starnes that very day she received the recognition from him.

"It was really cool to get that recognition immediately; it was a neat little feature that let me know people acknowledge I’m collaborating with my peers and knocking some things out for them," Aragon said. "And I’ve just noticed a lot of people really responding very positively to this recognition program we have now and being able to recognize their peers the day-of if they want to."

Recognize an FAA Academy peer today!