Creighton High School’s Ed Altamore Awarded for Counseling Excellence

Lincoln – The Nebraska State College System Admissions and College Relations Council selected Ed Altamore as the 2005 Counseling Excellence Award recipient. The first counselor to receive this honor, Altamore has worked at Creighton Community Public Schools since 1978. He is currently the Creighton High School guidance counselor, and also teaches high school and college credit psychology, and sponsors the National Honor Society and the Adult Education Program. The Counseling Excellence Award was developed this year to honor high school guidance counselors for exemplary service and commitment to students. Students throughout the Nebraska State College System – Chadron, Peru and Wayne State Colleges – nominated their high school counselors. Ryan Becker, a current Wayne State and former Creighton High School student, nominated Altamore.

The council first selected three regional winners, and then selected Altamore as the statewide recipient. The other regional winners were Larry Uhing from Grand Island Senior High School and Lavelle Hitzmann from Hampton High School. Both will receive certificates of appreciation and are eligible for the statewide award next year.

Altamore received his bachelor’s degree from Yankton College in Yankton, S.D., and his master’s degree in counseling from Wayne State College. He has also taken various graduate courses at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D., and Wayne State College.

Altamore and his wife of 32 years, Allene, have two grown children, Michael and Nicole. Michael also graduated from Wayne State College in 1998.

The Nebraska State College System Board of Trustees and other system representatives will honor Altamore at an award’s banquet on Thursday, October 27. The banquet will be held in conjunction with the annual board meeting at Wayne State College.

Altamore will receive a plaque for his office and a trip to the annual Great Plains Association for College Admission Counseling (GPACAC) regional conference held in Overland Park, Kansas in April. GPACAC is one of 23 state and regional affiliates of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

The Nebraska State College System serves close to 8,000 students from Nebraska and surrounding states through three geographically diverse institutions: Chadron, Peru and Wayne State Colleges. Combined, the three colleges offer more than 200 degree, certificate, and pre-professional programs that are accessible on the three campuses, via the Internet, and in several satellite locations throughout the state. With more than 250 credentialed faculty members and 45,000 successful graduates, the NSCS provides significant human and intellectual capital that contributes to the current and future economic strength of the State of Nebraska.