On a blue-sky, bright-sunny day, a squad from CPC HR walked up to Vista Grande and convened with a similar-sized squad from Team Conference & Event Planning to bestow February’s Make a Difference Award to C&E Coordinator Scott Homolka.

In the nomination, his colleague Elizabeth Beckett, wrote: “Over the last month, Scott has stepped up to fill in for a co-worker who had to leave for a family emergency, essentially doubling his workload. He did this while graciously continuing to train a new-hire as well as taking the lead on new projects within our department and executing flawless events. He maintained professionalism, composure and a sense of humor during this high stress time and deserves recognition!

After the brief awarding ceremony, the conversation among the assembled dozen happened to center around the agreed-upon hope that the recent spate of rain was in the past.

Further discussion of various weather conditions carried over to the interview session with Homolka: Growing up in Reedley, California, he experienced Winter days of dense fog where drivers needed to crack open their car doors and eyeball the road’s yellow lines close-up to ensure staying in their lane.

When a Training & Development Manager job opening presented itself in South Lake Tahoe while he was working in Southern California, Homolka, an avid skier, seized the opportunity to “slalom” north and reside in snow country.

He views his vocational journey thus far to trekking through all of California’s highlights which include not only the varying climate patterns but within a variety of what he calls “unique venues and non-traditional environments”. Prior to the six years at Heavenly Mountain Resort, he’d been on the payrolls of Disneyland (Entertainment Division, Parades & Special Events) as well as the Marconi Automotive Museum down the road from the Magic Kingdom in Tustin.

He believes the university campus setting qualifies as yet another unique venue in the sense that, much like the previous non-traditional environments in his career path, he does some work at a desk in an office, but the joy within the job arrives out of doors when CPSLO is showcased for students/staff/faculty and to external populations in an outreach capacity.

He is quick to point out the Summer events on the horizon with the emphasis on how stunning the weather is during that time of year…

Congratulations, Scott!