Homecoming includes Alumni awards

The Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are Todd Nordeen and Andy Pennington. The Distinguished young Alumni are Broc Anderson, Garrett Gilkey, Dr. Dalton Nelsen, and Brittnie Wedel.

Nordeen, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Bighorn Sheep Program Manager, said his path in conservation began where he grew up in St. Edward, Nebraska, enjoying the outdoors. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he earned a bachelor’s in Natural Resources. In 2007, he graduated from Chadron State College with a Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in science. Following graduation, he continued to engage with the college serving as an adjunct instructor in the wildlife courses.

Throughout the course of his 36-year career with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, he has worked to protect and conserve wildlife resources through several roles.

He served as a Wildlife Biologist in eastern Nebraska, before moving to Alliance when he was promoted to Wildlife District Manager, and later Big Game Disease and Research Program Manager.

“Throughout my career, I have actively stayed connected to the next generation of conservationists, continuing to engage with CSC faculty and students by providing specialized education and research opportunities along with hands-on training in wildlife disease, wildlife immobilization, and wildlife capture techniques,” Nordeen said. “I am forever grateful for the educational and career opportunities I have been given and greatly appreciate being considered for this award and feel very humbled and honored.”

Pennington, who graduated from CSC in 1996, is the chief executive officer of Wisconsin Watch, a statewide nonprofit news organization, where he leads the organization's strategy, audience growth, fundraising and long-term sustainability.

Pennington has worked across Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Idaho, and Alaska, the past 25 years helping news organizations grow audiences, diversify revenue, and adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape. His career has included leadership in advertising, marketing, audience development, digital strategy, journalism, community engagement and organizational transformation.

Before joining Wisconsin Watch in March 2026, Pennington served as publisher for Adams Publishing Group in southern Wisconsin, overseeing regional operations and revenue strategy across a portfolio of community news organizations.

For seven years, he was the president and director of strategy for the Anchorage Daily News, where he helped lead the organization's recovery from bankruptcy and the development of a sustainable, digital-first business model. During his tenure, the newsroom was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Pennington spent much of his childhood in Chadron, attending local schools through fifth grade and again during his first two years of high school before returning to earn his degree. He remains committed to strengthening local journalism, expanding access to trusted information, and building sustainable business models that ensure public-service journalism continues to serve communities for generations to come.

Anderson is originally from Alliance, Nebraska, and graduated with his bachelor’s in social science education in 2017. He continued with his education and graduated with a master’s in History at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2022 and was the inaugural Graduate Student of the Year. He is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and currently the Curator for the Buffalo County Historical Society in Kearney, Nebraska. Anderson is married to Jordan (Zeiler) Anderson, and the couple have three sons.

As a public historian, Anderson is an advocate for Nebraska history and making it relevant for people in everyday life. He has served on several boards across the state such as the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office, the Nebraska Museum Association, the Kearney Public Library Foundation, and the Mari Sandoz Society.

Anderson’s research interests share the same passion Sandoz had for topics related to northwest Nebraska and the High Plains. He builds upon the late author’s work by exploring the social, economic, and political relationships between the Lakota from Pine Ridge and non-natives in northwest Nebraska during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He detailed that work in an article in the Summer 2026 Nebraska History magazine "The White Clay Extension: Northwest Nebraska and the Pine Ridge Reservation" and a public program through the Humanities Nebraska Speakers Bureau.

Gilkey arrived at Chadron State College and became one of the most decorated offensive linemen in Eagle history. A three-year starter, he earned first-team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference honors and multiple All-America selections, while also spending a season with the men’s basketball program. He graduated from CSC in 2014.

In 2013, the Cleveland Browns selected Gilkey in the seventh round of the NFL Draft with the 227th overall pick. He spent his rookie season in Cleveland before joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he played two active seasons and spent a third on injured reserve. He appeared in 22 NFL games over four seasons and retired from professional football in 2016.

Off the field, Gilkey built a second career. He earned a Master of Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed executive leadership coursework at Babson College through the National Football League. He founded GILK Companies, a Tampa-based design-build firm that has delivered more than $60 million in completed construction since its founding, and he has Florida general contractor and plumbing licenses.

Gilkey speaks about mental health, men's health, and the identity shift athletes face when the game ends - work that grew directly out of his own transition. He has served in board and volunteer roles with Abe Brown Ministries and The Timothy Initiative. He divides his time between Cleveland and Tampa.

Nelsen grew up in Callaway, Nebraska, and graduated from high school there in 2008. He attended CSC as a participant in the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP) from 2008-2012 and then attended medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) from 2012-2016. He completed an Emergency Medicine residency at UNMC from 2016 to 2019 and then completed a fellowship at UNMC in Emergency Ultrasound. After his fellowship, he was hired as an assistant professor and attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Nebraska Medicine where he continues today.

Throughout his time at Nebraska Medicine, he has held several educational and leadership positions including assistant program director of the Emergency Medicine residency program and director of emergency medicine resident ultrasound education. He has had the opportunity to teach emergency ultrasound in Peru, China, and Canada.

Nelsen has been the chief executive officer of Health Equity in Action League (HEAL) Omaha since Sept. 2024, a local nonprofit that provides free healthcare to people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the Omaha Metro area.

Wedel, after earning her bachelor’s degree from Chadron State College, finished a master's in Homeland Security from Michigan State in 2017 while working full time. She was selected for an Air Force Commission in 2019 and attended Officer Training School at Maxwell AFB, Alabama in 2020, followed by Undergraduate Air Battle Manager training at Tyndall AFB, Florida. After graduation, she was stationed at Tyndall AFB from 2021 to 2023 as an Instructor Air Battle Manager.

She's been an advocate for women's rights within the Air Force. She's in charge of the Women's Initiative Team for her squadron and has worked on projects like getting changing tables and personal hygiene trash cans in the restrooms, getting access to female flight suits and female hot weather uniforms.

In 2023, she spent two years overseeing training, mission requirements, and development for ground-based command and control operations in Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. In 2025, she became the lead Air Battle Manager for the 36 Wing at Andersen AFB, Guam, responsible for oversight of Integrated Air and Missile Defense operations.

She is an advocate for mental health and sharing her experiences as a survivor of sexual assault. Outside of work, she works at a women's shelter and is doing research on human trafficking for her doctoral dissertation from Liberty University.

Her honors include being the 2024 Sijan Leadership Award nominee, and receiving the Company Grade Officer of the Quarter, 11th Air Force's Outstanding ABM of the Year, and Company Grade Officer of the Year.