Eagan Veteran to Receive Award for Community Service

A veteran from Eagan was chosen to receive an award honoring her for exceptional community service.

Minnesotans from across the state nominated veterans who have served honorably and shown outstanding community service to receive the 2016 Veterans’ Voices Award.

From a host of nominees, 13 "On the Rise" Veterans (age 40 and under) were selected by a panel of their peers to receive the Veterans’ Voices Award, according to a news release.

Eagan native Kelsey Besse was one of those nominees selected.

As a recent graduate of the Masters of Public Health program at the University of Minnesota, her studies have focused on issues common among the military and Veteran community including mental health stigma, alcohol misuse, deployment reintegration, domestic violence, and combat stress.

Her current volunteer work includes serving as a research assistant for the Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research at the Minneapolis VA, an abstract reviewer for the American Public Health Association Women’s and Violence Prevention Caucuses, and a board member for the Minnesota non-profit, Women Veteran’s Initiative. In her civilian career at the National Marrow Donor Program, her work is focused on improving access to bone marrow transplant for underserved populations.

Awards will be presented at the Veterans’ Voices Award Ceremony on Sept. 11 at the University of St. Thomas Anderson Student Center in St. Paul.

The event is free and open to the public.

Image: Matt Hecht via Flickr /Creative Commons