Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Julie Avey | Staff Sgt. Madison Harper, 168th Force Support Squadron, receives a commander’s coin...... read more read more
Staff Sgt. Madison Harper of the 168th Wing is awarded top graduate for achieving a 100 percent on all graded assignments while attending the Personnel Apprentice Course at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Dec. 12, 2025. As an Air National Guard member, Harper worked in the personnel position prior to attending school and used her experience to help identify key points in her studies.
“As a prior service member and a guardsman who worked in the position before leaving for tech. school, I was able to capitalize on the knowledge I had gained,” said Harper.
As the only prior service member in her class, Harper was assigned as class leader. This gave her the opportunity to share her knowledge and experience with her classmates.
In a class designed for active duty, with over half of her classmates also being in the guard or reserves, she was able to help explain the differences between what they were learning and on-the-job processes.
Harper shares that she used her classmate’s enthusiasm for learning as motivation.
Being a top grad was not an initial goal of hers, but it became one after she scored 100 percent on the first test. Harper shared that she is often an overthinker and not the best at taking tests, but each time she made 100 on a test, the class's expectation of that standard continued to motivate her to maintain that level of excellence.
Throughout the course, Harper's classmates leaned on her for both guard-specific information and guidance on other job-related tasks.
She explained that a few of the guard students, who had civilian jobs outside of the military, were coordinating with their home unit while attending the course regarding temporary active guard or reserve (temp. AGR) or technician orders. With her experience working in the field before the course, she was able to provide advice and explain the different types of orders.
She was also able to help with other tasks, such as email communication, particularly in their customer service role. As the class progressed, she used self-study time to guide her classmates in determining which pieces of information to highlight and focus on.
Harper said that helping her classmates also helped her study by keeping all the information fresh in her mind. Harper says she learned things from the class that will be useful in her career. She said the class provided her with knowledge and understanding of forms and processes she hadn’t known or understood previously. She also gained leadership skills and enjoyed working with different people.
“It was the first time I had to lead that many people,” said Harper. “It was nice working with different personalities and understanding how they operate.”
Harper emphasized the importance of technical excellence, especially in career fields like personnel, where everyone in the office is part of the routing process for paperwork affecting member service records, and even a small typo can cause a big problem.
| Date Taken: | 02.23.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.23.2026 17:38 |
| Story ID: | 558641 |
| Location: | EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 343 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 168th Wing Airman Takes Excellence in All We Do to New Heights, by TSgt Lynn Pilj, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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