|
|||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
2007 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
Stephen G. Fakan - Class of 1974
Stephen G. Fakan is a 1974 graduate of Vermilion High School. While at VHS Stephen was active in Log, Quiz Bee, Academic Challenge, Mock UN, Drama Club, and the Musical. Stephen also served as the trainer/manager for the basketball, football, and track teams. He served in the Marines as a combat Photographer and then as a Marine Security Guard from 1974-1980 Stephen served in the Marines as a combat photographer and then as a Marine Security Guard attaining the rank of Sergeant. He served in Florida, Lebanon, Okinawa, Jerusalem and Cuba. He attended Rockville Community College in MD where he received an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement. In 1985, he graduated from American University, Washington, DC with a BA in International Relations. He became a Special Agent of the Diplomatic Security Service a Bureau within the U.S. Dept. of State in 1985. After joining the Foreign Service in 1985, Stephen was assigned as a watch officer to the security command center from 1986 to 2000. Since 1987 Stephen has been assigned as a Regional Security Officer and Investigator throughout the world. Most recently, Stephen was selected by the President to lead one of the ten teams being sent to Iraq to help in reconstruction of that country. He assumed his position as the Team Leader of the Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, in Fallujah, Iraq, in April 2007. During his twenty-two year career in the Foreign Service, he has received the State Department Award for Valor (presented by Madeline Albright) for saving the lives of eight journalists in war-ravaged Liberia, the Federal Law Enforcement Officer’s Association Award for Valor, and has been featured on the History Channel program: “True Warriors: Escape from Liberia”. Unlike many Westerners who fear and judge that which is unfamiliar, Stephen has won the respect of his counterparts in every foreign country because he studies and appreciates their diverse cultures and religions – and never assumes that simply because someone is different he is somehow bad or wrong. Although Stephen is a heroic Warrior for his country (who “fights for the right without question or pause”), a loyal friend and a loving husband and son, his greatest contribution continues to be the human spirit and to the world is general. Stephen Fakan is one of those rare individuals who has the discipline and courage to truly practice what he has always preached, “We’re all here to help one another.” Stephen is married to Elizabeth Victoria Fakan, former principal of the International School in Peshawar, Pakistan. Accepting the plaque in Stephan’s absence were his parents John and Helene.