OAKLAND, CA - The National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) awarded State Emergency Management employee, Mike Guzo, the 2005 Instructor of the Year Award during their annual conference in June.

?This is a very prestigious honor for Mike to be recognized by his peers in the Search and Rescue field,? said Bryan Beatty, secretary of the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety which oversees the Division of Emergency Management. ?He has done an outstanding job training search and rescue teams across the state, and that really paid off last year when more than a thousand people were rescued from floodwaters during the state?s seven hurricanes and tropical storms. I am pleased Mike was recognized for his hard work.?

Guzo taught and or tested more than 200 students in the field of search and rescue over a ten-month period, far more than any other NASAR instructor or coordinator has accomplished in the same period, according to NASAR records.

Guzo has conducted search and rescue training across North Carolina for the Division of Emergency Management since 1999. He has worked closely with the national association on their educational program, and helped write and develop training text for their national training manual that was published in March.

?Through his dedication in providing quality search and rescue testing, and his willingness to assist at any mission in any capacity, Mike has earned the trust and respect of all who work with him,? said the chairman of NASAR, Randy Servis.

The NASAR Instructor of the Year Award is granted solely on merit to an individual who best represents educational excellence in the field of search and rescue. In addition to the plaque, Guzo received a lifetime membership to the National Association for Search and Rescue.

Guzo, a native of Pittsburgh, PA, graduated from Upper St. Clair High School in 1990 and was graduated in 1994 from St. Francis University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy. He earned his master?s degree in Community Preparedness and Disaster Response in 2004 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A life-long outdoorsman, Guzo started exploring underground caves during his sophomore year of high school. During his college years, when he worked as a professional river guide, he got involved in wilderness rescue and medicine and volunteered with several cave, wilderness, and high angle rescue teams. In 1994, he worked in Florida where he stayed involved in search and rescue operations, and he started working a wilderness search and rescue K9 operation in 1995.

In addition to volunteering as a search and rescue responder, Guzo works as the state search and rescue coordinator, managing and coordinating the state's Wilderness, Urban/Disaster, and Flood/Swiftwater Search and Rescue Response Systems.