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ESS Honors Five Local Education Heroes with 2026 Impact Awards

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ESS, a national talent and management solution, has selected and awarded five substitute teachers as winners for their 12th Annual Impact Awards! The 2026 honorees were each recognized at their school districts, receiving a $5,000 cash prize and an additional $2,000 to donate to their school of choice.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., June 9, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — ESS today announced the recipients of its 2026 Impact Awards, recognizing five exceptional substitute educators for their dedication, reliability, and positive impact on students and school communities nationwide.

“They show up prepared, adaptable, and committed to supporting students and educators wherever they are needed most. This recognition is about honoring the consistency, care, and professionalism they bring to classrooms across the country each day.” -Steve Gritzuk

The annual award recognizes ESS employees who consistently go above and beyond in support of students, teachers, and school districts. This year’s honorees were selected for their professionalism, flexibility, and meaningful contributions in classrooms across the country.

“Our Impact Award recipients embody what ESS strives for in every partnership with schools,” said Steve Gritzuk, Chief Operating Officer at ESS. “They show up prepared, adaptable, and committed to supporting students and educators wherever they are needed most. This recognition is about honoring the consistency, care, and professionalism they bring to classrooms across the country each day.” -Steve Gritzuk

Chris Delph – Guy-Perkins School District, AR

Since joining ESS in 2025, Chris has filled more than 150 absences at Guy-Perkins Elementary School. Known for his flexibility, positivity, and ability to connect with students, he has become a trusted and valued presence throughout the school community.

“His calm presence and voice make it easier for that student to regulate himself and return to the classroom,” said Tim Barnes, Principal.

Lisa Kelly – School District of Philadelphia, PA

Lisa has been a substitute with ESS since 2023, filling more than 500 assignments throughout the School District of Philadelphia. Her positive attitude, high standards, and willingness to support both students and colleagues have made a lasting impact across the district.

“Lisa Kelly is a central force within any school community.”

Melanie Serafin – Union County Public Schools, NC

Since joining ESS in 2023, Melanie has filled more than 500 absences at Weddington Elementary School. Her leadership, reliability, and dedication to supporting students and staff—particularly within the EC department—have made her an essential part of the school community.

“Ms. Serafin is an indispensable pillar of our school community,” said Fara Orr, Bookkeeper.

Ana Ringhofer – Frisco Independent School District, TX

Ana has served as a substitute with ESS since 2019, filling more than 500 absences at Corbell Elementary School. Her flexibility, dependability, and long-standing commitment to students and staff have made her a valued and familiar presence across the campus community.

“Ana is a tried-and-true substitute who is incredibly dependable, committed, and always willing to step in wherever help is needed,” said Michelle Garcia, Secretary.

Gabrielle Rogers – David Douglas School District, OR

Since joining ESS in 2021, Gabrielle has filled more than 800 absences across David Douglas School District. Her adaptability, strong leadership in the classroom, and commitment to creating supportive learning environments have made her a trusted and dependable presence for both students and staff.

“Gabby’s flexibility, professionalism, and unwavering dedication make her an invaluable asset to our school community,” said Amber Cowgill, Principal.

To read more about the winners and their stories, visit: https://ess.com/blog/2026-impact-award-winners/

About ESS:

Established in 2000, ESS is a leading national provider of managed solutions in K-12 education. It recruits, hires, trains, places, and manages qualified substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and other support staff for school districts throughout the United States.

Each day, the organization fills more than 35,000 daily, long-term, and permanent school assignments for over 1,200 school system partners, serving approximately 5.5 million students.

For more information, call (877) 983-2244 or visit ESS.com.

Media Contact

Catherine Kennedy, ESS, 1 9044280889, ckennedy@ess.com, ess.com

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OutSystems Brings Governed Agentic Systems to Consumer Lending

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Agentic Loan Applications combines customer-facing applications, governed agents, and deterministic workflows into a single pre-built system

SINGAPORE, Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — OutSystems, a leading Agentic Systems Platform, is expanding its Agentic Industry Solutions portfolio for banking, enabling financial institutions to modernize consumer lending by bringing agents, customer-facing applications, and deterministic workflows together into a governed system that institutions can adapt to their own products, policies, and existing banking systems.

OutSystems Agentic Loan Applications layers over existing banking systems. By grounding agents in an operational context—including the bank’s policies, systems, and dependencies—it helps them operate more efficiently and accurately while keeping every lending decision under the bank’s control.

While banks are rapidly adopting AI, they face mounting pressure to translate these investments into ROI by moving from experimentation to high-impact customer journeys – all while maintaining the strict governance, auditability, and human oversight required in a highly regulated industry. Yet many lending experiences still rely on lengthy forms, manual document collection, repetitive data entry, and fragmented handoffs that delay when loan officers can act and increase the risk of application abandonment. The result is a dual mandate for financial institutions: to improve the consumer experience and reduce operational friction so they can grow faster, while still maintaining the reproducible and auditable operations essential to risk and compliance teams.

“Banks do not need more isolated agents. They need governed agentic systems that improve real customer journeys and can stand up to risk review,” said Luis Blando, OutSystems CPTO. “OutSystems brings agents into auditable workflows so institutions can move beyond isolated pilots and apply AI to complex lending journeys with the oversight the industry requires.”

A governed approach to agents in consumer lending

OutSystems Agentic Loan Applications demonstrates this approach in practice. Built on the OutSystems Agentic Systems Platform, leading financial institutions, including KeyBank, Paragon Bank, and Axos Bank, trust OutSystems with their most highly regulated decisions.

“Hope is not a governance strategy. As AI adoption accelerates, banks need full visibility into how agentic solutions are built, what data they’re accessing, and how they’re being used,” said Mike Reynolds, Business Technology Executive at KeyBank. “Striving for centralized governance layers provides the oversight, auditability, and controls necessary to innovate confidently while staying within regulatory guardrails.”

Agentic Loan Applications combines mobile and web applications, data models, governed agents, and deterministic workflows to help banks address the manual, document-heavy work surrounding lending decisions:

A guided, agent-assisted application journey: Agentic Loan Applications captures and verifies documents, runs identity and sanctions screening, and compiles a complete application that passes to the bank’s existing loan origination system.Agents evaluated before they reach production: Banking agents are rigorously tested against dozens of agent evaluations encompassing criteria like relevance, accuracy, PII protection, and many others. Re-testing after any model, prompt, or tool modification ensures agents reliably remain within guardrails.Model selection tested for cost and accuracy: OutSystems evaluated multiple models through Amazon Bedrock and pre-selected models that perform optimally at up to 82% lower cost. Banks configure the system around their own products, policies, and existing banking systems while retaining control over their data.

This approach reflects the broader OutSystems strategy for Agentic Industry Solutions: pairing pre-built industry capabilities with OutSystems unified platform so organizations can apply AI to real operational processes.

The OutSystems Banking Agents Kit is also available on the OutSystems Forge, providing developers with building blocks for creating banking apps and agents on the OutSystems platform.

To learn more about how OutSystems is putting governed agents to work across consumer lending visit OutSystems Consumer Lending Solutions.

About OutSystems

OutSystems is the Agentic Systems Platform built for the enterprise. Global organizations trust OutSystems to rapidly build mission-critical apps and agents, modernize legacy processes with agentic systems, and govern their entire AI portfolio across complex regulatory environments, all on a unified platform.

OutSystems is consistently recognized as a leader in enterprise software development and agentic enterprise orchestration by Gartner, IDC, and Forrester, and ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction by users on G2. Business leaders, IT executives and developers choose OutSystems to accelerate internal innovation without compromising reliability and security.

Founded in 2001, the OutSystems ecosystem includes more than 90 million end users, over 600 partners, and thousands of active customers in 75+ countries across 20+ industries. Learn more at www.outsystems.com.

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SOURCE OutSystems

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Electronic Device Solution Inc. Expands Push into Middle East Defense Market with GaN-Based RF Technology

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SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Electronic Device Solution Inc. (CEO Byeongok, Lim) is expanding its push into the Middle East defense semiconductor market, building on its GaN (Gallium Nitride)-based RF (radio frequency) technology. Electronic Device Solution Inc. specializes in GaN MMICs and RF components, modules, and systems used in defense, aerospace, and radar applications, and it possesses RF Total Solution capabilities spanning the entire process, from chip design to measurement, testing, production, product development, and packaging.

Its main product lineup includes GaN MMICs supporting various frequency bands such as X-band and Ku-band, along with transmit/receive modules (TRM), high-power amplifiers (HPA), low-noise amplifiers (LNA), and RF switches. These products serve as key RF components in AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar systems. Electronic Device Solution Inc. has built up its technological capabilities in the defense sector through participation in major South Korean weapons system localization projects, including fighter aircraft AESA radar systems, long-range air defense programs, and low-altitude defense programs.

Based on its high level of domestic localization, Electronic Device Solution Inc. reduces procurement risks associated with overseas supply chains and export controls, while securing customized supply capabilities that allow for design changes and product optimization according to customer requirements. Through a FAB-Lite production system that combines its own assembly and testing facilities with partnerships with domestic and international foundries, the company flexibly responds to high-mix, low-volume production, precision testing, and rapid delivery demands.

Electronic Device Solution Inc. plans to expand cooperation with local defense companies in the Middle East based on these technological and production capabilities, with a focus on radar, air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, and anti-drone technology. Rather than simply supplying components, the company’s strategy is to establish itself as a stable RF supply partner in the Middle East defense market by providing RF semiconductors, modules, and system solutions tailored to customer needs.

Website : https://edevicesolution.com/eng/main/index.html

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CGTN AMERICA & CCTV UN: Kyrgyz Audiences Get Access to Chinese Documentaries, Drama and Cultural Programs in Bishkek Screening Event

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A new series of Chinese documentaries, dramas and cultural programs launched in Kyrgyzstan, bringing stories of Chinese craftsmanship, intangible heritage, traditional medicine and daily life to Central Asian viewers, according to a report from China Media Group (CMG) on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — (This material is distributed by MediaLinks TV, LLC on behalf of CCTV. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.)

CGTN America & CCTV UN releases “Kyrgyz Audiences Get Access to Chinese Documentaries, Drama and Cultural Programs in Bishkek Screening Event”

A new series of Chinese documentaries, dramas and cultural programs launched in Kyrgyzstan, bringing stories of Chinese craftsmanship, intangible heritage, traditional medicine and daily life to Central Asian viewers, according to a report from China Media Group (CMG) on Wednesday.

The screening event, held in Bishkek, features nearly 10 programs produced by CMG. The content will air through the end of October on Kyrgyzstan’s national broadcaster and other regional media outlets.

The initiative builds on a media cooperation agreement signed between CMG and Kyrgyzstan’s National Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation last year during the Kyrgyz president’s visit to Beijing. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), with Kyrgyzstan hosting the SCO summit as this year’s rotating chair.

The programs on offer range from short-form cultural features to full-length series. Among them, a food-themed drama follows daily life in a restaurant in northwest China, while documentary series spotlight traditional arts, herbal medicine and Chinese design heritage – content that highlights the diversity of contemporary Chinese storytelling beyond blockbuster films.

CMG has steadily expanded its programming reach across Central Asia in recent years. Previous screening campaigns have placed nearly 20 Chinese programs on regional broadcasters, covering topics from culture to contemporary art. Multiple media outlets from SCO member states are covering the current event, reflecting growing cross-border media collaboration in the region.

Media Contact
Sun, CGTN America, 1 2023931850, distribution@cgtnamerica.com 

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/cgtn-america–cctv-un-kyrgyz-audiences-get-access-to-chinese-documentaries-drama-and-cultural-programs-in-bishkek-screening-event-302862470.html

SOURCE CGTN America

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