Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder presented FBI Special Agent Christian Galeski, Morehead State ’98, with the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor on February 11, 2015. Galeski was recognized with four other members of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team for heroic actions that saved the life of a 5-year-old child. The award is the highest national honor for valor presented to U.S. public safety officers.

On February 4, 2013, Galeski and four fellow agents pushed through hostile gunfire to enter an underground bunker protected by improvised explosive devices after negotiations failed to end a violent, six-day hostage standoff. An armed suspect was holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in the bunker. The agents courageously engaged in a lethal struggle with the suspect and emerged with the child unharmed.

Galeski joined the FBI’s counterterrorism and hostage rescue unit following a distinguished career as a Navy SEAL team officer. He said his college experience provided a sense of what he could achieve in life. As an undergraduate, Galeski, along with other SigEp chapter brothers, was a member of Morehead State’s national championship cheerleading team. He learned to balance school, work, cheerleading and Fraternity.

“All of these things paid off like I never could have imagined,” he said. “In high school, I finished in the middle of my class and with a cumulative GPA of 2.4. I graduated Morehead State magna cum laude … with a bachelor of arts in psychology and a 3.8 cumulative GPA.”