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Community Appreciation Day Celebrates Local Ties

Sunny skies greeted community members for campus tours, a picnic lunch and the opening home football game of the season during Alma College's annual Community Appreciation Day Sept. 12.



President Saundra Tracy presents a football autographed by the Scots football team to Mike Makara, owner of Alma's Bob Moore Flowers and Chair of the College's 2009 Community Fund Drive. The annual drive raises more than $200,000 from Gratiot County businesses and individuals to support the Alma Fund. Community volunteers personally deliver letters encouraging their peers to donate to programs, facilities and scholarships supported through the Alma Fund.



Alma’s own “Pizza Sam" was awarded the 2009 Community Service Award during halftime of the Sept. 12 Community Appreciation Day football game at Bahlke Field. For nearly 50 years, Sam Ortisi has owned and managed the Pizza Sam restaurant on Superior Street. The award recognizes Ortisi’s strong ties to the community and Alma College.



Community Appreciation Day featured inflatable games for the kids and a free picnic for all prior to the football game.



More than 100 community leaders and citizens attended the annual Community Breakfast Sept. 11 at Alma College. President Saundra Tracy provided a campus update and recognized the positive campus-community relationships that are prominent in Alma.


 

 

Alma College students have the ability to design their own area of academic concentration, with the assistance of a faculty advisor, to meet specific educational or career goals. In recent years, students have graduated with Programs of Emphasis majors in such fields as arts management, archaeology and anthropology, environmental policy and community advocacy, Foreign Service and international law, and music technology and digital media.

 

Student Profile

Drew Emge

Drew Emge
Graduation: 2009
Major: POE: International Health
From: Bay City
Interests: Health Professions, Community Service

A Truman Scholarship finalist and Center for Responsible Leadership Fellow, Drew has traveled to South Africa and China studying the HIV/AIDS crisis. The Bay City native intends to use his French minor and POE in International Health to improve AIDS care in Africa, hopefully as a physician with a global public health organization.