Page 22 - MGA_Today_Spring_2016

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
MOVES FORWARD
This winter, Middle Georgia State University
alumni gathered to launch the Alumni
Association. The board will meet each quarter to
discuss initiatives that can be implemented year-
round to engage, connect and celebrate Middle
Georgia State alumni.
The goal of the Alumni Association is to
ensure excellence at Middle Georgia State by
cultivating relationships and inspiring loyalty,
stewardship and service among students, alumni
and friends. The Alumni Association will help
graduates keep in touch with their fellow alumni
for career and social networking through alumni
gatherings, homecoming and affinity group
reunions.
“Our alumni are ambassadors of the
University, emblematic of not only the experience
of learning while students here, but of leveraging
what they learned into the community,” said Dr.
Christopher Blake, Middle Georgia State’s
president. “Whether locally, nationally or globally, in order to continue her education. Even though
as our alumni navigate the complexities of change
and growth, their application of our core values in
their professions and their personal lives will
make them forever—both in name and deed—
sons and daughters of MGA.”
“Taking part in Alumni Association activities
is a great way to meet and forge relationships with
other intellectually curious, accomplished
individuals,” said Natalie Rischbieter, director of
Alumni Relations. “Those include fellow MGA
alumni, parents, friends and families. The Alumni
Association will make it easy to connect with
graduates from every school or department.”
The University’s 2016 Homecoming is
scheduled for November 3 and 5. Watch for
details at mga.edu/foundation.
“Our alumni are ambassadors
of the University.”
22 MIDDLE GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Foundation
Scholarships
Help Students
Realize Their
Dreams
Earlier this year, the Middle Georgia State
University Foundation hosted two scholarship
luncheons to recognize and honor scholarship
donors and recipients. The Foundation awarded
325 scholarships in the amount of $356,852 in
2015.
Tiffany Souther was among the students
recognized. Souther always knew she wanted to
pursue a career in clinical psychology with an
emphasis on autism and other psychological
disorders. As a single mother of two, she knows
first-hand the huge demand in this field after
waiting a year to get her own child a psychological
evaluation.
Last November, Souther quit her full-time job
so she could focus on her studies. It was a difficult
decision, but one she knew that she had to make
student loans help to pay for living expenses and
daycare, she said that she wouldn’t have been able
to meet the financial demands of going back to
school without the help of the Wine & Spirits
Foundation Scholarship she received from the
MGA Foundation.
“This scholarship is helping
me in my academic endeavors,
which will lead to a brighter
future for me and my family, as
well as those I’ll be able to help
in the future.”