Honor an alum!
The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed upon former GRJC and GRCC students. Recipients are recognized for career
achievements, public service and dedication to the college. While the
winner is announced in January, nominations are accepted all year long.
We honor our graduates who are 40 and younger with the Young Alumni Award, which recognizes
former students for their community or civic contributions, service in support of GRCC, and exceptional accomplishments in their profession.
Giving Everyone a Chance
"My memory of being at Grand Rapids Junior College was the excitement, the beginning, the foundation,” - Olivia Margo Anderson
Olivia Margo Anderson
Past award recipients add to "Distinguished' celebration
The GRCC Alumni Association saluted 2023 Distinguished Alumna Olivia Margo Anderson with a special reception in June.
Family and friends turned out to celebrate the former GRCC trustee, including many of her Alpha Kappa Alpha sisters.
Previous recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award – David Cope (1984), John Selmon (2002), Judge Sara Smolenski (2003) and Gary Schenk (2009) – attended and welcomed the newest member to their ranks.
Party brings GRCC, GRJC alumni home
2010 Distinguished Alumnus Dave Custer led the renovations to the Lettinga House with a definite purpose in mind.
Homecoming included the ultimate realization of his dream, with the refurbished (and renamed) Custer Alumni House hosting a large gathering of former GRJC and GRCC students. Those attending the Alumni Night Out event shared memories and food catered by Four Chefs – owned by 2009 Secchia Institute for Culinary Education graduate Andrew Schultz.
In addition to Alumni Relations, the house, at 473 E. Fulton St., also serves as headquarters for the GRCC Foundation.
Homecoming celebrates 2012 National Champion Volleyball Team
Members of GRCC’s first national champion women’s team returned to their home court for Homecoming.
Luncheon celebrates 50 years of sisterhood
A group of GRJC alumnae has put time and effort into keeping memories fresh and the ties of friendship strong for five decades.
Event Planner shares success by supporting BIPOC vendors
Phalesha Kyes faced many challenges along the way to establishing her event planning business. Now she works to bring attention to organizations and entrepreneurs from underrepresented populations.
Raiders get down to business
We support them, and we’ve set up a way so you can, too.
Photography, catering, marketing – GRCC alumni are helming a wide variety of businesses.
Pro tips from culinary alumna add sparkle to holiday cookie kits
GRCC Alumni Relations sweetened the holiday season by offering a holiday cookie kit that included expert decorating advice from a Secchia Institute for Culinary Education graduate.
The kit, offered at a special discounted rate, included eight holiday-themed cookies, three colors of royal icing, different kinds of sprinkles and piping bags. In the video that came with the purchase, Rachel Baas, owner of Equinox Pastries and Pops, shared professional tips on “flooding,” outlining and creating patterns with frosting.
Baas earned her Associate in Culinary Arts in 2019 and then completed the joint program in Hospitality Management that GRCC has with Ferris State University. In addition to her custom dessert business, she works part time in the Gun Lake Casino kitchens.
“I absolutely love creating people’s dessert visions into delicious realities while also being able to use my business and work as a
creative outlet,” she said.
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