NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Vicki Hudson 616.234.4206 | vhudson@grcc.edu
REVISED
METEOROLOGIST GEORGE LESSENS RECEIVES
GRCC DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS AWARD
FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO LOCAL EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
April 11, 2008, Grand Rapids, MI – Chances are better than ever that Grand Rapids Community College will have a beautiful sunny day for their commencement ceremonies Monday, May 2, 2008. The Grand Rapids Community College Alumni Assn. has named local TV meteorologist George Lessens their Distinguished Alumni of the Year.
Lessens will be guest of honor at a reception Friday, April 28 at 6:15 PM in GRCC’s Applied Technology Center and will be the keynote speaker for Grand Rapids Community College’s commencement program May 2.
Lessens attended GRCC from 1975-77, after graduating from Lowell High School and prior to receiving his B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State. He arrived at WZZM-TV in 1980 and became their Chief Meteorologist in 2001. He reached another milestone when, in October 2007, he became the longest tenured meteorologist at any single West Michigan TV station with 26 years and 11 months of service at that time.
Perhaps more noteworthy were the awards he received as the 2007 Michigan Association of Broadcasters "Best Weathercast" and "Merit Weathercast," the second time he has received both awards in the same year. Lessens also holds the American Meteorology Society’s highest seal of approval as a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist , and serves on the society’s National Broadcast Board of Meteorology.
But Lessens’ influence goes beyond the daily TV screen. He is a popular presenter in area classrooms with programs covering topics like Space, The Environment and a Michigan Emmy award-winning series, Birds. He enjoys sharing the enthusiasm he has had since he founded a weather club to scan the skies for storms and tornadoes when he was a boy.
The GRCC Alumni Assn. chose Lessens as Distinguished Alumni based on his contributions to education and community service, two of GRCC’s strongest institutional values.
For information on the Distinguished Alumni award and events visit www.grcc.edu/distinguishedalumni
Grand Rapids Community College, established in 1914, offers both liberal arts and workforce development degrees, classes and workshops. Student enrollment for both credit and non-credit courses averages 26,000 per year.
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