Prairie State Grad Wins Community Service Award and Scholarship

graduate Adriana Popovich recently was named the 2011 winner of the Dr. James H. Griffith Community Service Award at Prairie State.

The award is named after the former trustee, who served on the PSC Board of Trustees for 25 years.  It is intended to recognize a person or group at PSC who has contributed in an extraordinary way to the community.

In addition to the receiving the community service award, Popovich also was named one of the eight recipients of the Senator Toi W. Hutchinson General Assembly Scholarship, affording her a tuition waiver for one full academic school year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she plans to study broadcast journalism. Popovich was selected as a recipient of the award based on various factors including grades earned as a student at Beecher High School and Prairie State College as well as financial need.

Popovich served as the 2010-2011 student trustee on the PSC Board of Trustees. In that capacity, she attended the ACCT Leadership Congress, where she met with student trustees and board members and presidents from all over the United States to discuss issues facing community colleges. She also attended the Community College National Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C. As a participant in Student Advocacy Day in Springfield, Ill., she was able to discuss with state senators and representatives the concerns facing community colleges.

“Adriana’s work at Prairie State is only the beginning,” said Helen Manley, coordinator of student life and multicultural affairs at PSC, who nominated Popovich for the Griffith award. “I am positive she will continue striving for the best, and helping others along the way.”

-Information contributed by Jennifer Stoner and Andrea Small of Prairie State College