On July 21, 2018, the Great River Tigers Alumni Association hosted its sixth annual summer sendoff at Jackson Park Golf Course in Palmyra, Missouri.. Two hundred and twenty people were in attendance which included 46 Mizzou students. This was the biggest attendance in our 6 years of sponsoring the event. GRT presented a local award to Golden Eagle Distributing in appreciation for all the help and support they have given us over the years
During the evening,the alumni association gave eight $500 scholarships by luck of the draw to students who were present. These students were Cassie Hancock, Josh Arnold, Delanie Fohey, Amy Jones, Tanner Nix, Jessica Taylor, Emily Albright, and Abbey Laws. Dr Choi gave 4 additional $500 scholarships to Shelby Epperson, Halley Carr, Rachel Meyers and Lauren Bauer. The association also gives away scholarships to students for academic merit. The students who received $1000 scholarships included: Emily Dehner, Regan Ragsdale, Gavin Booth, Barley Kozlowski, all incoming freshman and Allison Pearl and Andrew Fauble, current students. This year in total the GRT presented scholarships to 18 Mizzou students worth a total of $12,000.
Jordan Frericks, former Mizzou girls basketball player from Quincy, and her parents attended, and Jordan spoke briefly to the crowd.
Dr. Mun Choi, who has been president of the entire University of Missouri system for two years, was the speaker. He discussed the tough situation that he came into 1.5 years ago, some of the changes that have been made, the improved relationships we now have in Jefferson City, the record % increase we have seen in enrollment for the coming fall semester and what we can expect again next year. Then he turned to the students and challenged them to do well and stressed how important being good students would be to the rest of their life and pointed out challenges they will face.
Dr. Choi and Todd McCubbin,executive director for the University of Missouri Alumni Association and the associate vice chancellor of alumni relations for the University of Missouri,as well as GRT members helped serve the pork chop dinner to those attending.