Spotlight Awards at Midway University draws record attendance and amount of money for scholarships

Advancement Vice President Tim Culver addressed the crowd at the beginning of the dinner in the gymnasium.

Midway University's sixth annual Spotlight Awards dinner Thursday night drew 275 people, the most ever, and raised a little over $100,000 for scholarships, also a record, Vice President for Marketing and Communications Ellen Gregory said. Last year's attendance was just under 200, she said.

Chef Ouita Michel received the L.L. Pinkerton Vision Award, for her positive impact on improving women’s lives and as a role model who displays great leadership, innovation and influence; and civil engineer Lyle Wolf received the Legacy Award for the time, money and service he has given to the university. He has served as a trustee for 35 years, which Michel called an unparallelled legacy.

Dessert bowls were miniature baseball helmets, alluding
to the baseball field that is under construction.

The theme of the $150-a-ticket event was "Under Construction," representing current building projects. In a video about them, President John Marsden noted recent gains in enrollment and said, "We're building so students will stay, not so they will come."

Michel told Marsden, "You have transformed this campus, you have healed divisions between the community and the university," and made it a university. She also expressed thanks to the president's wife, Margaret Marsden.