Knoxville Alumni Association

Ken Locke Stadium 2010 Update

As in years past the Knoxville Alumni Association was involved in several successful events. Our participation included an Antique Road Show where individuals could bring in personal items and have them appraised at a certain cost. For a second consecutive year we participated in Celebrate Iowa. This talented all-state group of Iowa high school students sang and danced to the delight of a packed house. For the third year we supported Bryan Schlotterback in his attempt to run 200 miles in 24 hours. Although he fell short of his goal, he still managed to raise $3,500 for the Save Our Stadium project.

This fall we again participated in the Living Windows event held annually in downtown Knoxville. This event, although not a big fundraiser, does keep our Association visible to the Community and fellow Alumni. Of course our biggest "event" remains our participation in the annual Homecoming parade and hosting the Homecoming Alumni Dance.

2010 was a productive year as most of our goals were met. The state of the economy continues to challenge all of our life's goals as well as those of the KAA. The main goals for 2011 will be to complete presently planned projects at Ken Locke Stadium. The KAA Board feels that as funds become available we will complete all the Save Our Stadium goals.

At this time we plan to move on with other challenges and projects. Even though our emphasis on SOS goals may be slowing down, it doesn't mean we will not accept contributions for future projects at the stadium that our Association feels is important to our Community and School!

So what happened in 2010? 2010 Knoxville Alumni Association accomplishments include:

• Provided more scholarships through the "Dollars for Scholars" program

• Provided three (3) scholarships plus one (1) scholarship initiated by former cheerleaders called "Five Decades of Spirit"

• Provided a fifth scholarship which was our annual $10,000.00 endowed scholarship

The number one goal for KAA in 2011 is to increase our membership participation! In addition, the Class of '61 challenged each other throughout 2010, setting a goal to raise $10,000 to establish an endowed scholarship in their class' name. They have raised over $13,000 and will present their initial scholarship this Spring. KAA would like to now challenge all classes, regardless of the amount, to make their "mark" for their class!

Even though this project will conclude this year we will continue accepting donations to SOS for projects in the future and to help maintain the work we have accomplished.

A huge thank you to Alumni all over the country who have been supportive financially and with words of encouragement for SOS.  As you can see, there is much to do this year and the time and resources are unfortunately on short supply. I would like to impress upon all our members and friends to continue to support our Alumni Association.   To achieve our goals and continue to serve our school and community, we are dependent on that support!

You can purchase a brick, or encourage your class to join in and purchase one. Please take the time to re-new your annual membership dues of $25.00 or consider the $250.00 lifetime membership.

Your participation in this matter will be what sustains our great organization.

Terry Edwards, President

Knoxville Alumni Association