Annual address looks at initiatives, highlights successes at Adrian College

ADRIAN — Several initiatives were highlighted by Adrian College President Jeffrey Docking during his 2023 State of the College address March 31 in the Adrian Tobias Center on the college’s campus.

The title of this year’s State of the College address was “The Back of the Arch.” The meaning behind this title, Docking explained in a news release, relates to the inscription “Palma Non Sine Labore” ― “No Victory Without Work” ― found on the back side of the college’s gateway arch along U.S. 223.

“Out of all the titles we’ve had, I think I love this title more than any other,” Docking said in the release. “Because I think that ‘No Victory Without Work’ describes, perhaps, better than any other title, what I believe to be true about our community, our students, our faculty, and staff. We work hard … We believe in hard work. We believe that achievement should be earned. That there is dignity in hard work and there is honor in merited accomplishment.”

A highlight video followed Docking’s introduction featuring many of the college’s accomplishments and initiatives, including the U.S. 223 boulevard ribbon-cutting ceremony; the Hickman Art Gallery and Mahan Hall renovations; new majors now being offered at the college including computer science, web design, supply chain management, cybersecurity and sales; Adrian College being featured in the New York Times; new U.S. News and World Report rankings; a new interactive website; Nicolay Field’s turf replacement project; a rugby facility announcement; and several other projects.

During the event, Adrian College Bulldog caps were distributed to those in attendance, so that everyone was able to “tip their cap” to the cornhole team. The team’s head coach, Max Benedict, and two athletes spoke about how the team rose to the national stage and were featured on ESPN2 during their inaugural season.

The first presentation of the afternoon was given by Erik Skampo, owner of Adrian Coating, which focused on the completion of Mahan Hall and its new art gallery.

Skampo said his company painted the interior of Mahan Hall and the art gallery and noted it was completed ahead of time, despite his teams running into supply-chain issues.

“This is a testament to Krieghoff (Lenawee Co.) and the hard work of all the trades on site,” Skampo said in the release. “A building renovation/addition of this magnitude required new windows, flooring, electrical work, plumbing, drywall and masonry work, just to name a few.”

Skampo’s presentation was titled “Brick by Brick” as he noted more than 50,000 bricks were added to the building. To commemorate the accomplishment, he gave out miniature souvenir bricks, made by the Adrian College Art Department.

Adam Krug, head coach of the college’s NCAA DIII men’s hockey team, was the second presenter and talked about the hockey team winning the first national championship in AC's history.

Krug talked about how he had been a student-athlete himself on the NCAA men’s hockey team and explained how he eventually became the head coach years later.

“We had a good start to my regime, yet no NCAA championship, which became the benchmark for success,” Krug said in the release. “After a turbulent and disappointing 2018-19 season, some things needed to change. We needed a culture shift, a new way of doing things. We needed to change the perception of our program. We worked at it. We grinded. We lost sleep over it.”

He said the team worked to earn that championship, which came in the 2022 season with a 5-2 victory over SUNY Geneseo in Lake Placid, New York. The Bulldogs finished the season with a nearly perfect record of 31-1-0.

“We trusted our process, our consistency, accountability, relentlessness and discipline, which helped us persevere and ultimately surge forward to Adrian College’s first-ever NCAA championship… This victory wasn’t one season’s worth of work or luck. It was 16 years in the making. I can assure you, there is no victory without work,” he said.

Circle K student volunteers were also recognized as a newly reinstated campus chapter. The college’s new Brother-to-Brother SAAB (Student African American Brotherhood) chapter that was recently formed was also recognized by Docking.

Every year, Adrian College presents a Creativity Award to a student, faculty or staff member for submitting the most creative idea to enhance the campus community. Up to $10,000 goes towards implementing the winning idea, while the person suggesting the idea receives a check for $1,000.

Junior graphic design major Cheyenne Muse was this year’s winner with her idea of having the college make major and minor specific T-shirts available to all students. As part of the initiative, the release said, the names of each and every academic major and minor would be screen printed on Adrian College T-shirts so students can represent their programs with pride, both on and off campus, while simultaneously raising awareness to the academic areas of study that Adrian College offers.

To view the entire State of the College address, visit youtu.be/v_oXHolbTAw, which will take people to Adrian College’s AC TV YouTube page. The entire video is a little more than 55 minutes.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Successes highlighted in Adrian College's State of the College address