Nominations are now open for the 2018 Riverland Community College Distinguished Alumni Award, which recognizes contributions Riverland alumni have made and increases the pride all alumni, students, staff and faculty have for Riverland.

The award is given to a Riverland alumnus who made a significant contribution to the achievement of Riverland’s vision, established or strengthened Riverland’s community partnerships and contributed to a community in a significant way. The recipient will be recognized at the Riverland Community College commencement exercises in May.

Since 1979, 22 awards have been been given. The awardees are 16 males and six females. Six had careers in education, seven in business, three in health care, three in the law, two in the arts, and one in ministry. Seven awardees have been elected to public office at a local or regional level.

The most awarded recipient, Alice Holst, attended Winona State College for one semester and then Austin Junior College. She earned an associate in arts degree in 1969. She is a graduate of the AIB School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Blandin Community Leadership.

She began working for First National Bank, now known as U.S. Bank, in 1965.

Holst rose through the ranks at U.S. Bank, retiring 45 years later as the Austin branch president. Along the way she worked as a bookkeeper, teller, operations auditor, credit examiner, and compliance and investigations auditor. She trained and managed colleagues in accounting, customer service, credit operations, credit integration and branch operations.

Her experience with bank mergers was invaluable during the 2003 merger of the Riverland Foundation and the Albert Lea Campus Foundation. She led by example on the foundation board, serving as a catalyst to set up at least four named scholarships.

To be considered for the award, a nominee must have attended one of these schools:

Albert Lea Area Vocational Technical Institute

Albert Lea/Mankato Technical College

Albert Lea Technical College

Albert Lea Technical Institute

Austin Area Vocational School

Austin Community College

Austin Junior College

Austin State Junior College

Austin Technical College

Austin Technical Institute

Minnesota Riverland Technical College

Owatonna Extension Center – Austin State Junior College

Owatonna Higher Education Center

Owatonna College and University Center

Riverland Community College

Deadline to nominate is 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 1. Late nominations will not be considered. Online nominations to http://www.riverland.edu/alumni are encouraged.