The Conneaut Valley Alumni Association met for the 117th annual banquet May 28, to celebrate their historical legacy with just over 350 people in attendance. This sentence inadequately describes and cannot begin to illustrate the sense of heritage, unity and enthusiasm experienced while attending this annual community event.

For those of you who still live locally and do not attend for whatever reason . . . I’m just going to say it . . . shame on you! This alumni association is honored as one of the oldest alumni associations in America and is remarkable for its ability to bring together–in one room–multiple generations from the same family in celebration of education for the Valley.

It is significant when classmates make it a point to welcome home those who have moved away and are returning to celebrate with their fellow alumnae in a night that simply celebrates our common heritage from CVHS!

This year brought an extra measure of celebration as one former graduate returned to make a special announcement and formally begin an unprecedented legacy of giving back to Conneaut Valley.

With a $1 million dollar gift to the trustee matching scholarship program at Penn State Behrend, Joseph Prischak and his wife, Isabel, have established The Joseph and Isabel Prischak Trustee Scholarship to benefit students from Conneaut Valley High School who chose to study at Penn State Behrend.

Due to Mr. Prischak’s successful career in tool making partially developed through a machine shop course at CVHS, higher education opportunities will be created for Conneaut Valley students demonstrating academic talent but in need of financial resources for their development.

However, this is not the only scholarship opportunity Valley students have available upon graduation. Multiple scholarship awards were distributed to worthy students from the 2011 CVHS graduating class at the May 28 banquet.

We would be remiss if we did not make mention of the importance of Mr. and Mrs. Prischak’s gift that will continue to give back to the Valley in perpetuity. So, thank you Mr. Prischak, Class of 1949, for remembering us and giving back!

I also want to thank the alumnae who give countless hours to planning and preparing for this annual banquet. It is not an easy task but it is often thankless. I’m not going to name everyone involved because truly “it takes a village” to facilitate a party for people from across the United States. To stay informed and aware of CVHS alumni events the web site is:

http://www.conneautvalleyalumni.org/ or you may find the group on Facebook under Conneaut Valley Alumni Association.