Arcanum News for the week of March 21, 2022
By Vickie Rhodehamel
Congratulations to the following seniors who have been selected as recipients of the 2022 Arcanum Alumni Association Scholarships: Daniel Albright, Ellie Fout, Ryan Martin, Isabella O’Daniel, and Ezekiel Wright. Winner of the Ted Murphy Alumni Scholarship is Katherine Kauffman. Congratulations to all of our senior scholarship winners! Special thanks to the Scholarship Committee of the Alumni Association – Cheryl (Moyer) Gray, Helena (Minnich) Schlafmann, and Vickie (Troutwine) Rhodehamel.
The purpose and mission of the Arcanum Alumni Association is to present scholarships to the current year’s graduating senior class members. The Arcanum alumni scholarship program began in 1966 and since that time they have supported seniors every year to over $128,000 in total scholarship monies. A big thank you to the current alumni and local businesses for supporting the annual scholarship fund drive. Many thanks to those who have donated to the fund again this year. Please note that the Arcanum Alumni Advisory Committee strives to be as financially efficient as possible so that the majority of funds raised goes to the scholarship fund. With rising costs of postage, it has become necessary these past several years to only mail invitations to those special honored classes. The committee has also been collecting email addresses for any member of the alumni so as to save postage costs. Earlier this year, over 1,000 invitations were mailed to the cost of around $600.00. Please also be aware that if you have moved recently or have never received an invitation it might be that we don’t have either a street address or an email address for you; therefore the committee requests that you go to the school website and go to the alumni tab – please enter your address change on this tab on the school website. This would help us tremendously in keeping the most recent information for all of the members of the Alumni Association. Each year the senior class is inducted into the alumni association at graduation. Our oldest member of the alumni association is from the class of 1943.
The students will be awarded their scholarships at the annual Trojan Alumni Homecoming on April 9th at the school. All Arcanum graduates are invited to attend. For more information or to make a reservation, please contact Denise (Hangen) Swabb at [email protected] or by phone at 937-459-9081. Tickets this year are $25, meal is catered by Michael’s Catering. In addition to honoring our seniors, the 75th, 50th, and 25th year anniversary classes will also be honored.
REMINDER: Reservation deadline is next week on March 23, 2022. If you haven’t sent in your reservation yet there is still time! The alumni association advisory committee looks forward to seeing you! This year we will be presenting five scholarships plus the Ted Murphy scholarship at the homecoming event.
This year the officers of the Alumni Advisory board will change at the end of the school year. Our co-chairpersons, Sally (Welbaum) Sharritts and Carolyn (Trentine) Hollinger, and our treasurer Helena (Minnich) Schlafmann will retire from the board. Vickie Rhodehamel was elected the new chairperson for the next year. The treasurer’s position is open and awaiting a volunteer.
Save the Date! The Arcanum Wayne Trail Historical Society will host Todd Clemmons on May 12 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. as he shares information about the D&U Railroad. Some people never lose their love and fascination for trains. Trains came through several times a day stopping to fill cars with lumber from Stephens Lumber Company, PopRite Pop Corn from Blevins Pop Corn Company, feed and grain from Smiths Feed Store, naming just a few stops. Todd has been compiling information about the Dayton and Union Railroad line which came through Arcanum and neighboring communities. He will share his vision for the book, and he will give a historical overview of the D&U. The program then will open up for those in attendance to tell their memories and stories. If you would like, please bring any memorabilia to share with the group.
“Blossom by blossom the spring begins.” ~ Algernon Charles Swinburne
“Life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“March is a month of expectation.” ~ Emily Dickinson
Vickie Rhodehamel is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves The Daily Advocate readers weekly with her Arcanum community column. She can be reached by calling 937-423-3763, by email at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.
