MC honors alumni Jones, Baker, Knapper

On Oct. 20, Maryville College faculty and staff honored Rev. Dr. Thomas L. Jones, Alvin C. Baker and Christie Latimer Knapper with prestigious alumni awards. Alumni, faculty and current MC students attended the National Alumni Association’s annual meeting and reception.

The room was full of alumni present to celebrate their fellow graduates’ awards. Jones and Baker were presented the College Alumni’s Citation. Jones said a life lesson from this award when it was presented to him ”to have continuing appreciation for life’s helpful lessons and relationships from our college.” He currently serves as ambassador at large for Habitat for Humanity International, previously acting as the vice president and managing director of the organization’s Washington, D.C. office.

Baker, the other recipient of the Alumni’s Citation award, is the general manager of National School Products. He has been involved in many previous alumni affairs, as well as a participant in the Blount County Alumni Association and the National Alumni Association.

Alumna Knapper, class of 2004, was presented the Kin Takashi Award for young alumni.When she received the award, she said that she was both “honored and humbled.”

“In looking at recipients from years past I do not feel that I hold a candle to them,” Knapper said. “So, to be selected out of a group of top notch young Alumni to receive this award, is certainly something that will always be special to me.”

Knapper was a regular volunteer for the United Way of Greater Knoxville, as well as a member of the Outcome Based Investment committee. For the past four years, she has helped to plan the “Tee Up for Trauma” golf tournament, where money raised goes to purchase equipment for the Level One Trauma Center.

“After my daughter was born eight weeks premature in 2010 and an 18- day stay in the NICU, I also became very involved with that aspect as well,” Knapper said. “My husband and I have chaired events to support the NICU, and we collect blankets each year around my daughter’s birthday to take to the babies in the NICU.” The alumni award ceremony concluded homecoming weekend, ending the festivities with a celebration of MC graduates and their achievements.

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