For Immediate Release
Media contacts:
Jane Turnis
(719) 389-6138
JTurnis@ColoradoCollege.edu
Leslie Weddell
(719) 389-6038
Leslie.Weddell@ColoradoCollege.edu
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Oct. 16, 2008 – Colorado College’s 1874 Society has a new member, and he’s 11 years old.
Sam Celeste, son of CC President Richard F. Celeste and his wife, Jacqueline Lundquist, raised the $1,874 it takes to join the 1874 Society at Colorado College. The group, named for the year Colorado College was founded, is a leadership society that helps support CC’s annual fund.
Sam raised the money by selling bright yellow T-shirts he helped design featuring the face of CC’s mascot, a tiger. The T-shirt says “Roar for 1874,” and sells for $18.74. Sam, a sixth-grader at Galileo Middle School, is no stranger to entrepreneurship; in 2005 he raised $10,000 for one of his favorite projects, the Uncle Wilber Fountain in Acacia Park. The contribution benefited the Friends of the Fountain Fund, a non-profit organization responsible for the fountain’s operational and maintenance costs.
Sam will be honored at a ceremony with his parents at 2 p.m., Friday, Oct. 17, at the Cutler Flagpole, on the quad just north of Worner Campus Center, 902 N. Cascade Ave. Olympic gold medalist and longtime TV skating commentator Peggy Fleming, as well as her husband, Greg Jenkins, will be in attendance. Fleming won five U.S. titles, three World titles and the gold medal in the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France. Her husband is a 1967 Colorado College graduate; Fleming is a member of the CC class of 1970.
About a year ago, Sam told his mother, who chairs the 1874 Society, he wanted to join. Lundquist replied that was fine, but he would have to raise the money himself. Sam came up with the idea for the T-shirt and consulted with Janet Martin, a 1972 Colorado College graduate who runs a Boulder design firm and has a daughter who is a student at CC. Sam and Martin worked together to develop the T-shirt. Martin’s daughter, Laura, a member of the CC class of 2012, also will be present at the ceremony.
The 1874 Society has approximately 800 members. Their contribution of $1,874 or more is undesignated, meaning it can be used where it is needed most at the college. The money raised by 1874 Society can be used for a variety of purposes: financial aid, faculty support, library resources, athletic equipment or study-abroad opportunities.
For information, directions or disability accommodation at the event, members of the public may call (719) 389-6607.
About Colorado College
Colorado College is a nationally prominent, four-year liberal arts college that was founded in Colorado Springs in 1874. The college operates on the innovative Block Plan, in which its 1,985 undergraduate students study one course at a time in intensive 3½-week blocks. The college also offers a master of arts in teaching degree. For more information, visit www.ColoradoCollege.edu <http://www.ColoradoCollege.edu>.