Summer 2025 Issue
Back to IssueScholarship Celebration Dinner 2025
June 14, 2025
Guests gather in celebration at the Scholarship Dinner and launch event for A World of Good — Central’s comprehensive campaign — filling the room with energy, connection and shared purpose in honor of the relationships between donors and students.
The 25th annual Scholarship Celebration Dinner brought together a room full of people who share a deep love for Central College and believe in the power of a Central education. Alumni, donors, students and parents came together to build meaningful connections. Made possible by the generous support of Bank Iowa, premiere event sponsor, and Leighton State Bank, event sponsor, the evening fostered a strong sense of community and laid the groundwork to support future generations of the Central family.
Kris DeWild ’90 presented a musical prelude on piano as guests entered P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium. Emma Garrett Zwank ’25 delivered the opening prayer. Hannah Stephenson, travel and concert manager for music and Sean Stephenson, assistant professor of music, performed classical pieces and show tunes as the night’s entertainment.
A heartwarming video honored Gary ’55 and Maurine Timmer and the incredible generosity of the Geisler-Penquite Foundation. The foundation has (for the second time) given Central its largest single gift in school history — this time, totaling more than $9.3 million. Watch the video honoring the foundation’s devotion to education and Central by visiting central.edu/geisler-penquite.
This special evening was especially so with this year marking 25 years of the dinner and Central President Mark Putnam’s official announcement of the college’s comprehensive campaign: A World of Good. Attendees witnessed the premiere of the campaign video narrated by Harry Smith ’73, Board of Trustees member. Watch the video by visiting central.edu/scholarship-dinner25.
“We want to do A World of Good as a campus community,” Putnam states. “I think the theme of this campaign embodies, more than anything else, the core focus of Central College. This campaign has a very specific set of things it wants to achieve. It’s all about students. We have one focus: What happens to and for them to have the type of opportunities they want to have in the future.”
Putnam emphasized the value of doing good in our world and living out the very essence of the campaign itself.
You can do A World of Good when you support Central students. By making a gift, you can directly impact Central programs and opens doors for more, and future generations of, students. Make your gift by visiting central.edu/give or calling 641-628-5154 and asking for Michelle Wilkie, director of development.