乐播传媒

• President, Henry T. Geng 鈥�13
• Vice President, Jen Crawford 鈥�01
• Secretary, Ben Hughes 鈥�12
• Treasurer, Susan Peillet Yule 鈥�78
• Past President, Karen L. Finocchio 鈥�92
• Staff Liaison, Justin Fortier, Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement
• Advisor, Marianne Cowan 鈥�92, Associate Director, 乐播传媒 Center for Purposeful Work

Evelyn K. Dillon Award 

Funds given by the College Key provide two annual awards, one to a woman in field hockey and one to a woman in basketball. These awards recognize superior athleticism, leadership and dedication, and overall contributions to each respective sport, to be administered by the Athletics Department.

The 2023 recipients of the Evelyn K. Dillon Award are Paige C. 鈥�23, recognized for her accomplishments in field hockey, and Meghan G. 鈥�23, acknowledged for her achievements in basketball.

Paige C. 鈥�23, of Wolfeboro, N.H., graduated from 乐播传媒 with a psychology major. She was one of 92 student-athletes to receive the Senior Scholar Award for maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or better while participating in varsity sports for four years. In addition to her contributions to the field hockey team, Paige participated in Special Olympics for all four years at 乐播传媒 and volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.

Meghan G. 鈥�23, hailing from South Portland, Maine, served as the women鈥檚 basketball team captain for the past two years. She achieved notable milestones, including surpassing 1,000 career points, being named the NESCAC Player of the Year, and earning first-team All-NESCAC honors. 

The College Key Music Award

Given by the College Key to provide one or more annual music awards to the man or woman in the senior class whose services to musical organizations at the College have been the most outstanding.

The College Key Music Award was not awarded in 2022-2023. Income from the fund has been carried forward into the fiscal year 2024, and we look forward to reporting on it.

College Key Leigh P. Campbell 鈥�64 Scholarship Fund

Provides financial aid for a student or students who demonstrate loyalty, campus leadership, and potential for future service to 乐播传媒 College, with preference for a student member of the College Key or a child of a College Key member. This fund was renamed in honor of Leigh Campbell 鈥�64, a late College Key member, former director of financial aid, and recipient of the 2016 Helen A. Papaioanou 鈥�49 Distinguished Alumni Service Award, one of the College鈥檚 most prestigious honors.

Edmund Z.鈥�24, from Monmouth, Maine, is pursuing dual majors in Biological Chemistry and Mathematics at 乐播传媒 College. He is passionate about organic chemistry and enjoys working on his biochemistry thesis this year. Edmund, a movie enthusiast and board game lover, has found friends at 乐播传媒 who share his interests.

He appreciates the opportunities at 乐播传媒 to engage in serious research, a chance that friends at larger universities often find difficult to obtain. Inspired by his grandfather’s curiosity, Edmund strives to make him proud in everything he does.

The Mabel Eaton 乐播传媒 Key Scholarship Fund 

Given by members of the 乐播传媒 Key in honor of Mabel Eaton 鈥�10, founder of the 乐播传媒 Key, who was the College’s librarian from 1921 to 1957. For an undergraduate student who works in the George and Helen Ladd Library. Added to by the College Key.

Sloan P. 鈥�25, from Evergreen, Colorado, is an intended Biological Chemistry major. She loves chemistry and biology and spent the past summer working in a neuroimmunology lab at Johns Hopkins, which she found rewarding. Sloan also enjoys sewing and crafting and is excited for the Trashion Show this year.

• Annual membership is on a calendar fiscal year (January 1st 鈥� December 31st).
• The State of Maine annual report and IRS 990-N have been filed and are up to date.
• All financial information for 乐播传媒 College Key, a 501 (c)(3) organization, is stored in Little Green Light, our CRM database.
• Per the Treasurer鈥檚 2023 Fiscal Year report submitted at the June 2024 Annual Meeting, the total income in 2023 was $22,389.89. While contributions vary yearly, this achievement is significant; Alumni gifts enable the College Key to support 乐播传媒 students/programs. In 2023, we distributed $25,390.00 to the Purposeful Work/Internship Travel, College Key Scholarship, Music Award, Mabel Eaton Scholarship Award, and Music Award programs. Our operating expenses were $1,144.38. Our year-end showed a deficit of $4,144.49.
• As we head into the final weeks of 2024, we continue to plan for the rest of this academic year and to distribute meaningful funds from the College Key. As an active member of the College Key, you continue to help 乐播传媒 students through your annual member dues of $30.00. We can now accept or regular mail. On behalf of the 乐播传媒 Community, a sincere 鈥渢hank you鈥� for making these responses to the immediate needs of 乐播传媒 students possible. If you are unsure if your College Key membership dues are current, please contact me. Please help a 乐播传媒 student and keep your membership active!

Sincerely,

Susan Peillet Yule 鈥�78 
Treasurer, The College Key 

The College Key has adopted a new financial reserves policy to ensure our organization鈥檚 financial stability and maximize support for 乐播传媒 College. 

Based on an analysis by immediate past Treasurer Don McDade indicating that at least $10,000 is needed to cover annual operating expenses and allow for continued grantmaking during potential fundraising stoppages, the Key will maintain a minimum reserve of $10,000 at all times. 

Additionally, by the end of each grantmaking cycle, the College Key will endeavor to spend down to this reserve level of $10,000, directing as many member dues and gifts as possible to the College while maintaining sufficient funds for year-to-year stability.

Please contact President Henry Geng 鈥�13 or Treasurer Susan Yule 鈥�78 at thecollegekey@gmail.com if you have any questions about this new policy.

In March, the College Key was honored to welcome Hollywood animator Norton Virgien 鈥�74, a veteran, award-winning producer, and director as this year鈥檚 Distinguished Alumni in Residence.  Norton earned two Emmy awards for his work on the animated series 鈥淩ugrats鈥� and a third for 鈥淭utenstein.鈥�  During his campus visit, Noron met and talked with students about his forty-nine-year run in Hollywood and his experiences as an independent artist. 鈥淧retty much my career has alternated between projects that I鈥檝e loved and time looking for the next project that I鈥檓 going to love,鈥� he said.  鈥淭here are often breaks, and that makes it an adventure financially, however well you did while you were busy.鈥�

Norton, who celebrated his 50^th reunion this year, headed to Hollywood after graduation to pursue his passion for art, starting as a draftsman back when animation was hand-drawn, and each character movement required numerous drawings to reflect those changes on screen.  Norton paid tribute to the 乐播传媒 art program and his professor, Don Lent, who encouraged Norton and his classmates in their art and allowed them to discover their own direction.

However, today, animation is often done using computer programs.  鈥淲e used to be able to identify certain animator鈥檚 work just by the style of it.  Now it gets homogenized by the computer process a bit,鈥� Norton reflected.  鈥淏ut as a director, you have more control when you don鈥檛 have to ask someone to redraw a hundred drawings. You can do more tweaking and less reinventing.鈥�  

Norton has also worked on productions such as 鈥淭he Ren & Stimpy Show,鈥� 鈥淐urious George 2: Follow that Monkey!,鈥� 鈥淒oc McStuffins,鈥� and 鈥淭he Penguins of Madagascar.鈥�  He also made movie history in 1998 when 鈥淭he Rugrats Movie,鈥� which he co-directed, became the first non-Disney animated feature to gross $100 million. Now 50 years after graduating from 乐播传媒, Norton continues to tell his stories through animation.  In his most recent work, he was a co-creator of a series set in prehistoric times about a young girl who invented the first wheel and other useful tools.  Titled 鈥淓ureka!,鈥� it earned a nomination for Outstanding Animated Series at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards and can be seen through streaming on Disney+.  

Norton鈥檚 audience in March included many students interested in his work and fellow alumni. We were honored to hear from Norton about his successes, experiences, and the impact of his 乐播传媒 education, and we are beyond proud to have him as the 2024 Distinguished Alumnus in Residence.

Annually, the College Key is proud to host the Distinguished Alumni in Residence program, which brings together students and alumni to learn from the impactful stories of remarkable 乐播传媒 alumni. Recent DAIR honorees include US Marine veteran Stephanie Smith 鈥�87, Hubspot鈥檚 Chief People Officer Katie Burke 鈥�03, Editor at The Boston Globe Brian McGrory 鈥�84, U.S. Congressman Jared Golden 鈥�11, and Microsoft鈥檚 Senior Researcher Susan Dumais 鈥�75. If you have a potential nominee for a future DAIR, please email thecollegekey@gmail.com with information, including the nominee鈥檚 name, class year, and a brief summary of the nominee鈥檚 qualifications for consideration.

The College Key was formed in 1992 by the merger of the College Club, which was founded in 1891, and the 乐播传媒 Key, established in 1936. 

The purpose of the College Key is to recognize outstanding 乐播传媒 alumni(ae); encourage and recognize student academic and extracurricular achievement; support academics, student life, and campus improvement; provide student aid, including scholarships and other kinds of financial assistance; and contribute to the general welfare of the College.

This year, we continued this tradition by inviting four new alumni(ae) and twenty-six members of the Class of 2024 into the College Key.

Current juniors and members of the graduating class can be nominated by 乐播传媒 faculty and staff. Inductees from the Class of 2024 were welcomed as part of their Commencement Weekend celebrations on May 24, 2024.

Alumni can be nominated by fellow alumni, staff, and faculty through the College Key鈥檚 online nominations form. For the 2024 cohort, the Alumni nomination committee was composed of Casey Andersen 鈥�12, Roland Davis 鈥�92, and Benjamin Hughes 鈥�12. The College Key selection committee considers alumni nominees based on their continued service to the College, leadership in the community, success in a chosen field, and character. Alumni inductees were welcomed during the College Key Annual Meeting on June 7, 2024. 

2024 Alumni Inductees

Class of 2024 Inductees

With Hank鈥檚 term as President and Ben’s term as Secretary concluding this fall, we are now searching for candidates to step into Vice President and Secretary of the College Key.

If you鈥檙e open to making an impact by contributing your time and passion to the Key and joining in either of these positions, or you have suggestions of College Key members who may be interested, please email thecollegekey@gmail.com to learn more about the roles. 

The Executive Committee values your input and ideas as we strive to impact 乐播传媒 students and Key members more. Don鈥檛 hesitate to contact the Executive Committee members鈥攚e鈥檙e eager to hear from you.