Feature Article
Allan E. Rodewald ’80
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner
My Siena is…Siena Heights College. I love the
changes today, but it’s been “College” for 30 years
for me.
This year I was honored as one of Siena Heights
University’s “Outstanding Alumni.” I received
this accolade from Siena—but it is Siena that
made me who I am today.
I grew up in Ottawa Lake, a small, rural, agricultural community in southeastern Michigan, a
short 45 minutes from Adrian. Ottawa Lake was
a great place for me to grow up. It was very small
and safe. College was not a priority for many
graduates at my high school and with absolutely
no one in my immediate family ever attending
college, I was very unfamiliar with the whole
college process. I chose Siena because a recruiter
informed me of an art competition for a scholarship to study at Studio Angelico.
The competition was supposed to end that day,
but the recruiter informed me that he could still
get me entered if he took my paintings directly
to Studio Angelico that afternoon. I gave him
three paintings and a couple weeks later I was
informed that I won the scholarship, which was
a whopping $600 a year—this was very impressive in the mid-1970s. When it came time to
select a school, I sat down with my parents one
evening to discuss the options. We all agreed
that if someone was willing to give me $600 a
year, I might as well go there. It was that simple.
My parents and I had no experience in choosing
a college, but I knew from my art teacher that
Siena had a good art department. And they
were giv [