WINONA LAKE – Grace College was proud to support eight students nominated for the 12th annual Indiana INTERNnet Impact Awards (IIN).

The students were selected by their internship employers because of their outstanding work ethic and leadership skills, according to a news release from Grace.

IIN connects schools, students and employers to facilitate the growth and creation of the most advantageous internship opportunities. The Impact Awards luncheon celebrates excellence in interns. This year, they were held Feb. 7 at the Ivy Tech Culinary and Conference Center in Indianapolis. There were 90 student nominees in all. The keynote speaker was Chris Heeter, founder of the Wild Institute.

The Grace College nominees and corresponding internship employers were Shoshannah Bontrager, Polywood in Syracuse; Madison Cowman, Humanitri in St. Louis, Mo.; Eli Graham, Polywood in Syracuse; Brandon Kemp, Egg Innovations in Warsaw; Olivia Kmieciak, Willow Creek Association in Barrington, Ill.; Mariah Roman, Compass Relocations in Downers Grove, Ill.; Carlie Salinas, Family Christian Development Center in Nappanee; and Jessica Vandenboom, Phoenix America in Fort Wayne.

The internships provided the students with a great deal of responsibility, the release said. Kmieciak was the U.S. Summit site coordinator for the Willow Creek Association, tasked with coordinating the 700 host locations for the Global Leadership Summit. She said it was a challenge to deal with all of the wrinkles, as even the smallest could affect either attracting to the area or helping to fulfill expansion plans.

“He’s leaving behind a great legacy with the community and the county,” Gordon said. “He’s worked diligently for us for almost 10 years as the first full-time economic director for KEDCo. “He’s traveled around to all the towns, engaging local communities in their economic development.”

“On the private side, he’s built a board of about 30 members, and there’s an additional four committees with 50 volunteers. He’s really helped us grow our network of volunteers that are involved with economic development across the entire county,” he said.

“So he’s leaving big shoes to fill.”

Gordon said because of the way Robertson has operated KEDCo so efficiently, it can afford to have two people in similar positions on the payroll for a short time and make the transition as seamless as possible.

“George has built this network of professionals, and we don’t want to lose that with his retirement. We’re spending more money to make sure we do this thing right and keep the momentum we have.”