Anna DeGroot and Dexter Larsen, Wayne State College seniors, have been chosen to receive the Ron Holt Civic Engagement Award.
The award is gifted by WSC alumni Ron Holt to graduating students with outstanding leadership qualities who have served as exceptional role models during their time at WSC.
“I admire his generosity so much, and I can only hope to have a fraction of that generosity,” DeGroot said. “He is really admirable, really nice and down-to-earth guy”
Kaitlyn Michaelson, the third recipient, was profiled in the Wayne Stater’s April 2 issue.
Anna DeGroot will be graduating with her bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus on conservation as well as minors in geography and public and global health.
“I’m interested in doing research based in high-impact communities,” DeGroot said. “Because there’s a lot of overlap between environmental deprivation and poor environment conditions and low-income communities.”
DeGroot is an active member of Gamma Theta Epsilon, Pi Gama Mu, Green Team, WSC marching band and wind ensemble, and she is the president of the Wildlife Society.
In her role as president, DeGroot enjoys helping members network.
“I try to help my members in the Wildlife Society connect to different professionals in the field. I always try to take them to different meetings and workshops.” DeGroot said.
Outside of WSC, DeGroot is highly involved in environmental conservation work.
“I worked in Madagascar for three months. I did the community-based conservation work there,” DeGroot said. “I did Lemur monitoring research, and I worked on the compositing team as part of the reforestation program. That monumentally shaped my career path and ignited my passion for community-based conservation.”
DeGroot fully intends to utilize her volunteer work and service learning wherever she goes after college.
“Community service is a pretty big part of the conservation field in general, and in order for conservation projects to be successful, you need community support and community involvement,” DeGroot said.
Dexter Larsen will be graduating with his bachelors in exercise science and a minor in psychology.
“Exercise science- you get the physical component of sports-I always knew I wanted to be a sports performance coach,” Larsen said. “The mental side of sports- especially as you get to collegiate ranks and the higher up you go- the mental side becomes more and more important. I thought understanding the psychology behind specifically sports, but also all-around was important for sports performance training.”
After college, Larsen plans to continue working at Anytime Fitness, a nationwide chain of 24-hour gyms.
“Right away, I’ll be working with primarily high school, middle school and even grade school athletes,” Larsen said. “During the school year, and even the summer, we’ll do general population training just for overall health and well-being.”
During his time in college, Larsen worked as an academic tutor, served in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and played football. He served as team captain for two years.
Outside of campus, Larsen volunteer-coached for the Wayne Youth Wrestling Club and Pender High School wrestling teams and was part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Larsen is incredibly grateful for the opportunities he’s been given over the past few years.
“I understand how privileged I am to live a life that I do, and a lot of people aren’t as lucky as I am, so I just hope to be a positive inspirational light in a lot of those people’s lives who aren’t as lucky as I am,” Larsen said. “Even if they aren’t as privileged, hopefully I can inspire them to reach for their goals and be the best that they can be no matter what their situation is.”
Ron Holt, founder of the Holt Civic Engagement Award, is a licensed and board-certified psychiatrist, who is also a motivational speaker and author. Holt is passionate about current issues in the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as mental health.
“He’s devoted his life to helping other people, and I think that’s really inspirational, and I can look up to that,” Larsen said. “I give as much thanks to him for this scholarship but also for being an awesome role model and for all the service and giving he does.”
