Student leader Glassburn wins scholarship
July 20, 2006
KOKOMO, Ind.—Skillful coordination of student entertainment at Indiana University Kokomo has earned Mike Glassburn of Alexandria a $1,530 scholarship.
The National Council of Campus Activities (NACA) Foundation awarded Glassburn one of this year’s seven Student Leader scholarships. A communication arts major in his junior year at IU Kokomo, Glassburn was the winner for NACA’s Mid America region, which represents colleges and universities in six states.
Glassburn has participated in IU Kokomo’s Student Government Association for the past two years, and will serve his second term as Student Union Board (SUB) director in the 2006–2007 academic year. SUB coordinates live entertainment on campus, such as singers, bands, and comedians, as well as movies and the annual Halloween Open House.
Last year, Glassburn coordinated three benefit rock concerts on campus, including an eight-band “battle.” The events raised hundreds of dollars for tsunami and hurricane relief and the American Cancer Society. Having played guitar for years with area bands, Glassburn knows local musicians he could recruit for the events, and what they needed to perform. He also handled publicity and served as stage manager, and emcee for the first two concerts.
“I didn’t want to ask other people to do a lot of unpaid work,” he explained. By the third concert, the student impresario “discovered that people will work for the fun of it. With a lot of good help from other students, I was able to get everything organized early in the day.” That allowed him to play in the battle with his own band, Rotovox; they won a second place prize based on audience votes.
Now, community charities are asking Glassburn to help them to find music acts for their events. “People are recognizing me,” he said. “It didn’t happen until I got here. Being SUB director opened doors.”
Glassburn also headed arrangements for a January concert by the group Recycled Percussion. It drew man audience of more than 500 spectators to IU Kokomo’s Havens Auditorium. Recycled Percussion will make a repeat visit to IU Kokomo October 6. For more information, visit http://www.iuk.edu/events .
