Cranbrook Honors President's Award for Excellence Recipients

Yesterday evening a dinner was held in honor of this year's recipients of the President's Award for Excellence.  Established in 1989, the award  recognizes individuals who epitomize Cranbrook's dedication to achieving excellence and working collaboratively within the Cranbrook community.

Each year, as a permanent reflection of their contributions, award recipients design one leg of a bench later installed on Cranbrook's campus. Retired Academy Metalsmith-in-Residence Gary Griffin executes the designs in bronze.

President Emeritus Lillian Bauder and her husband Don established the Bauder Fund for Excellence to endow the President's Award for Excellence program.

Please join us in congratulating this year's recipients - Chevy Pratt, Dorothy Cotton, Marcy De Craene, and Mike Paradise - and read on to learn more about each of them.

Chevy Pratt
Nearly everyone who lives or works at Cranbrook knows Chevy Pratt. He is our lifeline to the outside world, delivering mail and packages twice a day to offices throughout campus. He makes nearly 50 stops per day “with an average of three minutes per stop,” he says. Keeping it to three minutes is the only way he can squeeze in everything in one day. And despite the brevity of those stops, Chevy always makes time to greet his Cranbrook co-workers, bringing infectious good cheer everywhere he goes.

Chevy came to Cranbrook six years ago after working at Chrysler where he prepared executive lease cars for use. “We used to prep 120 cars a day for executives,” he says, “and it was stressful.” His current job, while busy and fast-paced provides him with more peace of mind, Chevy says. “It helps that there is a set routine.”

Even though the framework of his day might be set – working from 8 a.m. to 4:30 delivering dozens of packages and hundreds of pieces of mail across a 319-acre campus – the details of each day change constantly. Recently, the mailroom broke a one-day record, receiving and prepping 205 packages for delivery. There are also trips back and forth to the post office, requests to assist with bulk mail jobs and, in the winter, lots of cold weather with which to deal. “The cold is not easy,” Chevy says, “but as long as I keep moving and bundle up, it’s fine.”

When asked what the best part of his job is, without hesitation Chevy replies, “Meeting everyone and communicating with everybody every day. And my co-workers are great. Glen Cairns is like a split half of me. And Melanie Couzens is the brain of the group. She keeps us in line.” It’s no surprise that Chevy is a team player, having wrestled and played football as a running back and defensive cornerback for Pontiac Central High School. “I used to like to hit people,” Chevy says, laughing.

Off the job, Chevy indulges in his passion for all things science fiction. He lives in Pontiac with his wife Tammi and their five daughters, ages two to 16.

Dorothy Cotton
When Kingswood dormitory housekeeper Dorothy Cotton first stepped onto the Cranbrook campus, she had a feeling it was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship. “Everybody I’ve ever worked with here is very nice,” says Dorothy. “And the campus is pretty all year round.”

Affectionately known as ‘mama’ by her co-worker Melinda Thomas, Dorothy began her Cranbrook career in 1986. Through the years, she has balanced a number of responsibilities including maintaining the girls’ locker room (now the teacher’s workroom); doing laundry; cleaning at the Gate House, Stoney House and Robin Hill; and tidying up the bathrooms, hallways and office in the Kingswood dormitory. These days, Dorothy works side-by-side Thomas. Over the past eight years, the two have become a dynamic team. “We work well together,” Dorothy says. “Sometimes if I’m running behind, I can surely depend on her help.”

“We work well together,” says Melinda Thomas, her co-worker for the past eight years. “Sometimes if you’re running behind, you can surely depend on her to pick up the slack.”

Dorothy also has seen her share of students come and go through the Kingswood dorms, befriending many of them along the way. In fact, when students come back to visit Kingswood during Reunion Weekend, they are often be on the lookout for Dorothy to say hello.

Dorothy says she was shocked and happy to learn she had won the President’s Award for Excellence. Unfortunately, she realized right away that she would be out of town on a long-planned and well-deserved vacation. “I wish I could be there,” she says.

With her kindness, good nature and a positive work attitude, it is no wonder Dorothy has touched the lives of so many at Cranbrook.

Marcy De Craene
From the moment she steps into her office each morning, Marcy De Craene never knows what she might face that day. As Brookside’s school nurse and health teacher, Marcy attends to everything from sniffles, asthma and broken arms to conferencing with parents, teaching health classes, creating treatment plans, giving out hugs, monitoring medications, even getting a well dug in a small African village thousands of miles away.

After working in emergency rooms at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Pontiac, Marcy came to Cranbrook 15 years ago as only the second school nurse in Brookside history. Brookside proved to be “an extremely busy and dynamic place,” she says. “And there’s no such thing as a routine. I loved the intense clinical nature of the ER but I really love teaching.”

Marcy spends the majority of her time each day preparing and teaching health classes for first through fifth graders. “I love seeing kids be amazed at their bodies,” she says. “They think it’s all magic.” In her nursing role, Marcy cares for kids suffering from a slew of different ailments, from colds and low blood sugar to sometimes just a plain bad day. “It’s a lot of emotional support,” Marcy says. “You have to know when to step back and just give them a hug.”

Marcy helps guide Brookside’s extraordinary partnership with the village of Namtenga in Burkino Faso, Africa, a project that has deepened into a strong friendship between children on both sides of the ocean. “Namtenga has been a gift to us,” Marcy says. “It’s brought the whole community together for one cause.”

Marcy also co-chairs Brookside’s nutrition committee and Namtenga committee, and serves on the curriculum committee and as staff liaison for the Parent Awareness Committee. “My colleagues keep me both grounded and on my toes,” Marcy says. “The parents are supportive and the kids, they are just so fun! Every day I love what I do.”

Marcy and her husband Tom, a 2004 PAE winner, live on campus. Their daughters, Leanne and Allison, are Cranbrook Schools graduates.

Mike Paradise
For 14 years, Mike Paradise has tamed technology in the service of art. The Cranbrook Academy of Art technology coordinator oversees the latest software, hardware, video components and dozens of other gadgets that allow today’s artists to transform ideas into reality.

A printmaker in his own right, Mike first came to Cranbrook as a potential student. During an initial conversation with former Academy Designer-in-Residence Kathy McCoy invited him to join the staff, helping the Academy expand its technology use. “Kathy told me, ‘All we’re trying to do is move from the 19th century to the 21st century,’” Mike recalls. “I thought, ‘This will be interesting.’”

And so far, it has been. Mike headed the Academy’s first media lab, a small space in the basement of the Academy library. The lab today has grown into a state-of-the-art facility which includes large format and three-dimensional printers, an audio video production and edit studio with tiered viewing room and computer lab, all of which require Mike to stay on top of the very latest advances. From the lab, Mike also established Radio Free Cranbrook, a local station at 99.9 FM that broadcasts music, lectures and audio art on campus and beyond. As an artist and technophile, Mike enjoys watching technology coalesce with the work done at the Academy. “It’s extremely satisfying to see students integrate digital tools, applying them to their artistic expression and taking it all to a next level.” Working with students is a welcome aspect of the job, Mike says. “Their fearlessness in exploring new technology is inspiring.”

Outside the lab, Mike works to keep Cranbrook on the radar screens of the world’s software and technology providers, often inviting corporate speakers and representatives to campus to hold workshops or talks. “Cranbrook is such a great laboratory, and I’m always looking for ways to make Cranbrook a more visible force in the region and globally,” he says.

Mike says he feels fortunate to be at Cranbrook. “A lot of people go to work and it’s their job,” he says. “I go to work and I’m as happy here as I would be in my own studio. It’s perfect.”