A high school dropout at age 16, a single mother at age 18, Peggy Kirby was the first in her family to enter college. "If there had not been a community college readily accessible to me, I would never have acquired the confidence or skills to apply for my first office job," she says. That job was an entry-level accounting position at the Elgin Courier News. Thanks to her mentors at Elgin Community College, she moved up the ranks to vice-president/general manager of three daily newspapers and, finally, publisher of the daily paper where she had started as a billing clerk.

Peggy Kirby accepts the ICCTA's 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award.

For additional information on ICCTA's Distinguished Alumnus Award, please contact Kim Villanueva at 217-528-2858, ext. 1.

Illinois Community College Trustees Association 401 E. Capitol Ave., Suite 200 Springfield, IL 62701-1711 217-528-2858 (phone) 217-528-8662 (fax) ICCTA@communitycolleges.org (e-mail) http://www.communitycolleges.org