By Journal Staff

MARQUETTE — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Community Service Commission announced 46 individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations as recipients of the 2022 Governor’s Service Awards and applauded their commitment to volunteerism, service and philanthropy.

One of the recipients was Lorana Jinkerson of Marquette, who received an Environmental Impact Award.

The Career Technical Education Committee of Marquette & Alger Counties won the Youth Services Award.

The Michigan Community Service Commission will host the 2022 Governor’s Service Awards at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Admission to event is free, but registration is required. To register, visit https://2022governorserviceawards.eventbrite.com.

According to the biographies on the winners, Jinkerson began her journey with the North Country Trail Association in the Upper Peninsula in the mid-2000s and has led in volunteer and philanthropic service since. Recently, Jinkerson surpassed 10,000 volunteer hours with NCTA.

She has built relationships with numerous private landowners to establish trail sections that are off-road when public land isn’t available.

“Subsequently, this has minimized the area of road-walk and enhances a ‘road-safe’ positive trail experience,” her biography read. “To continue a positive trail experience, she physically maintained the trail while also planning for its future.”

Jinkerson worked with the Marquette community to establish interpretive signage along the trail and encouraged other groups to hold events on the trail’s behalf to promote the trail as one of the 11 national scenic trails in the country. She developed a holistic approach to supporting the National Trails System and ensured that the country’s longest national scenic trail will be available for people to positively engage in the environment for many years to come.

The Marquette-Alger RESA is the only intermediate school district in the Upper Peninsula that does not collect a career and technical education millage and one of only a handful statewide lacking this revenue stream, according to the CTE committee biography. Despite this fiscal handicap, MARESA and its constituent school districts provide the largest and most diverse array of CTE programs in the U.P. and is one of the top CTE programs in the state.

The CTE committee, with its strong volunteer leadership, provides many programs, including the Marquette-Alger Technical Middle College, the Geometry in Construction STEM program, the CTE Magazine career exploration resource, and recruitment of young talent into the professional trades.

The committee has secured over $765,000 in direct funding for the programs. In addition, the committee provides volunteer support to sustain the essential programs. One of the main goals of the committee is to help high school students make the best possible career decisions and find their future paths.

The CTE committee pooled resources of smaller working groups to make a larger impact.

“With more than 50 members, this group of committed volunteers (is) directing their energy to the greater good of the youth of this two-county region,” the biography read. “Even with all its success, the committee is not ready to rest just yet. Each year as they accomplish some of their goals, the committee simply replaces them with new and innovative ideas that will provide local students with multiple career laddering opportunities and employers with the talent they so desperately need.”