The Adel DeSoto Minburn school system has been nurturing students for decades.

ADM Alumni are proud of the life skills and knowledge they've acquired to help reach their full potential.

This month, we spoke with Kristie Peterson Manning, President of the ADM Alumni Association.

Q. Tell us about yourself.
A. I graduated from Adel High School in 1969. I was a DeSoto migrant before we were totally combined. I joined the Adel group my freshman year. I loved coming to Adel from DeSoto (with a class of 11).

I've lived in Adel most of my adult life; I am married to Al Manning and we have 2 daughters and 3 wonderful grandchildren. Our daughters also graduated from ADM.

Q. How did you become involved with the Association?
A. From day one, I've had a great desire to stay in touch with classmates from all the classes around me. A group of us got together one year to have an 11 class reunion. Founding president Becky Peters McChurch brought us the dream of becoming an association. 

Q. Why was the Association started?
A. Our purpose is to keep alumni informed, aid in the preservation of school district archives, advocate special projects, support and promote alumni events, and to promote a sense of community.

Q. Who is on the Board?
A. Jim Peters - Treasurer, Kris Manning - President, Nicole Nielsen, Barb Trier, Melody Marshall, Ron Gilliland, Lynn Loynachan, Dick Wicks - Vice President, Nate Hawkins, Tana Belgarde, Barb Wicks - Secretary, Dave Moyer, and Kristi Fuller.


Q. What projects/ events happen throughout the year?
A. It seems like every year brings a new interest.  We've looked into preserving the old primary building (cost prohibitive) and capturing all of the old composites from destruction.

We're creating a display at the new school commons which houses all of the graduating class pictures then creating a book for people to have. We are gathering yearbooks from all years and having those scanned.

We are now looking into honoring graduates of Adel, DeSoto and Minburn who were veterans killed in action.

Q. How have the class reunions changed?
A. At one time there were individual class reunions for each class. We now hold All-Class Reunions so that Alumni of all ages can celebrate together.

There are also more people attending. With our ability to provide class liaisons with a class list and our updated address database, plus our publications, the interest and involvement has grown exponentially.

Q. Do you have any events coming up?
A. Absolutely! Friday, August 13th is our great day of gatherings. 

We start the morning at 9am with the ADM Alumni Golf Outing at the River Valley Golf Course in Adel.

At 4pm we will have the All-Class ADM Alumni Reunion at the 7-8 School Commons with dinner being served by the ADM After Prom Committee.

We finish the day at 7PM with more members inducted into the ADM Athletic Hall of Fame in the auditorium.

Q. Tell us about your new website.
A. This has been long on the desire list. We needed an opportunity to have local expertise get us launched so we could manage the website ourselves. 

We worked with local Adel business, G.Rafics Inc., and it has been a wonderful experience for us.  We want lots of alumni and school associates to visit the website and see what is happening!

Q. How can I become a member?
A. Sign up at the new website, www.admalumni.com. You can join for a mere $10 - $15 if you are an Alumni couple.  We will also accept any donations. Membership fees are applied to the annual projects mentioned above and 2 times a year we have a newsletter mailing.

Q. What's the most important reason to join the ADM Alumni Association?
A. You are investing in the legacy!  We use the funds to capture history for a group of Alumni who have come to appreciate the fact that they were privileged to attend a great school, with great teachers, and great education for our future.

Adel DeSoto Minburn Alumni Association
P.O. Box 122
Adel, Iowa 50003
www.admalumni.com