Award Honorees

In 2016, a group of Minnetonka High School students with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in a series of six improvisation classes led by ComedySportz Twin Cities as a creative way to help them build social skills.

This is one of many opportunities made possible by the Minnetonka Alumni Association's Fine Arts Endowment and it is part of the legacy of MAA leaders like Cornell Anderson. During Cornell's 10 years of dedicated participation, the MAA developed into an active alumni association that supports individual class reunions, organizes the All School All Class Reunions, represents alumni by attending MHS sporting and other community activities, and partners with the Minnetonka Public Schools Foundation in supporting the teacher grants program.

Cornell's other volunteer activities have included leadership roles at the University of Minnesota during both his undergraduate and graduate programs, member and president of the Carlson School of Management Human Resources Alumni Association, member and president of the Minnetonka Public Schools Foundation, and six years as an Assistant and Scout Master of Troop 346 in Minnetonka.

Now retired, he and his wife travel frequently to see their son in Porto, Portugal and daughter in Sydney, Australia. "We don't have many Sunday family dinners, but we have the good fortune to travel to many beautiful parts of the world to spend time with our kids and grandkids, and explore new and exciting places with them," Cornell says.