ICCTA Distinguished Alumnus Award

2007 Recipient


Chad Pregracke
Founder and president
Living Lands & Waters
Black Hawk College(2001)

Chad Pregracke is an example of how just one person can truly make a difference in the lives of others.

As head of the non-profit group Living Lands & Waters, Chad has cleaned literally hundreds of miles of our nation's river banks and cleared out hundreds of thousands of pounds of debris.

His advocacy has earned him the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the U.S. Department of Interior's Take Pride in America Award,Biographymagazine's Top 10 Future Classics in America Award, and the American Association of Community Colleges' 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award.

National Geographic recently published Chad's autobiography,From the Bottom Up: One Man's Crusade to Clean America's Rivers.In addition, he is regularly featured as one of CNN Headline News' "People You Should Know."

"Completing my associate degree was quite the challenge," recalls Pregracke, who studied at Black Hawk College while living and working on a houseboat without electricity. "I completed my final paper literally from the middle of a river."