UW-Stevens Point alumni recognized for service to communities

Several University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point alumni are being recognized for their service to their communities.

The Pointer Impact Award, created by the UW-Stevens Point Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2020, honors alumni doing good works for their communities and beyond. Whether it be through volunteering or as part of their career, Pointers shape the world in many ways and this honor is to celebrate those achievements.

The UWSP Alumni Association will also host episodes of Coffee with Alumni and Friends with each award winner. Episodes can be found at facebook.com/UWSPAlumni.

Recipients include:

Tom Beyer, '85

A marketing and economics graduate, Tom Beyer is now a distinguished businessman as well as one of the founders of Rock River Rescue, an organization formed in 2001 to save the Rock River in Watertown, Wisconsin. He helped found the Rock River Rescue Foundation to improve the aquatic ecosystem of the river within the city limits. Since then, the organization has removed over 10,000 carp, stocked over 1 million game and pan fish and donated handicap accessible piers to the city that were installed at Riverside Park and Fannie P. Lewis Park. They have expanded their target area and continue to clean up and restore the Heiden Pond area. Over the last few years, the group has created scholarships available to graduating high school seniors pursuing a career in resource management.

Jessie Fritsch, '06

Fritsch, an encaustic artist (beeswax painter) for 20 years, began her specialty art journey at UWSP. In 2004, she received a research grant from UWSP to teach herself how to paint with molten pigmented beeswax. Following graduation, she began exhibiting at art festivals. Fritsch currently works as an artist, art fair exhibitor and encaustic workshop instructor. In 2022, She opened Buzz in Art Studios, a teaching art studio, in Arnott, Wisconsin. She also created the "Trailblazers" mural in downtown Stevens Point that celebrates Ruth Bader Ginsburg and women's rights. Fritsch is the Council Chair for the Stevens Point Area Festival of the arts and serves on the steering committee for the Hidden Studios Art Tour in central Wisconsin.

Lyle Updike, '75

Lyle Updike, a graduate in wildlife ecology and management, volunteers and facilitates training at the Aldo Leopold Foundation, an organization focused on promoting conservation and land stewardship. During his time as a student, he was in charge of the planning UWSP's 1^st Earth Day in 1970, working with Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, to make the event happen. Updike was elected as student body president in 1974-75 and a candidate for the assembly in 1976. It took Lyle six years to graduate as he served in the Vietnam Conflict. Updike volunteers with the Boy Scouts of America and is serving as elected town chair for the Town of Sun Prairie and has retired from his position on the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission after 20 years of service.

Aaron Hunnel, '13

Founder and director of the Comprehensive Health and Wellness Program in the Wisconsin National Guard, Aaron Hunnel believes that people are the greatest gift in life. As a certified wellness practitioner and certified intrinsic coach, his work combining personal and organizational change has influenced thousands of people all over the world as he empowers them to live authentic, fulfilled lives. He has built behavior change and leadership courses which have been integrated nationally across the Department of Defense, creating over 20 jobs in 4 states. Hunnel's passion for wellness began after struggling with his own physical and mental health from multiple deployments, where he unlocked a passion for endurance racing. During the pandemic, he started a project called Ride 2 Stop Suicide, putting bikes into the hands of veterans across the nation. As part of the campaign, he rode 3000 miles in 22 days from California to Maryland to raise money and awareness to reduce veteran suicide. Retiring after 20 years of service in the National Guard, Hunnel will transition back to speaking, coaching and consulting with various organizations.