Adam Jungemann
From: On Campus
Title: SDSU recognizes the accomplishments of distinguished alumni






Mikkel Pates, Patrick Springer, Tim Roby and Daryl Thuringer were honored as distinguished alumni at the South Dakota State University annual journalism banquet last Wednesday.

Over 130 people congregated at the Days Inn to recognize the accomplishments of the distinguished alumni and for the scholarship presentation. Scholarships were awarded to applicants within the Mass Communication department.

“I envy the young people who are entering into [mass communications],” said Mikkel Pates, senior staff writer/ photographer for Agweek magazine, as he reflected on the good times he has had in the field.

Pates, a ’79 graduate of SDSU, works in the Dakotas, Minnesota, eastern Montana, and southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan as a writer for a column, Ag-at-Large, and a blog, http://www.ag-at-large.com/.

Patrick Springer, an ’83 graduate, received many awards throughout his career in news writing. He now teaches at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.

Daryl Thuringer, an ’85 graduate, is the director of Marketing and Public Relations for Avera Health system in Sioux Falls. He has been to Haiti twice with Avera’s outreach program.

Tim Roby, an ’84 graduate, cofounded a public relations firm, Putnam Roby Communications.
Roby attested to the room full of young future journalists, “If you can write and you can communicate, you can do anything.”