Heart of a Lion

As a student of Southeastern Louisiana College 50 years ago, Jack Blossman benefitted from the growing university just up the road from home. As a Covington native, Jack decided upon Southeastern as his university and graduated with a degree in Business Administration and as member of Kappa Delta Tau fraternity. As he notes, his time at Southeastern was well spent, building lifelong friendships, enjoying a great experience and preparing for a successful career as an attorney and in banking. Now retired, Jack has generously supported Southeastern in various ways over the years, and last year reached out to help start efforts that would support Robin Roberts’ needs during her illness last year.

With his generous donation, Swabbin4Robin was born. His funding provided the basis for the campus-wide collaborative effort to support Robin in the best way possible – to make something positive come from her illness. The Swabbin4Robin initiative was developed to increase awareness of the need for more DNA registrants on the national Bone Marrow Donor Registry as well as to actually increase registrant numbers. Dozens of students from many student groups, supported by Athletics, Advancement and the University Administration held over 20 registration events – “Swabbing” events. In this time nearly 500 people were added to the registry, hundreds of service hours were performed (further engendering the value of service and philanthropy among students), and regional and national press was obtained for students, Southeastern and the registry.

Only with the support of friends and alumni like Jack Blossman can Southeastern not only provide the best in educational opportunities, but work to build the whole person, preparing students to make a difference in a more and more complex world.

From his days at Southeastern over 50 years ago to today, Mr. Jack Blossman is not only a successful pillar of the community, but he demonstrates the true heart of a LION!