A Hockey Family Helps Students Shoot for Their Goals

The MacIver Family Ice Arena Endowed Fund was established through a planned gift from Mary Kay and Mark MacIver. The MacIver family has a long history with Ferris, and with hockey. Bernard “Rusty” MacIver, who played hockey at many levels, including college and semi-professional leagues.

Rusty’s son Mark enjoyed organized hockey up to the high school level and played for years in the recreational leagues at Ferris. For many years, Mark also served as a youth league coach for the Big Rapids Area Junior Hockey Association (BRAJHA).

Mark’s wife, Mary Kay, has served as an office official for the NCAA Division I CCHA and the WCHA leagues for over 20 years and has provided many hours of volunteer time for the Big Rapids youth leagues and Cardinal hockey.

Mary Kay and Mark’s son, Andrew, played in the BRAJHA, for the Big Rapids High School Cardinal hockey team and with the Grand Rapids Griffins AA travel hockey. He served as the head Zamboni driver and student facility manager for the ice arena at Ferris from 2007 to 2013.

After graduating from Ferris, Andrew managed the Lakeview Arena for the City of Marquette, Michigan, and was instrumental in securing the arena’s win in the 2016 Kraft Hockeyville USA title. The MacIver Family Ice Arena Endowed Fund honors the Maclvers’ commitment to hockey and will provide programmatic support for ice surface maintenance for the ice arena at Ferris State University.

Mary Kay and Mark also started an endowed scholarship in 2016. They both had to pay for their own Ferris State education, so the couple strongly relates to the experiences Ferris students have today. Working part time as they went to school was the only way they could afford tuition and expenses, and after graduation, they had the burden of student loans. The Maclvers recognize that this would have been even harder without the scholarships they received and are now thrilled to be on the giving end of scholarship support.

They say, “We always knew that when it was possible, we would turn around and give a helping hand to Ferris students coming behind us. We feel that providing a path to higher education for worthy students is the best way for us to make a lasting impact not only for our scholarship recipients but for Michigan and beyond.”

Like Mark and Mary Kay, you can give future Ferris students the gift of a more affordable education. Contact The Ferris Foundation at (231) 591-2365 or FerrisFoundation@ferris.edu to learn more.