Sheryl Siegel was elected to the GRCC board of trustees on Nov. 4, 2018. Her term runs from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2024.
Trustee Siegel has extensive experience in the field of education and expertise in building a successful school community. She currently serves as board president of iCI Nation, an organization that strengthens the city through connecting neighborhood organizations, schools, youth centers, and community agencies with law enforcement. iCI is unique in its mission to build trust between cops and the community.
Trustee Siegel's passion is coalescing school staff around a common vision for student success. After receiving her bachelor's degree in education from Michigan State University, she taught elementary and secondary in urban and rural districts.
She was appointed to the East Grand Rapids Superintendent's Advisory Committee, co-founded an annual education lectures series at Grand Valley State University, and currently substitute teaches in the Grand Rapids Public School system and is a tutor for the Literacy Center.
Trustee Siegel is recognized for her work on behalf of international religious liberty. She received Rotary International's Paul Harris Service Award for leading forums that feature national speakers to educate the public on the plight of religiously persecuted minorities in foreign countries.
Trustee Siegel's overseas and domestic volunteer work is extensive. She built clean water filters in Nicaragua through Rotary International, was a member of a transport team in Ethiopia airlifting impoverished and persecuted Ethiopians to a new life in Israel, worked on an army base and soup kitchen in Israel, and has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and AMR Ambulance service as an emergency medical technician. She was a foster parent and, for the past 26 years, guardian of an emotionally-impaired woman.
Trustee Siegel is married to Jim Siegel, co-owner of Siegel Jewelers. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
