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Tech alumni award winners, community leaders Michael and Cigi England named grand marshals of 2023 homecoming parade
Tech alums Cigi and Michael England are pictured at The Exceptional Bean, the Cookeville-based
nonprofit coffee shop they founded to support inclusion and employment opportunities
for individuals with special needs.
Tennessee Tech University did not have to look far for the grand marshals of its 2023
homecoming parade. In fact, this year’s honorees live just off the parade route, but
their community leadership and nonprofit work has touched lives across the Upper Cumberland
and beyond.
Michael and Cigi England, married Tech alumni and founders of the venerated Cookeville-based
nonprofit coffee shop “The Exceptional Bean,” which is dedicated to inclusion and
employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, will guide the annual
parade down Dixie Avenue on Saturday, Nov. 4.
Their homecoming duties won’t be finished after the parade’s end. Later that evening,
they will also accept the Tech Alumni Association’s 2023 Outstanding Service Award
for The Exceptional Bean’s impact uplifting the special needs and disabilities community.
“Michael and Cigi represent the best of Tennessee Tech. They have dedicated their
livelihoods to helping others and they have contributed to the success of our local
community in ways big and small,” said Susan Luna-Hazlewood, director of Tech’s Crawford
Alumni Center. “Plus, they have given Tech students a beautiful place to gather while
enjoying a cup of coffee that supports a worthy cause. We cannot wait to watch them
lead our 2023 homecoming parade and to present them with our 2023 Outstanding Service
award.”
“We are thrilled,” said Cigi, a 2006 graduate of Tech’s School of Human Ecology. “This
day is always one of my favorite days of the year. We host a parade party every year
at our home, so to be grand marshal is an even bigger deal.”
Michael, a 2019 graduate of Tech’s College of Interdisciplinary Studies, describes
the honor as “almost comical” given the uneven path that led to his eventual degree.
Michael recounts disenrolling from Tech in 2006 before making “drastic” life changes,
including finding sobriety and replacing old habits with a newfound dedication to
running. He re-enrolled at Tech in 2017 to complete his degree. He is also set to
receive the College of Interdisciplinary Studies’ 2023 Alumnus of the Year Award on
homecoming weekend.
“I had made some poor choices, my GPA was bad, so getting an opportunity to come back,
getting re-enrolled as a nontraditional student, and then being given this award and
being asked to be grand marshal – it’s almost science fiction,” said Michael. “It’s
such an honor and almost an alternate universe I found myself in.”
Michael’s lifestyle changes didn’t just earn him a degree. It also meant a chance
to reconnect with Cigi. The pair became acquainted as Tech students in the early 2000s
through their involvement in Greek life, but did not forge a dating relationship until
2015, after both had moved away and serendipitously returned to Cookeville.
Their second stint in Cookeville brought a new focus on contributing to the success
of the community, too.
Months after Cigi’s return to the area, she opened Cigi’s Boutique, a clothing store
for women of all ages and sizes less than a mile from Tech’s campus. The store will
celebrate its ninth anniversary this year.
The Englands also bought season tickets to Tech basketball games and forged a relationship
with the players and coaches. Michael took on a role as alumni advisor for his fraternity,
Kappa Sigma. But it was Cigi and Michael’s deep connection with the disabilities community
that would become their legacy.
Cigi and Michael England will serve as grand marshals of Tech's 2023 homecoming parade
and will accept the Alumni Association's 2023 Outstanding Service Award.
“We just found ourselves wanting to get involved in the community, specifically the
special needs community through Rising Above Ministries and Ainsley’s Angels," said
Cigi.
Rising Above Ministries is a faith-based nonprofit in Cookeville supporting special
needs families, while Ainsley’s Angels is a national organization creating inclusive
running and fitness events for those with disabilities.
“We were meeting and becoming friends with these families and individuals with disabilities.
They want nothing more than to be involved in the community and have a job. Those
opportunities were very limited,” added Cigi.
In July of 2022, Cigi and Michael parlayed their passion into a new venture: a nonprofit
coffee shop called The Exceptional Bean, which is dedicated to employment opportunities
and building community for individuals with special needs.
Cigi and Michael say the Exceptional Bean’s success is marked with the fingerprints
of Tennessee Tech, from the students and faculty who visit for a cup of coffee to
the skills they learned as Tech students that they apply in their daily work.
“We even had students in the College of Business do their capstone project with us,”
said Michael. “They did a lot of IT things. They helped us streamline our point-of-sale
systems, improved our speakers and security system, helped us digitize our menus –
and they raised all the money to pay for this. It was a huge help to us in the beginning.”
The couple emphasizes that the success of their nonprofit and their accolades from
Tech were never part of their original plan – but maybe that’s the point.
“I like to say, ‘man plans, and God laughs,’” said Michael. “To get to come back,
to be part of the festivities, and to be at a point in your life that you can be grateful
for it and understand what an opportunity it is and get a chance to soak it in, it’s
just really cool.”
Tech’s homecoming parade begins Saturday, Nov. 4 at 10:30 a.m. Learn more at www.tntech.edu/engagement/homecoming.php.
