Nearly one year ago, the first shovel was planted firmly into the ground of the former Montcalm County 4-H Fairgrounds to make way for an historic endeavor undertaken by Montcalm Community College (MCC). After months of construction, community input, government assistance and many donations, the MCC Greenville Campus officially expanded Thursday with the opening of the new Bill Braman Family Center for Education, named after the former MCC Trustee and pioneering fruit farmer and located at 1315 Yellow Jacket Drive.

If your son or daughter has ever wondered what the world looks like from the seat of an 18-wheeler, fire truck or ice cream wagon, this Saturday he or she will have the chance to find out. From 1 to 3 p.m. at the Meijer parking lot on M-57, the Greenville Parks and Recreation Department is offering its semi-annual Touch a Truck Day. Held every other year, the event brings in the big rigs that kids really want to get close to.

Style, health and empowerment are the key themes local women will experience on a day out dedicated specifically to women. The Spring Fling for women presented by The Daily News will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 4 at the Greenville High School and is free to the public.

Mark Christensen hasn’t seen flooding like this since 1986. The managing director of the Road Commission for Montcalm County and his crew were out all day and night Thursday and are continuing to work today to re-open about 16 roads that have been closed due to high waters. “It’s been challenging, to say the least,” Christensen said. “We have numerous roads closed around the county due to culvert failure and heavy rains. There’s high water everywhere you look.”

Sitting on a table and slightly nervous while steadily squeezing a stress ball in her left hand, 17-year-old Ella Byington was donating blood for the very fist time Wednesday afternoon. Convinced by a friend to donate at the American Legion in Greenville, she become a little light-headed as a pint began to leave her body.

When Jeramy Duffield crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon, he got a little teary-eyed. “It’s every runner’s dream to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon,” he said. Just moments after, Jeramy and his wife, Tiffany, both of Greenville, experienced strong emotions of another sort.

From the opening note of the first performance to the final wave of the director’s baton, this year’s 24th annual Greenville High School Collage Concert is offering up a variety of musical performances that will make it difficult to walk away picking out a single favorite act.

Andrew Ashley saved his great-grandmother’s life Monday morning. Andrew, 10, and his sister Alaina, 8, were dropped off at Karen Wilcox’s home around 7:30 a.m. to wait for the bus to Baldwin Heights Elementary School. Wilcox had taken a new medication about half an hour earlier and she was feeling itchy all over. She sat down in the living room with her grandchildren who were watching cartoons. She looked down at her arm and noticed she had scratched it so much it was bleeding. “I was looking at Andrew and he was looking at me and then everything went black,” Wilcox recalled.

Along with water, coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and one with a richly storied history. Its origins date back to the 13th century, possibly earlier. First drunk in Ethiopia, it spread to Egypt, the Middle East, Europe, and eventually, America. Coffee houses — establishments where friends could gather to discuss the issues of the day — followed soon after. In recent years, coffee houses have gained a popularity unseen since Allen Ginsberg sipped espresso with Jack Kerouac in some basement shop clouded with cigarette smoke and political upheaval.

A new building at Montcalm Community College’s Greenville campus is being named after a local family. The building has officially been named the Bill Braman Family Center for Education for Braman, who was the lead donor in MCC’s Creating Futures, Strengthening Partnerships capital campaign.