 |
|
A $10,000 contribution made by Jackson Savings Bank to the Southwestern Community College Student Success Campaign brings smiles all around to, left to right: Dr. Don Tomas, SCC president; Phyllis Morgan, JSB bank manager; Beth Maennle, SCC nursing student and Jackson County resident; Charles Wolfe, Campaign Chair; and Mary Otto Selzer, SCC Foundation director. |
Beth Maennle, a first-year nursing student at Southwestern Community College, knows she is fortunate. She received a scholarship this year through the SCC Foundation.
“For 11 years I served as a missionary volunteer,” said Maennle, who lives in Whittier. “When I came home, I wanted to earn a nursing degree but I came back with no financial resources to do that. Only with the scholarships I received and my part-time work was I able to become a nursing student at SCC. I’m one of the lucky ones. Application requests by many more students were declined.”
Every year many students enroll at SCC and apply for scholarships. Only a fraction receive them. This year 225 scholarship applications were received. Forty-three were awarded.
These applications were not denied because the students don’t meet scholastic requirements or because they don’t desperately need the financial support in order to attend college. Their requests were turned down simply because the SCC Foundation doesn’t currently have the resources necessary to help every deserving applicant.
Now area residents and businesses have an opportunity to help make scholarships available to more students through the college’s Student Success Campaign and a federal challenge grant. Jackson Savings Bank recently donated $10,000 to the effort.
“This U.S. Department of Education challenge grant will match dollar-for-dollar the first $300,000 in gifts to the Student Success campaign,” Charles Wolfe, campaign chair, explained. “Our ultimate goal is to raise $1 million that will generate annual support for all aspects of student success – primarily the funding of student scholarships. Through this donation from Jackson Savings Bank, both students and our community will benefit.”
According to Dennis Burrell, JSB retired manager and current board member, we all have reason to support increased scholarships for SCC students. “Fewer scholarships results in fewer students training at SCC. That means a loss not only to the students who applied for scholarships; it is also a loss to the communities SCC serves. For us at the bank, our donation represents an investment in our community.
“All of us have benefitted from SCC students and graduates,” Burrell added. “Whether it’s the nurse who takes your blood pressure, a mechanic who works on your car, a fireman or EMT who comes to your rescue or the person who takes care of your child at a daycare center – these people attended SCC. Not only are they providing very necessary services to all of us, they are a vital part of our economy. It’s important to assist students who need scholarships, not only for their sake but also for ours.”
For more information on becoming a supporter of the Student Success Campaign, contact Mary Otto Selzer, Director of the SCC Foundation, at 828.339.4241 or by email at m_selzer@southwesterncc.edu.
