Seventy-six Shoreline Community College Foundation scholarship recipients were honored in a ceremony held at the College on Wed., May 10. The honorees ranged from incoming high school graduates to continuing full-time students, and between them received over $149,000 in scholarships.
The awards ceremony was the first put on by the Foundation in several years, and the College and the Foundation are excited to be bringing it back.
“These students are so deserving of the assistance and support the Foundation and community are providing to them,” said Mary Brueggeman, Vice President, Office of Advancement and Executive Director of Foundation. “I think it is important to recognize them and let them know we are surrounding them with support to succeed.”
The ceremony included remarks by Brueggeman and College President Dr. Cheryl Roberts, followed by the handing out of certificates of award. Diana Sampson, Executive Director of International Education at Shoreline; Scott Saunders, Treasurer, Shoreline Community College Foundation; and Greg Olson, President, Shoreline Community College Foundation, aided Brueggeman in handing awards to recipients.
Shoreline Community College student, Kehla Grow, who will graduate this spring, concluded the ceremony by sharing her reflections on how being a scholarship recipient has enabled her to achieve her goals.
Grow described herself as one of six children of a single father saying, “there was simply no money for college. Having to pay for everything entirely by myself and juggling work with school, it was so overwhelming and there was no way I could have done it without help. I’m the only sibling of six getting a college degree, and it’s because of the Foundation.”
Grow went on to tell the crowd, “I’m forever grateful to the Foundation and the donors. These people are here to help you, they want to help you, and you are not alone. Just ask, because they want nothing more than to make your dreams a reality and see you succeed like they did for me.”
Thanks to generous donor support, the Foundation was able to add two new scholarships this year: the Mark F. and Tiffany T. McVeety Student Fund, which provides funds for students affected by an unforeseen medical or mental health event that could affect their ability to continue with school, and the Performing Arts and Digital Filmmaking scholarship, which is funded through ticket and concessions sales from the College’s Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) Opening Night Party.
The majority of funds for student scholarships are raised through the annual Foundation Student Success Breakfast, which broke records for attendance and donations this past year.
“It is truly a joy to feel so supported by the entirety of the Shoreline community,” said Brueggeman. “We’re not just a college, we’re a neighbor educating future contributors to this community, and we’ve truly been treated as such. Our donors and community partners are so generous, and it has made such a world of difference to our students.”
Thank you to all the donors to the Shoreline Community College Foundation, and to the many donors who attended the ceremony, including Pat Slusser (Tammy O’Brien Shanks Memorial Nursing Scholarship); Cherylyn and Forrest Adams and Baron and Jackie Wellman (Vivian Wellman Batty Memorial Nursing Scholarship); Harley O’Neil (Shoreline and Lake Forest Park Residents High School Scholarship); Cheryl Roberts (Tessie & Robert Adams and LeRoy and Ann Roberts, Jr. Memorial Scholarship); Greg Olson, Scott Saunders, Mary Brueggeman, Jeff King (SCC Full-Time and SCC Part-Time Continuing and Veterans Merit and Performing Arts and Digital Filmmaking); and more.
If you’d like to contribute to scholarships for students, consider attending 2017’s Foundation Student Success Breakfast on Nov. 2, 2017 or our SIFF Opening Night event, Fri., May 26. Donations can also be made online anytime.