[image 1]“Scholarships make it possible for you to focus on your studies and not worry about how you are going to pay for tuition,” said Sarah Senger, an NVC scholarship recipient and finalist in this year’s Degree Writing Contest.
Sarah addressed the 50 scholarship donors and fellow scholarship students during the Scholarship Recognition Breakfast held on Feb. 11 in the Huisache Hall Banquet Room. She shared the impact and importance of scholarships in getting her pre-nursing degree, the positive experiences she has had at NVC and her plans for graduating in the spring and transferring to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio next fall.
[image 2]Yvonne Masters, a self-described “non-traditional student” at NVC talked about her pathway to NVC and how it important it is for her to complete her degree and set an example for her two children. She is majoring in Public Administration and plans to transfer to UTSA in the fall. One of her goals, she says, is to pay it forward and provide assistance to a future college student.
“I want to not only benefit from my education but to also assist a student struggling to succeed,” she says.
Fernando Peralta, chief financial officer for Propel Financial Services, the San Antonio office of Encore Capital Group, talked about his company’s involvement and investment in community college scholarships.
[image 5]The company recently launched a nationwide community college scholarship initiative and has invested $124,000 for scholarships in 20 U.S. communities including San Antonio. NVC is receiving $4,000 in scholarships for students for the 2015-2016 academic year and San Antonio College, Palo Alto College and St. Philip’s College will also receive $4,000 in scholarship funding. In addition to Peralta, five associates of Encore Capital Group and Propel Financial Services attended the breakfast.
Other scholarship donors attending the breakfast included Joyce Ellis and Jeannette Arellano, Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation; Raul Hinojosa, LULAC Rey Feo Scholarship; Dave Sanchez and Estela Garcia-Perez, Hispanic Contractors de San Antonio Association; Rosantina Aranda, Frost Bank and NVC Business Council Chair; Dr. Homer Guevara; Robert Marbut; Sally First; and Robert and Ann Stevens.
[image 4]The Scholarship Recognition Breakfast is an annual event of the Community Development Department to recognize donors who support NVC scholarships and scholarship students. To date in this academic year, 205 NVC students have received more than $121,000 in scholarships.
– Contributed by Lynne T. Dean, Director of Institutional Advancement