The DSLCC Educational Foundation recently honored donors and 2012 scholarship recipients at a reception held on the Dabney S. Lancaster Community College Clifton Forge campus. About 275 donors, scholarship recipients, parents, faculty and staff attended the annual event. The Educational Foundation hosts the event to recognize the donors who make the scholarships possible and the recipients for their academic excellence. Students and donors honored included clockwise from left: Jordan Saville, Vaughn Family Scholarship & Bridging the Gap—College to the Community Scholarship; Guy Richards, recipient of the Wilson Cup for Scholarship, Character, and Community Service; Lisa Richards; Steven Vaughn representing the Vaughn Family Scholarships and the Ferguson-Proffit Nursing Scholarships; Ricky Hamm, Jr., Vaughn Family Scholarship; Fran Carrillo-Kuenzer, Vaughn Family Scholarship and Louise Kern Lemon Memorial Nursing Scholarship; Patrick Olson, Vaughn Family Scholarship and Betsy P. Saville Memorial Nursing Scholarship; Olson, and Norma Ellis, representing the Betsy P. Saville Memorial Nursing Scholarship.

Clifton Forge, November 6, 2012—The Dabney S. Lancaster Community College Educational Foundation recently honored scholarship donors and recipients at a reception on the College’s Clifton Forge campus.  About 275 donors, recipients, family members, faculty, and staff attended the annual reception.

College President, Dr. Richard Teaff, welcomed the group and expressed his appreciation for the outstanding support donors continue to show towards the Educational Foundation and the College. “The academic programs at DSLCC are critical to the economic growth and improved quality of life in our region,” Teaff said.  “The College remains committed to expanding access to education, improving student success, and being a major partner in economic development.  DSLCC has had an impact on the lives of those here today in more ways than you realize,” he continued.  “With the help of our donors, the College and the Educational Foundation are helping to change the lives of service-area citizens by enabling them to successfully pursue post-secondary education, achieve positive life outcomes, and to build brighter futures.”

Educational Foundation President, Richard Crowder, introduced Foundation board members and thanked the donors for helping the Foundation in its mission to “Build Lives…Build Futures…Build Hope for service-area residents.”  He noted that, since 1980, through the generosity of individuals, businesses and organizations, the Educational Foundation has awarded more than one million dollars in scholarships to students who have made DSLCC their college of choice and explained that, in addition to funding scholarships and purchasing classroom equipment, the Educational Foundation also funds professional development opportunities for faculty members enabling them to broaden their expertise and enhance the curricula by awarding grants to full time faculty members.

Following the introduction of donors and the 2012 scholarship recipients, student speaker, Fran Carrillo-Kuenzer told the group that attending DSLCC has been a very positive experience for her.

Carrillo-Kuenzer is a second-year nursing student and says the college has had a positive effect on her personal, educational, and occupational goals.  Carrillo-Kuenzer lauded the challenging and caring professors she has had over the last two years and stressed that she is extremely grateful for the scholarship help from the Educational Foundation.  She says she looks forward to a brighter future because of her time at DSLCC and the help of the DSLCC Educational Foundation.
A resident of Eagle Rock, Carrillo-Kuenzer is the recipient of a Vaughn Family Scholarship for Non-Traditional Students and the Louise Kern Lemon Memorial Nursing Scholarship. She will receive an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing next May.

Scholarship Chairman, Donna Vaughn of Eagle Rock, congratulated the recipients and thanked the donors for their outstanding contributions to the service area communities in providing affordable access to an education that is vital to both and individual’s and area’s
success.  “As you look around the local communities, you will see many former DSLCC students who have built rewarding and successful careers right here at home,” said Vaughn. “We see them every day—as the owners/operators of successful local businesses, managers of major corporations, and the CEOs, vice presidents, and managers of area banks.  They’re our high school and elementary school principals, teachers, and guidance counselors; they are the nurses in our hospitals and they play a large role in many of our local industries; they are, in short, people who have made and are continuing to make a positive difference in our local communities,” Vaughn concluded.

Scholarship recipients and donors recognized from Botetourt County included: Michael Austin, Fincastle, recipient of the Martha Hudson Memorial Nursing Scholarship; Fran Carrillo Kuenzer, Eagle Rock, Vaughn Family Scholarship & Louise Kern Lemon Scholarship; Jacob Fairburn, Eagle Rock, Barry Hillsman Forestry Scholarship & DSLCC 50th Anniversary Alumni Scholarship; Chelsea Fridley, Eagle Rock, Ferguson-Proffit Nursing Scholarship; Ricky Hamm, Jr., Jack Hammond, Fairfield Farms, Maude C. and W. B. Hammond, Sr., Faculty Development Grant; Vaughn Family Scholarship; Patrick Olson, Troutville, Vaughn Family Scholarship and Betsy P. Saville Memorial Nursing Scholarship; and Jordan Saville, Bridging the Gap—College to the Community—Internship Scholarship & Vaughn Family Scholarship;
Also, Michelle Crook, Buchanan, representing the Bank of Botetourt H. Watts Steger, III, Scholarship; Dream Sloan of the Glebe in Daleville, representing the Bubbles, Bands & Brunch Scholarships for Continuing Students; Donna and Steven Vaughan, Eagle Rock, representing the Ferguson-Profitt Nursing Scholarships and the Vaughn Family Scholarships; Thompson also recognized Earl Dodrill, Program Head for Workforce Services and Continuing Education, as the recipient of the Maude C. & W. B. Hammond, Sr., Faculty Development Grant.  Dodrill, was awarded the Hammond Grant last spring to travel to Haiti to establish a summer exchange program with Haitian students studying at the Business Technology Institute in Haiti.  While in Haiti, Mr. Dodrill taught the Haitian students non-credit classes over a four-day period, and six of the students traveled to DSLCC this summer to participate in a variety of classes taught by DSLCC faculty.  The grant was established by Jack
Donor-Scholar Reception A. Hammond, Sr., and his wife, Mitzi of Fairfield Farms, to encourage current, full time DSLCC faculty to seek educational travel experiences that will enable them to enhance & broaden the curricula at DSLCC.

Incorporated in 1980 as a non-profit organization, the Educational Foundation each year invites students from high schools in the College’s service area—Alleghany, Bath, northern
Botetourt, and Rockbridge Counties, and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington, and Lexington—to apply for merit scholarships.  Scholarships also are available for continuing students who
have completed at least 24 credit hours at DSLCC and for the non-traditional student who did not seek to pursue post-secondary education immediately upon graduation from high school but
now needs to enroll in the college to gain marketable job skills, facilitate career enhancement or successfully change career paths.
In addition to the thousands of dollars awarded in scholarships each year, the Educational Foundation also assists the college with the purchase of technologically advanced classroom equipment and funds professional development opportunities for full time faculty members.  For more information, please contact Foundation Director, Lynda Thompson by phone at 540-863-2837 or by email at lthompson@dslcc.edu.

Submitted by Lynda Thompson