Aims Community College students in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program will be getting more real-world training. The college received an ambulance from NCMC, Inc. and Banner Health North Colorado Medical Center Paramedic Services. The ambulance will help students learn how to take vitals, start an IV and provide patient care while in a moving vehicle and with limited space. Altogether, NCMC, Inc. and Banner Health have provided $260,400 in support to Aims’ healthcare programs.
Florida
Palm Beach State College has received another five-year $1.35-million federal grant to continue its Upward Bound program. It will use the funds to help students from area high schools prepare for and succeed in college.
Tallahassee Community College (TCC) recently announced two major gifts. A $70,000 gift from Larry and Vicki Kubiak will create an endowed scholarship for first-generation college students. The funds also will go toward renovating a classroom that will be renamed the Costopoulos Kubiak Family Classroom. In addition, the gift will support the New Start Scholarship Fund, which assists students who have been in the juvenile justice system.
“You cannot put a price tag on providing hope in people’s lives, and that’s what the scholarship does,” Larry Kubiak said in a release. “It is a hope not for just their own betterment but that of their entire family and those around them. We’re very happy to be part of that.”
Full Press Apparel, a family-owned business, donated $10,000 to support TCC’s Digital Rail Project. The project is designed to attract K-12 students to careers in digital media and information technology.
“We find it difficult to hire for jobs in graphic arts and design, and when talking to other business owners, they echoed the same sentiment,” said Tracey Shrine, one of the Full Press owners. “We wanted to help get this project off the ground so that we are helping students learn valuable skills that make them employable as quickly as possible once they leave TCC.”
Maryland
Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) received $652,000 from the Hoeper Foundation to support scholarships and the college’s Interpreter Preparation program and Learning Lab. The program helps students develop skills in expressive and receptive use of American sign language and the skills required to interpret and transliterate. This brings the Hoeper Foundation’s total giving to CCBC to more than $1 million. In 2015, CCBC renamed its Interpreter Prep Learning Lab the Bernice and A. Eugene Hoeper Learning Lab in honor of Hoeper Foundation founders Bernice B. Hoeper and her late husband, Eugene Hoeper.
Massachusetts
Massasoit Community College was awarded a $649,999 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (S-STEM) program. Massasoit’s STEM Scholars Associates project will provide scholarships and academic support to low-income, academically talented students enrolled in the liberal arts transfer–science and computer technology and information management associate degree programs. The project will address the lack of belonging that many underrepresented students cite as reasons they leave STEM majors or don’t persist in these fields.
New Jersey
Ocean County College’s (OCC) 50th Annual Commencement Ceremony had some added excitement when President John H. Larson announced an $8-million donation to the college from The Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation. The gift supports the construction a new building to house the Ocean County Vocational Technical School (OCVT) Performing Arts Academy (PAA) on OCC’s main campus. The PAA is a full-time high school administered by OCVTS that is geared toward students who wish to excel in the performing arts.
“We see the untapped potential in the fine and performing arts here in Ocean County and know that Ocean County College is the perfect vehicle for unleashing that potential, specifically through our young people,” said Jeremy Grunin, president of the foundation.
In 2014, The Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation donated $5.75 million to OCC to establish an arts center endowment.
Virginia
Germanna Community College will use a $20,000 Visionary Grant from the Community Foundation to help students navigate career options. GCC will redesign its website so students can see what they need for a degree and what jobs are available in their area.
