This content was published: June 14, 2010. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC students honored with state Ford scholarships
Photos and story by James Hill
A total of 22 Portland Community College students from among 200 total recipients statewide have been awarded Ford Family Foundation scholarships – the most of any college in Oregon.
The scholarships, awarded through the Ford Family Foundation Scholarship Program, are given to worthy students in three categories – Ford Scholars (includes high school seniors, community college students transferring to a four-year school), Ford Opportunity (single parents) and ReStart (25 and older with minimal college experience). Thousands of students across Oregon and Siskiyou County in Northern California were eligible.
Eight of the students are in the Sylvania Campus ROOTS or Transitions programs. ROOTS is a federally-funded TRiO program dedicated to helping students at Sylvania (12000 S.W. 49th Ave.) achieve their educational goals. It helps low-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities stay in school, transfer to other colleges or universities and graduate from PCC. The Transitions Program, based at the campus’ Women’s Resource Center, eases the transition to college, career and life changing opportunities for single parents, displaced homemakers and other students in transition.
“This is truly an exciting end to the school year,” said Lynn Montoya, student support services director. “The Sylvania ROOTS staff provides guidance and information on some of the how-to’s, essay critiquing and feedback, encouragement and applause along the way. Our students are simply some of the best and it is such a delight to support them in the process.”
Winners, and their hometown, from PCC include:
Ford Scholars (Ford Foundation selected 120 students statewide out of 4,354 applicants)
Courtney Hirte (Milwaukie), Amatul Noor (Southwest Portland), Meagan O’Donovan (Beaverton), graduation speaker Miral Rezayee Bessed (Sherwood) and Nicole Williams (Southeast Portland).
Ford Opportunity (selected 35 students out of more than 500 applications)
Christina Baker (Oregon City), Jillian Ensign (Tigard), Olivia Gomez (Beaverton), Suella Springfield (Portland), Bobbie Stewart (Northeast Portland) and Chvonne Wardrop (Southwest Portland).
ReStart (selected 45 students out of 554 applicants)
Robin Cocheu (Beaverton), Megan Coppock (Northeast Portland), Andrea Frost (Southeast Portland), Evelin James (Beaverton), Nikki Johansen (Northwest Portland), Misty Kaine Drake (Tigard), Karilea Landolt (Tillamook), Graceliano Mosquera-Mena (Beaverton), Lily Ningsih (Tigard), Tyler Stauss (Southeast Portland) and Megan Ujakovich Gometz (Hillsboro).
The Ford Family Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation located in Roseburg in southern Oregon. Started in 1957, the Foundation now manages large, internal initiatives and makes grants to public charities predominantly benefiting communities in rural Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. Kenneth W. Ford, founder of Roseburg Forest Products Co., established the scholarship program to help students who would find it difficult to obtain college degrees without financial assistance.
For more information, visit the Ford Family Foundation Scholarship Program Web site: www.tfff.org.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »