More than 120 West Kentucky Community and Technical College scholarship students got the chance to meet and thank their scholarship donors during a reception in the college’s Bistro October 24.
WKCTC President Barbara Veazey said support of the college through generous donor endowments, the annual gala auction and the Community Scholarship Program has allowed the college to award more than $600,000 in scholarships this year. “Over 400 students are able to attend West Kentucky because of you,” Veazey told the reception audience Friday. “You do make a difference.”
Ballard County resident Rhonda Miller is a nontraditional WKCTC criminal justice student who received the Vel Lynn Pace Memorial Scholarship this year. The Pace Scholarship is given to students who are working to earn their GED. Vel Lynn Pace worked tirelessly with GED students at the college before her death in 2006.
Miller said she came to WKCTC in fall 2013 because she knew she had to make a change in her life. “I found out my daughter had quit high school with just three credits shy of graduating. When I told her how upset I was, she told me I didn’t have any room to talk; I knew she was right.”
That was on a Friday and Miller enrolled in the GED program at WKCTC three days later. After earning her GED in just a few weeks, Miller enrolled at WKCTC in spring 2014 and she has never looked back.
Through the support of the college and the scholarship she received, Miller plans to transfer to Eastern Kentucky University when she graduates from WKCTC in May 2015. She continues to encourage her daughter to go back to earn her GED diploma and earn a college degree. “You have to prove you can do it and that they can do it too.”
As Miller tried to thank widower Jerry Pace, who also lives in Ballard County, for his part in helping her achieve her academic goal, both became emotional. “She is saying ‘thank you’ with where she is and what she is doing,” Pace said. “Vel would have been so proud; that’s exactly what she would have wanted.”
Miller also expressed her thanks to Samantha Williams, WKCTC Adult Learning Centers director and Tammy Pendergrast, who also works in the center and is a mentor to Miller. “I never knew the potential I have until I came to this college,” Miller said. “They have changed my life; they’re amazing.”
For more information about WKCTC scholarships visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu.
WKCTC President Barbara Veazey said support of the college through generous donor endowments, the annual gala auction and the Community Scholarship Program has allowed the college to award more than $600,000 in scholarships this year. “Over 400 students are able to attend West Kentucky because of you,” Veazey told the reception audience Friday. “You do make a difference.”
Ballard County resident Rhonda Miller is a nontraditional WKCTC criminal justice student who received the Vel Lynn Pace Memorial Scholarship this year. The Pace Scholarship is given to students who are working to earn their GED. Vel Lynn Pace worked tirelessly with GED students at the college before her death in 2006.
Miller said she came to WKCTC in fall 2013 because she knew she had to make a change in her life. “I found out my daughter had quit high school with just three credits shy of graduating. When I told her how upset I was, she told me I didn’t have any room to talk; I knew she was right.”
That was on a Friday and Miller enrolled in the GED program at WKCTC three days later. After earning her GED in just a few weeks, Miller enrolled at WKCTC in spring 2014 and she has never looked back.
Through the support of the college and the scholarship she received, Miller plans to transfer to Eastern Kentucky University when she graduates from WKCTC in May 2015. She continues to encourage her daughter to go back to earn her GED diploma and earn a college degree. “You have to prove you can do it and that they can do it too.”
As Miller tried to thank widower Jerry Pace, who also lives in Ballard County, for his part in helping her achieve her academic goal, both became emotional. “She is saying ‘thank you’ with where she is and what she is doing,” Pace said. “Vel would have been so proud; that’s exactly what she would have wanted.”
Miller also expressed her thanks to Samantha Williams, WKCTC Adult Learning Centers director and Tammy Pendergrast, who also works in the center and is a mentor to Miller. “I never knew the potential I have until I came to this college,” Miller said. “They have changed my life; they’re amazing.”
For more information about WKCTC scholarships visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu.