Newsroom

The Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Foundation presented Dr. Steve Nunez, President of Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, and members of his Cabinet with a check for $54,400 prior to a Foundation Board meeting held at the College on Wednesday morning.

The donation is slated to fund the “Supporting Scholars” program, which grants more than 32 academic scholarships annually.

“We are aiming to attract some of the best and brightest students from local high schools where they will earn an affordable, accessible, and quality education here at Penn Highlands,” stated Dr. Nunez. “It is very generous for the Penn Highlands Foundation, made up entirely of volunteers, to spend their time raising money to support this scholarship program. We are really blessed to have such dedicated Directors of the Foundation Board.”

This donation will be spread amongst three scholarships to be awarded to at least 16 high school seniors. The awards include the Destination Graduation Scholarship ($1,000 per semester to a minimum of one student annually), the Emerging Leader Scholarship ($1,000 per semester to 13 students annually), and the Presidential Scholarship ($3,000 per semester to two students annually). Details on these scholarships can be found at pennhighlands.edu/scholarships/.

“We’re very pleased that we were able to make this significant donation as a result of all of our fundraising activities over the years that helped the College fulfill its mission,” stated Jeffrey Wood, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Foundation Board President. “There were a lot of events and a lot of reaching out to friends of the College, including receiving a generous donation from the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies (NAIFA Fund). We’re very passionate about the whole community college concept, so we want to give students the best possible opportunity to start off their educational careers with as little debt as possible.”

This marks the first time that the College Foundation will have fundraised money to be used in the College’s scholarship funds. Before this donation, Pennsylvania Highlands had provided students with these scholarships out of its annual operating expense budget.

The Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Foundation also manages funds for 21 other scholarships totaling over $30,000 annually to students. These scholarships are funded by local businesses, area philanthropists, Pennsylvania Highlands staff and faculty, and Foundation fundraisers.

Learn how to donate.