College gets funding
Westmoreland County Community College is among seven institutions in the nation recently selected to receive a $50,000 grant that will financially help students in emergency situations, college officials said. The college recently received the grant from Scholarship America with the funding provided by the Wal-Mart Foundation to implement the Dreamkeepers Emergency Financial Assistance Program for the college.
The program aims to help community colleges provide assistance to their students who are at risk of dropping out of school due to unexpected crisis such as job loss, medical expenses or other emergencies.
“We are very fortunate and grateful to be chosen for this award,” said Steven C. Ender, president of the college.
The college competed with other colleges in southwestern Pennsylvania for the grant, which was also awarded to schools in Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Students enrolled at the college may apply for emergency grant funds by contacting the college’s financial aid office or visiting the college Web site at www.wccc.edu.
To sustain the emergency fund, the college’s education foundation will accept donations, which can be made by calling the foundation office at 724-925-4083 or online at www.wccc.edu.
Ender said the college hopes to establish an endowment from the gift so it can continually assist students.
The Dreamkeepers program began in 2005 through a $1 million grant by Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based private, independent foundation.
Prior to receiving the grant, the education foundation had established a $2,500 annual fund to help the college’s students in an emergency situation.
However,the funds, which were allocated to students in grants up to $250, often ran out before the end of the school year.
Emergency funds helped a student enrolled in the college to replace his textbooks after losing them in a house fire; helped to pay for another student’s childcare costs after her parents, who cared for her children, became ill; and paid for food and gas for a student who lost her home and was living out of her car.
Science program funded
The Carnegie Science Center has received a $5,000 grant from the Dominion Foundation to continue the Science Center’s SciTech Days, a biannual, weeklong program that connects local students with science and technology companies in the region.
Each year, more than 5,000 middle and high school students interact with leading scientists and researchers from regional companies through hands-on activities and in-depth presentations during SciTech Days.
Held twice per school year, each four-day event includes more than 150 programs and presentations on biotechnology, information technology, robotics, advanced materials processes, environmental technology, as well as nanotechnology.
SciTech Days will take place Nov. 11 through 14 and March 10 through 13.
The grant will also support the 70th Annual Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair, held April 3 through 4 at Heinz Field.
More than 1,000 students in sixth through 12th grade will compete in this year’s Science Fair for more than $750,000 in cash and scholarships.