On Monday, August 6, President Karin Hilgersom welcomed representatives from the Arizona-based nonprofit SEE4Vets, who presented the College with a $5,000 contribution.
Guests included SEE4Vets Chairman of the Board Ray Torres, and Vice Chairman and Lt. Gen. USAF Ret. Vern Findley, who presented the College with a generous contribution in support of scholarships for veteran students at TMCC.
While SEE4Vets traditionally supports Arizona community colleges, this new collaboration represents a first-time outreach and a significant recognition of the programs and services, like Veterans Upward Bound (VUB), offered by TMCC to veterans in the community. This new partnership will enable five Veterans Upward Bound graduates to attend TMCC this Fall with a scholarship of $500 over the academic year. Another five VUB students will be identified for scholarships in Spring 2019.
As Findley stated, “I’m happy to say you’re our first stop in our regional journey; our first donation to a community college outside of the state of Arizona.”
In the four years since its inception, SEE4Vets has pledged $200,000 to various community colleges, but “still have a lot of ground to plow.”
SEE4Vets collaborates with community colleges in shaping and implementing programs that work to improve student veteran retention, and inspire these veterans to “persist and advance” in their school work. In addition, See4Vets provides student veteran-employer business connect venues as a way to promote the unique and specific talents that former service members can bring to the workplace. According to Findley, “We wanted to do something for these men and women who served our country as they transition out to further their education.”
The scholarships from SEE4Vets will support students who have recently completed the Veterans Upward Bound program, and are transitioning to TMCC starting in Fall 2018.
According to President Hilgersom, “This financial support comes at a perfect time and this will make a big difference in the lives of these veterans.”
Provided as a free service for honorably discharged veterans, VUB assists veterans in preparing for success in college and other post-secondary training. VUB offers a wide array of services and activities to meet the individual educational needs and aspirations of veterans, from tutoring to test preparation, career assessment and planning, application assistance, advisement and more.
As the only VUB in Nevada, and one of only 39 in the country, TMCC’s program is uniquely situated to have a significant impact on the lives of veterans living in nine counties in the state.
According to VUB Director Robert Hernandez, last fall over 43,000 veterans in Northern Nevada were eligible to participate in the program. This new partnership between TMCC and SEE4Vets seeks to help close the education gap faced by these veterans, by providing scholarships for ten VUB students to continue their studies at TMCC.
Hernandez expressed appreciation for the compassion and the solutions-based work of SEE4Vets.
“On behalf of the veterans we serve and the staff that are committed and passionate about what they do, thank you so much.”
We invite you to learn more about See4Vets, Veterans Upward Bound and the Veterans Resource Center.
To learn more about supporting students at TMCC, or for more information about scholarships, please contact Stefanie Givens, Development Officer at 775-673-8262.