Wednesday, August 26, 2009
60 Roanoke grads get free VWCC ride
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Sixty class of 2009 graduates from Roanoke's public high schools will attend Virginia Western Community College tuition free this year through the Roanoke Community College Access Program.
The program, which is in its pilot year, is modeled after a similar program started last year in Salem.
Salem officials joined forces with the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation last year to fund community college educations for every eligible graduating Salem High School senior -- but the state's budget shortfall and the nationwide recession made it impossible to serve every eligible student this year.
Katherine Strickland, executive director of the educational foundation, said because of this year's lack of funding, the program became a need-based scholarship, serving as many eligible students as possible.
The two programs in Roanoke and Salem will pay for more than 125 students to attend college this year.
In Roanoke's program, 27 students are graduates of Patrick Henry High School and 33 are William Fleming High School graduates. In Salem 21 students returned for the second year and 45 new high school graduates received awards.
Community and corporate sponsors of the programs include Advance Auto Parts, Appalachian Power Co., Carilion Clinic, the city of Salem, Lewis-Gale Medical Center, Medical Facilities of America, Quantum Medical, Richfield Retirement Community, Roanoke Women's Foundation, Trane and the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation.
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Stephen Biscotte, a science teacher at Cave Spring High School, received a $2,000 ING Unsung Heroes grant for a career development program he designed.
According to a news release from the global financial services company ING, Biscotte's program, The PIT Crew: Physicians In Training, incorporates the real world experiences of health care professionals into the anatomy and physiology curriculum.
Biscotte will compete further with about 100 educators for three top prizes -- $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.
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Hurt Park Elementary School received a $500 grant from Food Lion to start a student-run news program to build the children's reading and writing skills and to keep parents up to date on school happenings, Roanoke schools spokeswoman Tiffany Woods said. Hurt Park Principal Carlton Bell wants to use the money to create streaming podcasts for the school's Web site.
