By Mercedes De Leon
By Mercedes De Leon
No good deed goes unnoticed and Riverside City College can help anyone who wishes to partake in charity.
RCCD Foundation Director Amy Cardullo asserted how anyone can be a donor.
“Anybody can give,” she said. “Some of the donors are families, philanthropic groups in the community, individuals, faculty, or businesses.”
Cardullo gave a deduced sum of available scholarships, and a yearly estimated amount.
“There are over five hundred scholarships given out each year at RCC, and it totals out to about $400,000,” she said.
Cardullo described the different possible methods utilized in deciding who the most qualified recipient for each award is.
“Each scholarship is different due to the conditions and variations each donor establishes,” she said. “The donor may choose to interview students, or allow department faculty to make the decision. If the donor refrains from partaking in the decision making, then there is a committee of faculty and staff that screen the applications.”
Cardullo provided an estimation of the amount of money awarded in each scholarship.
“They range from about $250, up to $4,000,” she said.
Cardullo mentioned a few departments that have their own scholarships.
“The Information Services Department has one, and so does the Business Department which is not endowed,” she said. “The Nursing Department also has its own scholarship. The nursing faculty had their own reception during Nurses Week.”
Cardullo discussed the Foundation’s involvement with the scholarships.
“The Foundation accepts the donations given by donors, and invests it,” she said.
Rae Iwamizu, current English and poetry professor, is one of the several faculty members who give. She discussed the inspiration behind the creation of her scholarship.
“The Gentry Scholarship is named after a student of mine who is graduating this year and is a single father,” she said. “Justin Gentry’s daughter has a rare disease, and so he spends his days going back and forth from hospital to school. He inspired me to want to give, and I knew that there needed to be a scholarship for single parents.”
Iwamizu asserted the qualifications and requirements that are to be met in order to be the recipient of the Gentry Scholarship.
“Aside from being a single parent, students must have a 3.0 grade point average, and show proclivity to academic success,” she said.
Iwamizu discussed when the Gentry Scholarship was initiated, and who it has been awarded to.
“I started the Gentry Scholarship this semester, and the first recipient is Stephanie Bailey,” she said. “She impressed me because she is not only a single mother of four, but she excels academically. In class she does well for herself, and also shares her knowledge to help others. That is an aspect that I like to see in someone who receives a scholarship.”
The Gentry Scholarship is just one of the various scholarships available at RCC. Briana Gonzales, recipient of the Riverside Sunrise Rotary/Warren D. Pepiot Memorial Endowed Scholarship, shared how she felt on having received the award.
“I am ecstatic and honored to have won this scholarship,” she said. “The money will mostly go towards books, and the rest will be well spent on educational necessities.”
