NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE
PA I D BELLINGHAM, WA PERMIT NO. 114
A D D R E S S S E RV I C E R E Q U E S T E D
N E WS L E T T E R
News from the Mt. Hood Community College Foundation • Summer 2010
miller foundation impacts students An innovative challenge grant from the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation provides dozens of Mt. Hood Community College scholarships.
C
Education was pleased to honor the Miller Foundation with one of two Community Partnership Awards presented in May. With some $1.5 million set aside each year for community colleges meeting the challenge amount — MHCC needs to raise $120,000 by March 31, 2011, to receive the full grant (and yes, that’s a hint) — a lot of futures are being changed and enhanced around Oregon.
ounting the contributions to our community made by the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation would take a very long time, but here’s one number to begin with: 41. That’s how many much-needed MHCC scholarships the Miller Foundation funded in the first year of their community college challenge alone. Help us meet the Miller Foundation
Mt. Hood Community College Foundation Board of Directors Paul Capell Kathy Clevenger Donald E. DeVore Rich Egner, Jr. Pat Fiedler Mark Garber Ron Gullberg Martin Hertrich Stan Hymel Nancy Jaksich
Thanks to many, the MHCC Foundation auction was a great success! Read the details inside and don’t miss the party next year!
Save the Date! Foundation Auction and Dinner
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Portland Waterfront Marriott Hotel Patrick Lamb
Peggy Johansen Judi Krussow Robin McGregor Greg Mettler Sandra Miller Marv Ogle Michael Patrick Jane Patterson Tom Perrick Mary Zoe Petersen
Leslie Radke Theresa Rockove Robert Rockwell Beverly Russell John J. “Ski” Sygielski Kathy Toynbee Wendy Vondrak Marvin Woidyla Marilyn Zook
Newsletter Contributors
Foundation Staff
Spring Bastow Pat Casey Jennifer Furniss Barbara Howell Todd Schwartz
Elizabeth Gomez Sunny Klever Cassie McVeety Wendy Patton
HELP US GO GREEN
JOIN OUR E-MAIL LIST If you would like to receive this newsletter and other information electronically reply to give@mhcc.edu.
culture and their foundation was created in 2002 to support the arts and education. “We congratulate and thank the Miller Foundation,” says Dr. John J. “Ski” Sygielski, president of MHCC. “Their ongoing efforts greatly enhance both the College and our community, and we are grateful for their outstanding support.” “This scholarship will help me pursue my educational goals and receive my associate degree from MHCC,” writes one of the first 41 grateful recipients. “I plan to go on to Oregon State University next year, then to graduate school in teacher education at Portland State.”
Scholarship Matching Challenge! Through a novel and inspiring two-year — and now extended to Please use the enclosed gift envelope to designate a third — scholarship challenge your scholarship gift and mark the James F. and grant to Oregon’s 17 community Marion L. Miller Foundation Scholarship Challenge From challenge grant to a young colleges, the Miller Foundation or contact the Foundation at teacher taking up the challenge — demonstrated its commitment 503-491-7204 or e-mail give@mhcc.edu. that’s the difference made by this vito education and the arts in our tal community partner. And you can state. Their support embodies the be part of that difference. We urge MHCC Community Partnership ideal of The namesake foundation continues the you to support deserving MHCC students inspired volunteer spirit and educational vision of the late James “Jimmy” Miller by helping us meet the challenge. achievement, and the MHCC Board of and his wife of 68 years, Marion. The Millers were passionate about learning and
miller scholars’ words of thanks How will tomorrow be different for the recipients of the Miller Foundation scholarships and, as a result, for the community in which we all live and work? Here are just a few of their reactions to this vital help:
“ I am one
of the lucky students
who has been selected to receive the Miller Scholarship, with your support, I will continue with my studies and put myself one step closer to the life I — Alma D. imagined. Thank you.”
Romero de Ruiz, Criminal Justice
“I understand and appreciate
the value of hard work
to reach my goals. With this scholarship, I will reach my goals ~ thank you!”
— Andriy Baydala, General Studies
“My family moved here from Seattle so I could fulfill
my dreams
of attending the funeral service program at MHCC, I cannot express how much I appreciate — Sarah McQuigg, your generosity.” Funeral Services
sowing the seeds
dreams live on
The MHCC Foundation garden party and auction benefiting our students was a real winner.
A new scholarship created by Jan Entenmann honors her late grandson and will help support a generation of MHCC students.
T
T
he MHCC Foundation “Seed Our Future — Help Us
Grow” garden party and auction in May generated more than $170,000 to support vital education and opportunity for our students. Our thanks go out to our sponsors, donors, volunteers and guests. The upbeat auctioneer, who also goes by the name of John J. “Ski” Sygielski, MHCC president, kept things hopping. NewsChannel 8 meteorologist and emcee Nick Allard ran the show to perfection. From the opening notes of the MHCC Jazz Combo to the bringdown-the-house set by featured entertainer and Grammy Award-nominated artist (and MHCC alumnus) Patrick Lamb, the music was amazing. Patrick and his band even stayed on to play late as guests cleared an impromptu dance floor.
he bombs had actually been paved right into the new
road. That’s what it was like in Iraq in the fall of 2004. The U.S. tank commander, Jeremy Christensen, was driving the vehicle that day, because his usual driver had needed a break. The tank was passing two schoolgirls by the side of the road when it rolled over the hidden explosives, and the massive blast threw the tank into the air, killing Christensen and others, including the two little girls.
“Mt. Hood gave me the
opportunity of a lifetime, and I will never forget that.”
One of the highlights of the evening was the opportunity to hear MHCC alumnus Tim Vidito talk about what MHCC Foundation scholarship support has meant to him. A few years ago, Tim was a cash-strapped kid without a high-school diploma but with a big dream — he wanted to be a physician. The MHCC GED program and a MHCC Foundation scholarship turned things around. “Mt. Hood gave me the opportunity of a lifetime,” he told the audience, “and I will never forget that.”
Vidito has gone on to graduate from Portland State University and had just taken his medical school entrance exams on the morning of the auction! His is only one of the inspiring stories that begin with the kind of generosity that was on display that spring evening. We also owe a big thank-you to our presenting sponsor for the event, Weston Pontiac Buick GMC Kia and our auction committee led by co-chairs Pat Fiedler and Kathy Toynbee. You don’t want to miss next year’s event Saturday May 7, 2011 (who knows what Dr. Ski will wear!), so watch this newsletter for details. Photos: (top) Auction attendees dancing to the music of Patrick Lamb, (middle) MHCC Foundation board member Michael Patrick, (bottom) Jeni Weston enjoying the live auction.
— Tim Vidito,
Christensen, who had earned a Bronze Star not long after arriving in Iraq, was a month from coming home. He had been in the Army for eight years, much of that time in the Reserves. But when the attacks of 9/11 happened, he had returned to active duty, drawn to serve his country on the front lines. Christensen was Jan Entenmann’s oldest grandson, and she, along with the rest of the family, was shattered.
“It took all of us a while to get our feet back on the ground,” she says. “I didn’t really know what to do with myself, then an idea slowly started to come to me — a way to honor my grandson’s sacrifice and let his dreams live on.”
MHCC Alumnus
Those dreams began several years before in the GED program at MHCC. When Christensen was 12, he was hit by a car. The long recovery put him far behind in school, and by the time he had reached high school age the GED program was the only way he could catch up with his classmates and reach his post-graduation goal: joining the U.S. Army. After serving, he dreamed of working in law enforcement. That all ended on the tragic November day in 2004 — but then Entenmann decided that her grandson’s goals wouldn’t just disappear. “Jeremy’s life mattered,” she says, “and I wanted a way to honor him and at the same time help his dreams be fulfilled through some other deserving students.” So Entenmann met with MHCC Foundation Director Sunny Klever and created a need-based yearly scholarship for an outstanding GED graduate, providing him or her with funds to help continue on to college courses at MHCC. The scholarship is funded for the next 20 years by a provision in Entenmann’s will — which makes her a proud member of the MHCC Foundation Heritage Society.
“I’ve never felt so good as when I walked out of the office after setting up the scholarship,” Entenmann remembers. “It’s so rewarding to know that I can help someone follow their goals.” The Jeremy Christensen Scholarship was presented for the first time at the MHCC GED graduation ceremony on June 10, and Entenmann was there to pass on some memories of her grandson. You can make a similar difference in the lives of MHCC students, and create opportunities and accomplishments that will stretch far forward into the future. Explore a gift to the MHCC Foundation — you’ll be surprised how simple it is to change the world with the power of your generosity and the strength of our community.
Make Education your Heritage The Heritage Society was established to honor and thank special friends of the college who have set something aside for the Mt. Hood Community College Foundation in their estate plans. These generous donors have shown how much they value education by creating a legacy of support for years to come, using tools that include bequests, life income arrangements, beneficiary designations and other forms of planned and deferred gifts. For more information on joining the Heritage Society and smart ways to make planned giving work for you, please contact the MHCC Foundation at 503-491-7204 or give@mhcc.edu.