Celebrating scholarship winners at Cincinnati State

November 18, 2011

Cincinnati State President O’dell M. Owens stands in the midst of students who were honored recently during the 2011 Scholarship Recognition Dinner.

In addition to saluting the achievements of students, the annual event is designed to recognize donors and the work of the Cincinnati State Foundation and its Scholarship Committee. This year more than 175 named scholarships were awarded to Cincinnati State students, thanks to the generosity of our donors.

Three of those scholarship recipients shared their stories at the dinner, and told of how academic grants at Cincinnati State had changed their lives:

• Angela Lewis, a second-year student majoring in dietetic technologies, described her experience at Cincinnati State as proof that anyone can recover from bad decisions early in life. In hers, she said, she dropped out of school in 9th grade, got involved with drugs, alcohol and a group of friends who weren’t going anywhere, and saw her life spiral downward, until she woke up one day in a battered women’s shelter, homeless, with nothing left but prayer. She decided that day to turn her life around, got her GED, and eventually enrolled at Cincinnati State.
  
  “I am so thankful for Student Support Services,’’ she said. With their help, the scholarship, and with the support of others here, she said, she has found a place where she can thrive. “This school means so much to me.’’
   
• Joshua Elam, a third-year student majoring in mechanical engineering technologies, has always been interesting in how things work. As a child he liked Legos, K’nex and the like, then graduated to motorcycles and cars. He chose Cincinnati State because it was cost-effective – he told the audience he could start here right away, instead of working for awhile to save for a more expensive school. He said he was also attracted by Cincinnati State’s co-op programs, its small class sizes, and by the range of majors it offered. He had initially planned on majoring in aviation maintenance technologies, but switched to a broader field on the theory it would increase his employment options upon graduation.
  
  It has all worked as planned for Josh. He landed a co-op job at a small manufacturing firm, where he has gone back for repeat postings in different areas of the company. “This co-op experience has been a great asset, in addition to my educational experience at Cincinnati State,’’ he said. The scholarship has allowed him to focus on his studies. After graduation, Josh, who is carrying a 3.7 GPA, plans to enroll at the University of Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky University.
   
• Bryan Dell is a 1979 Mount Healthy High School graduate who is now a second-year student at Cincinnati State, with plans of pursuing advanced degrees in counseling. He, too, is rebuilding a life, in this case one ravaged by drug addiction. “I’ve been to a hell where there was no water,’’ he told the audience at the Scholarship Dinner. He talked about his first days at Cincinnati State, when he doubted he could pull off school after being away for so long, and said he expressed his doubts to the members of his 12-Step program who were an integral part of his support system. “They said, ‘If we could do it, so can you.’“
  
  They were right. Today Bryan is in his sixth term at Cincinnati State with a 3.89 GPA. He’s active in Cincinnati State’s Black Male Initiative. And he’s becoming a familiar presence at the Success Center and other spots where students gather for tutoring or for informal help in navigating a college with more than 10,000 students.
  
  “Tonight,’’ Bryan said, “I’m here to say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’’

This year’s dinner was sponsored by North Side Bank and Trust Co.; the program was presented by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

During the event, Dr. Owens announced that Interim Development Director Dawn Perrin has been appointed to the position on a permanent basis.