{"id":18716,"date":"2017-09-13T18:14:29","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T22:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=18716"},"modified":"2017-10-12T12:08:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T16:08:55","slug":"students-scholarship-benefactors-meet-face-face-annual-luncheon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2017\/09\/students-scholarship-benefactors-meet-face-face-annual-luncheon\/","title":{"rendered":"Students and scholarship benefactors meet face-to-face at annual luncheon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Stacey Bradley, right, says the scholarship she was awarded made it possible for her to return to UTC after she took a year off due to lack of money.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Stacey Bradley wasn\u2019t sure she could ever come back to UTC.<\/p>\n

After two years in the Women\u2019s Studies program, money was so tight she had to take off the 2015-16 academic year. Even after, she figured it would take another year to save enough money, and her hopes of college fizzled.<\/p>\n

Then a UTC scholarship came into her life, $3,000 that made it possible for her to enroll again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no plans of coming back, so it was life-changing,\u201d says Bradley, who plans to graduate next summer.<\/p>\n

Bradley was one of about 200 students who attended the Scholarship Luncheon 2017, held Wednesday in Maclellan Gym. The event, now in its second year, gives students who receive scholarships a chance to meet the people responsible for donating the money and personally thank them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the one of the best days; I put this up there with convocation and graduation. It\u2019s time to celebrate,\u201d Bryan Rowland, vice chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs, said from the luncheon\u2019s podium.<\/p>\n

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Tony Amegnaglo says scholarship money helped him bring his family from Africa to the U.S.<\/p><\/div>\n

Senior Tony Amegnaglo, an electrical engineering student and native of West Africa, says money from the Thomas J. Kline Scholarship helped him far beyond school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got my family moved over here from West Africa,\u201d he says. \u201cI take care of my Dad; I take care of my Mom; I take care of my sister; they\u2019re not working. I have a wife; I have a son. By this scholarship, I can not only have that piece of mind knowing that these things are covered to focus on school, I just believe that they are teaching me to give back. When I make it, I shall be mindful that folks have actually been generous to give me that boost. It means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing the students and feeling their excitement is one of the payoffs for David Kazanowski who, along with his wife Theresa, established the Ann Kazanowski Berg Scholarship Fund in honor of his late sister, a graduate of UTC’s College of Education. The scholarship, started four years ago, was endowed with $75,000 to be awarded over five years.<\/p>\n

“Education has always been a high priority and a value simply because it\u2019s something that you can\u2019t take away from somebody,\u201d Kazanowski says at the luncheon. \u201cIt\u2019s both pleasing and refreshing to see the students here, the energy that they bring. They\u2019re so career-directed, focused, well-rounded.”<\/p>\n

UTC Chancellor Emeritus and donor Fred Obear says coming face-to-face with a student who has benefited from your donation is a special moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality that there\u2019s really a living, breathing individual who benefits from the contributions you\u2019ve made to the university is really totally significant here because oftentimes you make a gift and you never know who the recipient is, but this brings the two together,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Gabriela Zaragoza, a junior in art education, receives $500 per semester from the Captain Daphne Marjorie Painter Memorial Art Education Endowment Fund. Paying for her tuition \u201cwould have been very, very hard\u201d without the scholarship, she says.<\/p>\n

She won the scholarship by entering her art portfolio in Department of Art competition, but she went back and forth on whether to put her work out there for judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost didn\u2019t want to enter it because I was so nervous. It was the first time I\u2019d entered for a scholarship like that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s entering the scholarship competition again, saying she\u2019s \u201ca little less nervous, but there\u2019s some great students in here, so you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

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