Annual Report 2015-2016
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THE HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 Foundation, Inc. HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 2 hcc.edu/the-hcc-foundation HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 From the President t is with great pleasure that I extend former position when the new president of Imy gratitude to you for your support of HCC assumes her position, I consider it an Holyoke Community College. As the vice honor to be the steward of this institution president of administration and finance and work with the HCC Foundation’s at HCC and now the interim president, I Board of Directors during this time of have seen what your gifts have done for transition. Both the college and the HCC the faculty, staff and students. The college Foundation are on strong financial footing has embarked on many capital projects and both are moving forward to maintain over the years and, in particular, last fall and improve upon our renowned level of the Center for Health Education was success. officially opened for our nursing, radiologic technology and health care students. William J. Fogarty That project was completed without any state support and was fully funded by college funds, support from individuals like yourself, local businesses and private foundations. Interim President While I look forward to stepping back to my Holyoke Community College From the Executive Director hange happens here! That effect on each and every one of them. statement could well have been The fact that Holyoke Community College CHCC’s official motto last year. The celebrated 70 years of operation is a third president of Holyoke Community direct result of the effort and support College, Bill Messner, announced his of dedicated individuals and corporate retirement and vice president and citizens like you. executive director of the HCC Foundation, Please take some time to look back at Erica Broman, “transferred” to Westfield our past year. You will see photos of State University. While we miss her President Messner’s retirement party, our physical presence, we are reminded scholarship reception, the President’s of her achievements in making the Dinner and much, much more. foundation one of the top 10 community Amy B. Dopp college endowments in the nation and for sheparding us through several capital campaigns. Allow me to thank you for your generosity Interim Vice President for Institutional to the students of Holyoke Community Development and Executive Director of the College. Your donations had a positive HCC Foundation 3 HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 arianne Santiago moved to West Springfield from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, just so she could attend Holyoke Community College. She is now an honors student, scholarship recipient, co-founder and president of HCC’s CommITTED community service club and a member of the Student Senate. One of her favorite pastimes is Kteaching fellow students about Puerto Rican history. 4 hcc.edu/the-hcc-foundation HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 KARIANNE SANTIAGO: A STUDENT SUCCESS STORY AGE 19 funny. I went to a college symposium back a lot. I like just going down all the hallways, HOMETOWN Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico home in Puerto Rico at the Hotel San Juan going through every staircase, just to get in August 2014, and there were all these big familiarized with the school and the campus. RESIDES IN West Springfield colleges there like UConn, Syracuse, Cornell, I find it peaceful. I walk around on the campus MAJOR Biology Harvard. I was like, these are big schools and road when I want to do some exercise, and go ACTIVITIES/EMPLOYMENT Co-founder these are expensive schools too. My mom was into the woods too and walk around the trails. and president of the CommITTED (community standing near the HCC table, and she asked the I think that’s one of the things that I most like service) Club; student senator; note–taker (math guy from Admissions, Harold Santiago, where about here. I’m an exercise junkie so I love to and biology); volunteer, Holyoke Senior Center. are you guys located? And he said, oh, we’re walk wherever I go. (We were going every Friday to do tech support in Holyoke, Mass. My sister and brother-in-law WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU’VE there. We helped the elderly with their computers were living in West Springfield. And my mom HAD TO OVERCOME? Coming here was a bit and their phones, understanding Facebook and immediately called my sister and asked her of a culture shock. Sometimes when people using email. It was a really nice experience.) where HCC was. And she told them it’s like talk to me, they ask, oh, do you have a visa? I’m AWARD AND HONORS Henry S. ‘71 and 10 minutes away from here. I got in contact like, no, I’m from Puerto Rico. I’m an American Carol Andrus Scholarship from the HCC with Harold, and he told me about HCC, how citizen. I understand that to a certain extent Foundation (Spring 2016); Edwin Perez Award long they’ve been here and the philosophy it’s just ignorance. I dealt with a lot of that at for Outstanding Character, Initiative and and methods of HCC. And I really liked it. By the beginning but then I got over it. That’s why Service to Others (Spring 2016); Lorraine September, I was already out here to go on a I turned to giving people lessons about the Hansberry Award for Academic Excellence college tour with my sister and brother-in-law. history of Puerto Rico. I take my culture with me and Outstanding Contributions Towards the I went and saw Bay Path, Syracuse, UConn, wherever I go. Anybody I sit with, I give them a Development of Ethnic Awareness; Student UMass, and Smith College, and then I came lesson in Puerto Rican history. I just love talking Activities Rising Star Award (Spring 2016). here to HCC. I saw HCC, and I loved it because it about Puerto Rico. was very similar to a college I was going to go to WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FAVORITE COURSE OR TEACHER My if I stayed in Puerto Rico, and I liked it because YOU’VE LEARNED AT HCC? I figured out how Learning Community and my honors classes, it wasn’t too big. I didn’t feel overwhelmed with to walk around to all the buildings on campus both because of my English professors. The LC the campus. It turns out that Harold’s uncle and without going outside. It gets cold up here. (Learning Community) I took my first semester my grandpa are cousins, so we’re family. was Nutrition and English 101 (“All About WHY IS EDUCATION IMPORTANT TO YOU? WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MOST MEANINGFUL Food”). My professors were Elizabeth Trobaugh Education is the key to growing, and it’s key EXPERIENCE AT HCC? Joining Student and Laura Christoph, and it was amazing. Last to achieving greatness. Without education, Senate has been amazing, and I thought the spring I took English 102 with Fred Cooksey, and you don’t know your past, you don’t know your Senate was going to be mostly like a student that class just blew my mind. It was literature present, and you don’t know your future. You council, but it’s way much more than that. We and writing, but it was at an advanced level. We need education to achieve goals in life. analyzed poetry, short stories, and we read two have more involvement on campus and with WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS novels. We would sit in a circle and just share students, faculty and staff. They actually want YEAR AT HCC? I’m looking foward to getting our opinions on what we read and have group to hear our opinions and know what we think, more involved with Student Senate activities discussions and debates. I’ve never had a class even when we were interviewing candidates around campus and organizing activities like that before. And just that whole new concept for the VP of Academic affairs. We went to all related to Hispanic Heritage Month and Black of the classroom, the dynamics, how it’s set up – of the interviews with all of the candidates, History Month. the approach from the professor to the student and they were looking for our feedback to see was very friendly and very professional too. what we like because that was the person who WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER HCC? My was going to deal with students too. I’ve been first choice for transfer is Mount Holyoke. I want WHAT CLASSES DID YOU TAKE THIS pretty impressed by how much faculty and staff to study stem cell research and microbiology. SUMMER? Inorganic chemistry I and II value what we have to say and how much they After that, medical school. I want to be an WHAT WILL YOU BE TAKING NEXT depend on our work, because this campus is orthopedic surgeon. And there’s a lot of SEMESTER? Honors Colloquium (“Punks, pro student, and that’s what I love about it. research done using stem cells to help fix and Queers, Freaks”), microbiology, pre-calculus. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT reproduce bones. WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO HCC? It was really HCC? I’ve got to say I like walking around here 5 HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2015-2016 FROM TRANSYLVANIA TO TEACHING EXCELLENCE: ILEANA VASU, MARIEB CHAIR AWARD WINNER or 18 years Ileana Vasu, obstacles to attend college. Her parents professor of mathematics and were political refugees and she and her chair of Holyoke Community sister had to wait for three years until they College’s engineering could join them in the United States.