Student Success Breakfast

Students thank community at SCC Foundation's 10th Annual Student Success Campaign Community Breakfast

On November 8, 2007, three students stood before a group of community members, business leaders and SCC faculty and staff  and thanked them for making it possible for them to go to college.   Samson Getachew, Jerimiah Rice and Tami Barron all found help from the Shoreline Community College Foundation.  They shared their personal stories at the SCC Foundation's 10th Annual Student Success Campaign Community Breakfast.  (Photo: Samson Getachew, Jerimiah Rice, President Lambert and Tami Barron at the Student Success Campaign Community Breakfast.)

Jerimiah Rice left high school in Churdan, Iowa at the beginning of his junior year in order to start working.  He had educational aspirations, however, and earned his GED in 2000.  When he moved to the Seattle area in 2001, he found work as a sheet metal worker and two years later, began studying at Shoreline CC.  In the spring of 2007, the company he worked for went out of business and Jerimiah found himself ineligible to receive unemployment benefits because he was a student. He also found that his financial aid eligibility was nearing an end.  He was within one year of completing his degree and did not want to quit.  Thanks to the Continuing Education, the Merit, and the Dr. Bill Johnson scholarships. Jerimiah will complete his transfer degree and graduate this spring.  He plans to go on to earn a bachelor’s degree, and later, a graduate degree.  After completing his education, he plans to go on to do research and to eventually teach.

When Samson' Getachew's father was a young boy in Ethiopia, he earned money by renting his bike to other kids.  He believed in making his own way, and later opened his own auto repair business.  "He became my inspiration," says Samson.  In 2006, Samson was the first student to graduate from the General Service Technician (GST) Program at SCC.  The 24 year-old had been taking math and English classes at SCC when he learned about the automotive training program that was developed for students who might not have access to this type of training, including at-risk youth and those with limited English proficiency and Adult Basic Education skills. He excelled in the GST program and his instructors encouraged him to stay in school and enter one of the College’s factory-sponsored automotive training programs.  If it weren't for the help he found at the SCC Foundation, he would not have been able to enroll in the program.  Samson is completing his internship at Lexus of Bellevue and will have a full-time job there upon graduation in June.  He plans to someday open his own engine repair shop - in his father's footsteps.  Samson will graduate from the two-year program this spring.

It takes Tami Barron three to four hours a day to commute to and from Shoreline Community College where she is completing her AAS degree in Dental Hygiene.  Tami takes seven courses each quarter, and by the time she gets home in the evening, her day calculates into a long 13 to 14 hours.  Once home, she moves into her role as a single mom of three.  Tami doesn't complain about the long days, however.  She is just grateful that there are people out there who care about her and want her to succeed.  Tami graduated from Green River Community College with high honors and an AAS degree before enrolling in the Dental Hygiene program at Shoreline CC last year.  Tami will graduate in June.

Each year the SCC Foundation helps more than 200 students with scholarships, grants and no-interest loans to help pay for tuition, books, childcare and other expenses.  The scholarship funds help deflect the escalating costs of higher education and the difficulties created by students juggling work and family obligations while completing their education.  Approximately $33,000 was raised at this year's main fundraiser for direct aid to our students. 

If you would like to support the future of young men and women through education, please contact the Shoreline Community College Foundation at 206.546.4755 or email Ritva Manchester at rmanchester@shoreline.edu.

© 2008 Shoreline Community College Foundation
  16101 Greenwood Avenue North, Shoreline, Washington 98133-5696 * Tel: (206) 546-6783 Fax: (206) 546-4630