The BIG Give: Pandemic Version
While #COVID19 prevented us from meeting students in person, it did not prevent us from awarding funds to deserving students in 2020! We digitized our application, interview and awards processes, and thanks to generous contributions and support from our sponsors, members and community we raised a total of $27,275 and awarded 35 $750 scholarships to San Diego City College (SDCC) students.
The BIG Give 2020
On Thursday, November 12th we held a socially-safe Drive-thru / Walk-up Station on the SDCC Campus to award scholarship checks to 2020 Recipients. We made it an interactive, virtual event via Zoom, Facebook, and Instagram so that members, sponsors, donors and others in the community could participate and celebrate students’ achievements.
Our 2020 Scholarship Chair, Jessica Schatz, orchestrated the entire event and conducted interviews with students, SDCC Administrators and staff on site. She was joined by Lori Carpenter, Kathy Field Povoas, Ben Price, Patricia Waldron and our new Social Team - Paul Scalone and Leah Bentley.
About our Scholarship Program
Students are chosen based on their academic achievement: GPA, number of units, a written essay and virtual interview. Minimum required GPA for scholarship application is 3.0, and students must have completed one semester at SDCC before applying.
100% of funds from our donors goes directly to the students. Meet our generous 2020 contributors!
Scholarship donor statistics for 2020
8 sponsor donors of $1500+
5 full scholarship donors of $750.00+
42+ donors of other amounts.
FODSD does not require scholarship funds be spent on any one particular item, so students can use the funds in any way that enables them to keep moving forward with their education. Here are some expenses that students can incur.
2020 Recipients
Some Stats
- 65% Women Recipients
- 3.55 Average Recipient GPA
- (8) Recipients with 4.0 GPA
Scholarship recipient Austin Rambo won a scholarship in 2019 as well. He is a nursing student with eight months to go before graduating. He will be using his scholarship funds for books, supplies.
Scholarship recipient Andrea Yeager came to pick up her check with her three young children. She wanted her children to see her achievement, and she stated she had never received anything like this before. She had written on the side of her SUV, “Thank you for supporting our growth.” She will use the money to get a laptop. She is an English major and plans to go to UCSD to major in literature.
Highlights
The common theme from all of the SDCC team was the real need students have for the financial support. Especially given the pivot to distance learning and loss of service-level jobs. Many of the students do not have laptops, Wi-Fi, are food, or housing insecure. Here are highlights from interviews:
Marciano Perez, Dean of Student Affairs
“Scholarships are opportunities. Students put the scholarship on a resume.”
Sylvia Ramirez, Scholarship Coordinator
“Scholarships are life changing. Students are hardworking and well deserving.”
Denise Whisenhunt, Vice President of Student Affairs
“Many of our students do not have laptops and depend on coming to campus for computers and Wi-Fi. Many are also food and housing insecure”
Leslie Kilpatrick, FOD Member
Leslie has participated in the interview process, meeting first generation college students, immigrants, refugees, dreamers, and students with family illness. The interviews have always restored her faith in humanity. The students are visionaries, and optimistic. She also stated, the students that do receive scholarships, have earned them. She contributes to this program because the organization is one that has purity of giving. i.e. all funds go to the students.
We’re so proud of these students! And of our organization and supporters!
Friends of Downtown has awarded over $600,000 in scholarships to San Diego City College since 2000, and is the largest contributor of single scholarships to City College.