Hopkinsville Community College Foundation announces DACA Scholarship

Hopkinsville, KY – Hopkinsville Community College (HCC) together with the HCC Foundation, Inc. resumed its scholarship recipient and donor celebration Monday night.

Those gathered celebrated the generosity of donors to the college and foundation whose gifts provided over $348,000 in scholarship support to HCC students in the 2021-2022 academic year.  

During her remarks, HCC President & CEO Dr. Alissa Young stated, “HCC is a place of opportunity. It is a place where dreams can be chased, and bright futures can be pursued.” Following this statement, Young announced that the HCC Foundation would provide up to $4,000 in scholarships for the 2022-2023 academic year to students who are considered ‘undocumented’.

She further shared, “There are many people in our community who are ambitious, talented and bright, and who have graduated from local high schools, but because of circumstances surrounding their citizenship status, they are unable to apply for financial aid to pursue post-secondary education. That group of folks have been referred to as Dreamers or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students.”
 
According to HCC’s Chief Institutional Advancement Officer Yvette Eastham, initial funding for this new scholarship will be provided by a general endowment held by the HCC Foundation.
 
“The HCC Foundation has a director who worked three jobs to be able to pay tuition throughout his time at the college, all so that he could transfer to a four-year institution and obtain his dream and goal of a bachelor’s degree. We are acutely aware of the need in our community to help students to pursue their educational goals. We are committed to bettering the lives of all the residents in the Pennyrile, and to having open doors and providing financial support to all students who are willing to put in the academic hard work to fulfill their goals. And we will be working closely with the Latinx community, in particular, over the next months and years to grow a recurring fund to support DACA students who want to attend Hopkinsville Community College,” Eastham concluded.  
 
To apply for the DACA scholarship, students and family members may reach out to Eastham at yvette.eastham@kctcs.edu or by phone at 270.707.3731. Additionally, the HCC Foundation can receive donations to the scholarship by simply calling the number above. Gifts may also be mailed to the HCC Foundation, P.O. Box 180, Hopkinsville, KY 42241-0180.  

About Hopkinsville Community College

For many Pennyrile Kentucky region and Fort Campbell residents, higher education begins at Hopkinsville Community College (HCC).  The college serves thousands of area residents each year as a comprehensive regional learning center providing academic and technical associate degrees; diploma and certificate programs in occupational fields; pre-baccalaureate education; adult, continuing and developmental education; customized training for business and industry; and distance learning.

As part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, HCC is a critical component to transforming the region’s economy by providing citizens with the education and training needed for high growth, high wage careers.

For more information, visit Hopkinsville.kctcs.edu.