NC Community Colleges Celebrate Excellence in Education

RALEIGH – Governor Pat McCrory has proclaimed April as “North Carolina Community College Excellence in Education Month.”  Students from all 58 community colleges are receiving awards for academic excellence, as well as the Governor Robert W. Scott Student Leadership Award and the Dr. Dallas Herring Achievement Award.

“Students seek out our community colleges because the education and skills they acquire lead to opportunity – for a career, for further education and ultimately to get them that much closer to reaching their goals,” says NC Community College System Interim President George Fouts.  “This is a true celebration of community college excellence and the successes that happen every day on our campuses.”

Roa Saleh, a student at Rowan-Cabarus Community College, is the 2016 recipient of the Governor Robert W. Scott Student Leadership Award.  The award, sponsored by the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents (NCACCP), was created in 2004 to recognize student leadership on a statewide level while also honoring former Governor Scott, one of the earliest supporters of the NC Community College System and the fourth System President from 1983 until 1994. Each award recipient receives a plaque and a $1,000 scholarship from the NC Community Colleges Foundation.

Willie Corbett, a student at Bladen Community College, is the 2016 recipient of the Dr. Dallas Herring Achievement Award.  The award was established in 2010 by the NCACCP to honor the late Dr. Dallas Herring, considered one of the founding fathers of community colleges in North Carolina.  The award is bestowed annually upon a current or former student who best embodies Dr. Herring’s philosophy of “taking people where they are and carrying them as far as they can go.” Each award recipient receives a plaque and a $1,000 scholarship from the NC Community Colleges Foundation.

One student from each of the 58 community colleges received Academic Excellence Awards (AEA).  AEA selection requirements are consistent with Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society criteria. Students:

• Must be currently enrolled,
• Must have completed at least 12 semester hours in an associate degree program, and
• Must have a cumulative grade point average of no less than 3.25.

Each student receives a plaque and medallion in honor of their academic accomplishments.

Melissa Dawkins, Alamance Community College

Michelle Irwin, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

Christopher Atkinson, Beaufort County Community College

Levy Pait, Bladen Community College

Rachel Quinn, Blue Ridge Community College

Kyle Mehl, Brunswick Community College

Callie Tester, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute

Megan Lambert, Cape Fear Community College

Lindsay Anne Finn, Carteret Community College

Kim Lee Taylor, Catawba Valley Community College

Hunter Riggins, Central Carolina Community College

Seedy Njie, Central Piedmont Community College

Emmanuel S. Wallace, Cleveland Community College

Katelyn Lloyd, Coastal Carolina Community College

Daniel West, College of The Albemarle

Arodi Grullon Fernandez, Craven Community College

Shodeah Kelly, Davidson County Community College

Yiu San Tung, Durham Technical Community College

Kathryn Carpenter Hale, Edgecombe Community College

Toni Jurkiewicz, Fayetteville Technical Community College

Monica Cooper, Forsyth Technical Community College

Samantha Jo Christopher, Gaston College

Sharon Parks, Guilford Technical Community College

Rodney L. Lashley, Halifax Community College

Melvin Little, Haywood Community College

Rachel Mercantini, Isothermal Community College

Cindy Inestroza, James Sprunt Community College

Anna Pierce, Johnston Community College

Leslie Smith, Lenoir Community College

Elizabeth Hernandez, Martin Community College

Emilee Crowder, Mayland Community College

Ashlee Wood, McDowell Technical Community College

Angela Johnson, Mitchell Community College

Tyler David Thompson, Montgomery Community College

Dana K. Wise, Nash Community College

Jana Raynor, Pamlico Community College

Vivian Kpenosen, Piedmont Community College

Mary Gardner, Pitt Community College

Santiago Avila Ponce, Randolph Community College

Jacob Newton, Richmond Community College

Shirley M. Parker, Roanoke-Chowan Community College

Kenneth Jackson, Robeson Community College

Karishma P. Desai, Rockingham Community College

Thea Flynn, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

Johna Barbour, Sampson Community College

Lindita Oelfke, Sandhills Community College

Daniel Steinburg, South Piedmont Community College

Stacy Pukl, Southeastern Community College

Sophie Maxwell, Southwestern Community College

Katelyn Blythe, Stanly Community College

Mackenzie Ammann, Surry Community College

Elena Wimpey, Tri-County Community College

Elizabeth Mary Caulfield, Vance-Granville Community College

Donna Sherrie Dixon, Wake Technical Community College

Dennis Hawley, Wayne Community College

Kimberly Thompson, Western Piedmont Community College

Brooke Church, Wilkes Community College

Janet E. Joyner, Wilson Community College