Fletcher Technical Community College recently held the 2022 Scholarship Luncheon where they gave $40,000 in scholarships to twelve students.
The award ceremony was held on the college campus and began with an introduction from Chancellor Kristine Strickland and Chandler LeBoeuf, Ed.D. Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement and Strategic Initiatives, Executive Director, Fletcher Foundation.
“To our students, I want to thank you for all of the hard work you put in to get to where you are today,” Strickland said,” We know that school’s hard, college is hard, and not only have you figured out a way to be successful in college, but you’ve found a way to be successful in college during a global pandemic, post major hurricane, and natural disaster, and yet you all have continued on, persevered, and you’re here today.”
Franchesca Jimenez, a scholarship recipient, gave her story and why education is important to her. Jimenez started at Fletcher in 2019 and this is the second time she has received scholarships to help her be successful. “It’s an amazing feeling, it’s not easy keeping a 4.0 with English, not my first language, but the teachers at Fletcher really help me a lot,” she said. She said she has managed to achieve her goals by working very hard and her goal for graduating is that her parents will be able to attend her graduation ceremony which she described as amazing. She went on to say that she has already set goals going forward for this semester and she looks forward to reaching them. She recently graduated with a Business Administration Degree and is working towards the Office System Technology Program. She said the life skills she has learned in PTK are not something that she could have learned in the classroom. “You have to learn the process as you go, there are ups and downs, and that’s okay,” she said. She ended with a quote from Roy T. Bennett from the Light in the Heart, “Don’t let others tell you what you can’t do. Don’t let the limitations of others limit your vision. If you can remove your self-doubt and believe in yourself, you can achieve what you never thought possible.”
Congratulations to the following scholarship recipients:
From left to right: Dr. John Dennis, Assistant Professor of Geomatics; David Martinez, Survey Discipline Leader; James Pellegrin, Lead Professional; Rene Hebert, Lead Professional; Dr. Esra Tekdal Yilmaz, Department Head of Applied Sciences & Associate Professor of Geomatics; Allison Clune, Nicholls First Lady; Jay Clune PhD; Nicholls President; Kenneth Smith, T. Baker Smith CEO; Sheri Smith; Jennifer Chaisson, Public Relations Coordinator; Casey Liner, Chief Administrative Officer; Jeremy Becker, Executive Director of Nicholls Foundation; Dr. Balaji Ramachandran, Program Coordinator for Geomatics; Raymond Peters, Assistant Vice President for Advancement.