“Scholarships for Pinckneyville” campaign brings in 13 new scholarships for RLC students

PINCKNEYVILLE, Ill. (July 18, 2013) - A total of twenty scholarships, both brand new donations and past contributions, have been given to graduates of Pinckneyville High School to attend Rend Lake College. In total, the scholarships will provide $14,500 in financial support for students, starting this fall.

The scholarship campaign, called Scholarships for Pinckneyville, was orchestrated through RLC’s Foundation to help the approximate 200 students at the satellite campus. Heather Bauersachs, campus coordinator, said that the new scholarships will help both students at Pinckneyville’s campus and those who may have to travel for specialized classes.

“A lot of students will take classes here and at the main campus. Typically, for the students who have taken the dual credit classes, they don’t have a lot they can take here. I advise a majority of the Pinckneyville students and when they’ve taken all of their general classes, they have to travel to the main campus for career-specific courses,” she said.

Last year, there were a total of seven students attending the Murphy-Wall campus with Foundation Scholarships; however, this fall is already off to a bright start with the addition of 13 new scholarship recipients.

RLC SCHOLARSHIP - Alexis Anderson of Pinckneyville has been selected to receive
the Dr. Bill and Mary Roe Scholarship to Rend Lake College this fall. Anderson is
pictured above with Dr. Bill Roe, a resident of Pinckneyville and member of the
Rend Lake College Foundation Board of Directors. Also selected to receive the
Dr. Bill and Mary Roe Scholarship is Thomas Miller of Pinckneyville. (Photo by
Nathan Wheeler / RLC Public Information)

Foundation Board of Directors member and major donor Dr. Bill Roe said that the campaign started when the board discovered the lack of scholarships available to students at Pinckneyville High School.

“We have a group of advocates of Rend Lake College here in Pinckneyville, and we’ve done a couple other activities in the past for the students, but it was apparent to us that Pinckneyville lacked dedicated scholarships for the students at the high school,” said Dr. Roe.

He said the mission of the group became trying to create scholarships for Pinckneyville students to attend RLC, and set the framework for future donations.

“These scholarships will hopefully be perpetual, because these are people who haven’t given before. It’s going to be an on-going process and we have some really good leads for large donors in the future,” he said.

Pinckneyville High School Superintendent Keith Hagene added that the new scholarships also benefit the community in which the students live, as well as the students’ education.

“The importance of these scholarships should never be underestimated. A financial contribution, any contribution, that encourages someone to take the next step in education, improves not only the lives of the individual students, but simultaneously improves the future of our own communities,” he said.

SCHOLARSHIP - Mike Jones of Nashville has been selected to receive the Dr. Gene
and Ramona Stotlar Scholarship to Rend Lake College. Jones is pictured above with
scholarship supporter Dr. Gene Stotlar. Also receiving Stotlar Scholarships this year
are Thomas Miller of Pinckneyville, Hayden Kelly of Pinckneyville, Jennifer Parades of
Pinckneyville and Raven Lawhorn of Pinckneyville. (Photo by Nathan Wheeler /
RLC Public Information)

For several students receiving the awards, the scholarship will be used to help them travel to class and provide for anything that may come up during the semester.

“It’s really an honor and I’m very grateful for it,” said Hayden Kelly, recipient of the Dr. Gene and Ramona Stotlar scholarship. “Anything really helps to get me to where I need to go.”

Kelly, the 18-year-old son of Theresa and Michael Kelly of Pinckneyville, said he plans to use the scholarship to help with travel costs to RLC’s main campus to take music classes. He is planning to receive two Associate’s degrees from RLC to help jump start his goal of working in a recording studio or on sound boards at concerts.

Another Pinckneyville High School student, Ashley Przygoda of Tamaroa, said that she will be using her scholarship - the Wrights Inc., Stu and Sharon Wright Annual Scholarship - to help with commuting.

“I plan on commuting to school, and my financial aid was a little short this semester, so it will help with tuition and books too,” she said.

Przygoda, the daughter of Vicky Przygoda also of Tamaroa, added that she is working on a degree in social work, though she isn’t sure what she will do with the degree.

“I’m not really sure. I just want to help people and that’s a good way. I think kids might be an interesting subject,” she said.

RLC SCHOLARSHIP - Ashley Przygoda of Tamaroa has been selected to receive the
Wrights Inc., Stu and Sharon Wright Scholarship to Rend Lake College in the fall.
Przygoda is pictured above with Sharon Wright. (Photo by Nathan Wheeler / RLC
Public Information)

The new scholarships added by the campaign, and their respective recipients, are:

Dr. Gene and Ramona Stotlar Annual Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Thomas Miller of Pinckneyville, Mike Jones of Nashville, Hayden Kelly of Pinckneyville, Jennifer Parades of Pinckneyville and Raven Lawhorn of Pinckneyville;

Wrights Inc., Stu and Sharon Wright Annual Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Ashley Przygoda of Tamaroa;

Rend Lake College Foundation Annual Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Macie Clark of Pinckneyville;

Pinckneyville Chamber of Commerce Vocational Annual Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Patrick Kovic of Pinckneyville;

Gene Brutton, PhD, Annual Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Kendra George of Tamaora;

Marjorie Beck Annual Scholarship in the amount of $250 - Christy McManus of Coulterville;

The Manor at Mason Woods Annual Scholarship in the amount of $250 - Chandler Cannon of Pinckneyville;

Pinckneyville Shopping Center, LLC Annual Scholarship in the amount of $250 - Todd Bathon of Coulterville;

And Kellerman Feed Store Annual Scholarship in the amount of $250 - Todd Bathon of Coulterville.

The other Foundation scholarships for Pinckneyville students, and their respective recipients, are:

Dr. Allen Y. Baker Endowment Scholarship in the amount of $2,500 - Philip Catt of Tamaroa;

Stella M. Baker Endowment Scholarship in the amount of $2,500 - Kristen Nix of Pinckneyville;

Dr. Bill and Mary Roe Endowment Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 - Thomas Miller of Pinckneyville and Alexis Anderson of Pinckneyville;

Black Diamond Harley Davidson Annual Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 - William Timner of Pinckneyville;

International Police Association Endowment Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Jacob Bathon of Pinckneyville;

And Carlos and Bonnie Tolbert Annual Scholarship in the amount of $500 - Jennifer Parades of Pinckneyville.

The winners of the scholarships will attend the RLC Foundation Scholarship Dinner in October.

RLC SCHOLARSHIP - Todd Bathon of Coulterville has been selected to receive the
Kellerman Feed Store Scholarship and Pinckneyville Shopping Center Scholarship
to Rend Lake College this fall. Bathon is pictured above with Luke Kellerman (LEFT).
(Photo by Nathan Wheeler / RLC Public Information)

Many of the students will attend the Murphy-Wall campus in Pinckneyville. The campus recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary, having opened in August 2002 for the fall semester. The satellite campus came to be thanks to the support and hard work of the Murphy-Wall State Bank and Trust, local donor Bill Crawford, State Senators Bill O’Daniel and David Luechtefeld and several others.

Since opening day, the campus has served thousands of students in areas ranging from general education courses to dual credit courses. Before the campus opened, the classes were held at Pinckneyville High School, and the campus still draws nearly half of each graduating class from the high school almost every year.