Estrella Mountain Community College

                I Start Smart Student Reception

The Dougherty Foundation was presented with Scottsdale Community College's Desert Willow Award for it's continued support of students at SCC.  Jack LaSota, board president accepted the award from Dr. Jan Gehler.  Since 1999, the Dougherty Foundation has awarded scholarships in the amount of $113,000 to 106 SCC students.

Dr. Jan Gehler and Jack LaSota

This year awards were made to Sara Barber, Paige Brackin, Daiv Glenn, Erica Guerrero, Jessica Hastings, Zandra King, Chris Sabanosh and Monika Szmit.

The Phoenix College Culinary Cafe was the site of the 2012 DreamMakers Luncheon on April 13.  Donors from forty organizations and groups met with their students and enjoyed the lunch prepared by the Culinary program chef and students.  Director of the Alumni & Development office, Frank Luna described his interpretation of the Luncheon title "DreamMakers" as the interaction of students who have the dream of obtaining an education and donors who are making those dreams a reality.  The Dougherty Foundation was formed for just that purpose and is proud to continue to assist PC students realize their dreams.                 

Araneli Naranjo, Linda Czarnecki, Chris LaVoie

Additional PC scholarship recipients this year included Avea Garcia, Brittany Hunter and Elisa Vasquez.                                             

Estrella Mountain Community College hosted its fifteenth Annual Scholarship Luncheon on April 13.  Dr. Ernie Lara welcomed donors and scholarship recipients to the festive event.  Jack LaSota attended for the Foundation and enjoyed having lunch with the Dougherty recipients and learning more about the students and their aspirations. 

Dougherty recipients from left:  Yolanda Poole, Adriana Opal, Elizabeth Lara, Estella Goodman, Catherine Rodriguez and Alma Luna with Dr. Ernie Lara and Jack LaSota.  Additional recipients include Austin Brault, Marcia Carranza, Megan Gehring, Tracy Guynn, Jacky Nguyen, Carolyn Perez and Jeffery Spencer

Mary Martha Prince, Dougherty board member, attended the GCC Tenth Annual Scholarship Luncheon on April 24. She enjoyed speaking with the scholarship students and hearing of their successes this year.

Mary Martha Prince (left) with Christina Papp (standing with friend) and another donor

Additional students this year include Giovanna DiMellio, Sandy Glasser, Zicially Jauregui, Jocelyn Lopez, Brylynn Minemyer, Serena Reyna, Ronald Schilling and Francine Vallejo.

 Linda Czarnecki, Executive Director of the Dougherty Foundation, was honored recently with the Phoenix College Gold Bear Scholarship Partnership award.  In nominating her, Frank Luna, Director of Alumni & Development at PC, wrote: " For many years, Executive Director Linda Czarnecki has been the face of the Dougherty Foundation.  Linda has been instrumental in facilitating the relationship between the Dougherty Foundation and Phoenix College in making sure that PC students are offered priority access to the Dougherty scholarship each year.  She is an exemplary scholarship partner for Phoenix College and a role model among executive directors of non-profit organizations."  Linda was thrilled to receive this award; this is her 20th year serving as the executive director of the Foundation.

Frank Luna, Linda Czarnecki, Cathy Eden

Financial aid, development and administrative personnel from sixteen of our participating schools attended the Dougherty Foundation's annual appreciation lunch on May 4.  This year marks the 58th year the Foundation has provided scholarships for Arizona students. 

To celebrate Arizona's Centennial Year, our special guest speaker this year was Marshall Trimbel, who is considered the "dean of Arizona historians".  He has taught Arizona history at Scottsdale Community College for 40 years and has written more than twenty books on Arizona and the West.  Marshall entertained everyone with stories of the early pioneer families in Arizona.  As the board was making plans for the luncheon, they found that two of them had their own ties to Marshall.  Mary Martha Prince's father, Dr. John Prince taught English at Phoenix College early in his career.  One of his students was Marshall himself.  After leaving PC, Marshall continued his education at ASU where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.  Jack LaSota also became a member of ATO at the same time.

Jack LaSota, Marshall Trimble, Jim Walsh, Mary Martha Prince, Danny Valenzuela

At the conclusion of the luncheon, Jim Walsh presented Jack LaSota with a certificate of appreciation for his twenty-five years of service on the Foundation board.  Jack is serving as president of the board this year, a post he has held several times during his years  on the board. 

Jack LaSota and Jim Walsh

Be sure to keep receiving this newsletter from the Dougherty Foundation by giving us your personal email address instead of the school issued address you may have listed on your Dougherty application.  We don't share your information with anyone.  Click here to update your email address:

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