SPRING 2007
Families’ First
Endowment Builds Fluency and Careers
Two current Amigos de Pima
Community College
scholarship recipients share a
memorable and meaningful
distinction—they are the first in
their families to attend college.
tudents who speak English and Spanish and
who have the desire to improve their bilingual
fluency have some special friends at Pima
Community College.
S
Dr. Manuel C. Bedoya Scholarship honors this
well-known Tucson dentist who is a role model for young
people in the community. Applicants are required to
pursue a career in one of the Health Professions.
Amigos de Pima Community College provides
scholarship funds through the Hispanic Student
Endowment Fund. Since the program’s inception in
1992, approximately 150 students have received
scholarships totaling nearly $100,000. The Hispanic
Student Endowment Fund’s principal balance is
over $314,000, all raised through the efforts of the
all-volunteer Amigos.
Richard and Mary Fimbres Scholarship, which is
sponsored by the League of United Latin American
Citizens (LULAC), honors Richard and Mary Fimbres
for their lifelong dedication to service in the Latin
American community. Applicants are required to pursue
a major in Pre-Law, Journalism or dual language
studies.
“My Mom didn’t go to college,
so I am the first one,” said Carla
Sanchez, a second semester
Psychology major. “She told me
to put in all my effort to be a
role model for my brother,”
who is 13 years old.
The story is similar for Jesús
Ibarra, Jr., who is a second-year
Spanish and Political Science
major.
“This means a lot to me and my
family. Being the first to have
the opportunity to seek a
professional education is an
excellent experience that life
offers.”
Both students will continue
their studies at universities.
Sanchez is on a fast track to
transfer to the University of
Arizona to study Child
Psychology. Ibarra plans to
enroll at Arizona State
University and get a degree in
Secondary Education with a
dual specialty in Spanish and
Political Science.
Equally valuable is these
students’ sense of pride.
“I applied for several
scholarships, but I
didn’t think I’d get
one,” said Sanchez. “But
to get this one made me
really proud.”
Amigos de Pima
Community
College
scholarship
recipients
Jesús Ibarra, Jr.
and
Carla Sanchez
Because only income from the endowment is used in
allocating scholarship funds, “we’ll be giving
scholarships for many, many years,” said Henry “Hank”
Oyama, a Vice President Emeritus of Pima and the
Amigos’ founder and guiding force.
Years ago, Oyama and other educators in Tucson
recognized the importance of bilingual education. Their
pioneering advocacy efforts, capped by a landmark
national report called Invisible Minority, led to the
passage of the Bilingual Education Act 40 years ago.
When the Department of Education’s Office of Bilingual
Education ended its funding in the early 1990’s, Oyama
and others kept the momentum going by establishing
the Amigos and securing contributions for the Hispanic
Student Endowment Fund.
To qualify, students must have a minimum GPA of 2.0
and have education and career goals that correspond
with the specific scholarship for which they are applying.
Students also must enroll in a Spanish class—preferably
for native speakers—each semester. Ethnicity is not a
criterion.
Within the endowment fund are
numerous scholarships named for
leaders in Tucson’s Hispanic
community, such as businessman
Humberto Lopez and these others:
Gilbert Acosta Memorial
Scholarship honors a man who
began his newspaper career
selling the Arizona Daily Star
as a youngster to help support
his mother. Applicants are
required to pursue a career in
Media Arts, Communications,
Publishing, Journalism, the
Social Sciences or Hispanic
Studies.
David H. Kennon Scholarship, which is sponsored by
George and Gloria Barnett, honors David H. Kennon, a
nationally renowned Tucson educator. Applicants are
required to pursue a major in Education.
Ruth Reed Miller Mexican Culture and Arts
Scholarship honors this supporter and promoter of
Mexican culture and arts. Students are required to take
courses on Mexican culture and art.
Don Jacinto Orozco Memorial Scholarship honors
one of Tucson’s most popular media personalities.
Applicants are required to pursue a career in Media
Arts, Communications, Publishing, Journalism, the
Social Sciences or Hispanic Studies.
Bilingual Pioneers Scholarships include five
scholarships available this academic year and next year
honoring several bilingual education pioneers and
supporters.
Raytheon Missile Systems Scholarship promotes
higher education opportunities for outstanding high
school graduates. Applicants are required to pursue a
career major in Mathematics, Science or
Pre-Engineering.
In addition, Hank and the Amigos worked closely with
Mario and Mary Jo Yrun to create the endowment in
their name, which will support students in Pima’s postbaccalaureate teacher education program (see related
story on page 3).
Scholarships are awarded in May of each year, and both
recipients and donors are recognized at the Amigos’
Annual Tardeada. This year’s Tardeada will be held June
10, 2:00-6:00 p.m., at the Hotel Arizona, 88 East
Broadway Blvd.
For more information about Amigos de Pima Community
College, contact Antonio Arroyo at 206-5068 or
[email protected].
Imagine the
Possibilities!
The Pima Community College
Foundation (PCCF) is undergoing a
rigorous strategic planning process
led by PCCF Board member Mark
Ziska, a human resources consultant.
The planning exercises have given us
a timely opportunity to examine and
affirm our purpose.
We’ve begun by crafting a more refined mission
statement. It now reads: The mission of PCCF is to
develop resources to provide learning opportunities
at Pima Community College.
Pima Program
Encourages
Classroom
Careers
n Arizona, and throughout America, an alarm
has sounded and the mission is clear: to
improve the quality of K-12 education by
encouraging more people to choose classroom
careers.
I
This supports the mission statement adopted by
Pima in 2004, namely, to develop our community
through learning.
In response, Pima Community College has created
a program to train and to certify individuals to
teach all K-12 subjects.
All PCCF Board members are committed to this
renewed mission, and they will be responsible for
implementing action plans to achieve specific and
measurable goals.
“We started four years ago with 25 enrollees,
and now we have approximately 650 students in
the program,” said Cindy Yrun-Calenti, who is
Department Chair for the Pima PostBaccalaureate Teacher Certification Program.
The mission
of PCCF is to
develop
resources to
provide
learning
opportunities
at Pima
Community
College.
As we strive to increase
opportunities for learning, it is
students who receive the real
benefits—access to education,
better career skills and
opportunities, an improved
quality of life, and influence on
our community’s economic
development and future.
Those objectives
notwithstanding, I am
personally motivated by the
individual stories of sacrifices
students make to achieve their
educational goals. Whether
they are first generation college
students, single parents, or
career changers, a scholarship often means the
difference between succeeding in college and
dropping out.
Gifts to the PCCF do make a difference for people in
our community, as evidenced by the letters of thanks
our donors receive from Pima students, such as
this one:
“I truly can’t describe how grateful I am for your
generosity in contributing money to help Pima
Community College students like me…. Your
recognition for my academic achievement has not
only encouraged me to keep up with my academic
success but also has led me to believe that with great
ambition anything in life is possible.”
There’s no greater mission—or reward. We hope
you’ll support our endeavors and investment in
education, careers and a viable workforce.
Marc Fleischman
Chair, PCCF Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Marc Fleischman, Chair
Mark Ziska, Chair-Elect
Mary Rowley, Vice-Chair
Jim Stith, Secretary
Robert Ramirez, Treasurer
Sherry Hall,
Immediate Past Chair
Cheryl House, CFRE
Executive Director
Enrollees range in age from
their 20’s to 60’s, with the
majority in their 20’s to 40’s.
The program has gotten a significant boost from a
$25,000 endowment established through the Pima
Community College Foundation by Mario and Mary Jo Yrun (see sidebar on page 3). The
endowment will provide tuition assistance—in the form of scholarships—to students who might
otherwise be unable to attend or to complete the program.
Although classes were offered face-to-face and online, the program will move exclusively to
online instruction this summer. “We found that enrollees were logging on early mornings and
late evenings and we weren’t filling the face-to-face classes,” said Yrun-Calenti.
With an intense year-round program of study, it is possible to complete the course
requirements—exclusive of student teaching—in 12 months for secondary school teacher
certification and in 18 months for elementary school teacher certification, she said.
Who’s enrolling? Enrollees range in age from their mid-20’s to mid-60’s, with the majority in
their 20’s to 40’s, according to Yrun-Calenti. Some are recent university graduates who “may
have majored in their passion” but have discovered that passion doesn’t guarantee immediate
employment.
Other enrollees include people whose children have recently gone through the school system
and have seen first hand the need for quality instruction. The program also appeals to people
who are retiring from a career in the corporate world or the military.
The urgency of Pima’s effort is supported by facts:
• Nearly 300,000 new high school math and science teachers will be needed nationally by 2008,
according to A Commitment to America’s Future: Responding to the Crisis in Mathematics
and Science Education, published by the Business-Higher Education Forum, 2005.
• The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the Twenty-first
Century, chaired by former astronaut and senator John Glenn, states that two-thirds of U.S.
mathematics and science teachers will retire by 2010, as referenced in: The World Is Flat,
Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
• The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that by 2008, jobs requiring science and technical
training will increase by 51 percent, states A Commitment to America’s Future,
Business-Higher Education Forum, 2005.
The Mario and Mary Jo Yrun Scholarship Endowment offers an enormous return on
investment—ensuring that K-12 students, and their teachers, are prepared for the technological
and scientific challenges of tomorrow.
For more information about the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification program, go to
www.pima.edu/program/teacher-ed.
Gloria Alvillar
Gloria Bloomer
Dan Chambers
Juan Ciscomani
Bill Conrad
Jim Davenport
Blake Down
Larry Finuf
Roy Flores, Ph.D.
Ed Foster
Greg Good
Howard Harpst
Dennis Holden
Mark Irvin
Tomas Leon
Paul Lindsey
Elizabeth Maish
Susan Mannion
Rich Moret
Betty Niles
Bernie Ray
Chris Reaney
Norm Rebenstorf
Leo Roop
Robert Shelton
Debbie Wagner
Scholarships
Make a Difference
A Lasting
Gift
When Mario and Mary Jo Yrun
established an endowment for
Pima’s Post Baccalaureate
Teacher Certification Program
last year, no one knew just how
significant
it would
be.
Nearly $1,000,000 in private scholarship funds have
been awarded to PCC students during the 2006-07
academic year, helping them reach their educational
goals and, as one student wrote, “giving me hope for the
future.”
To make the application process easier for students, the
PCC Foundation has implemented STARS Online, a
Web-based application that matches students with
scholarships that best meet their profiles. The PCC
Foundation scholarship committee can also use STARS
to evaluate and award scholarships online, reducing
the need for volumes of paper and speeding up the time
in which students can learn about their awards.
The deadline to apply for most 2007-08 scholarships
is June 15, 2007.
To access the PCC Foundation’s new online scholarship
application, go to www.pima.edu/foundation.
Wheeler and Charlyne Abbett know all about the
shortage of nurses and other healthcare workers and
have chosen to do something about it—by establishing a
scholarship endowment in the PCC Foundation to support
nursing students. The first two recipients of the Wheeler
and Charlyne Abbett Scholarship, Sarah Rivera and Lanet
Haverstock (shown above, with Mr. and Mrs. Abbett), are
eligible to receive the scholarship for all four semesters
that they are enrolled in Pima’s nursing program.
Leave a Lasting Legacy
In March, over 300 people attended one of seven seminars about the importance of having a will and the benefits
of leaving bequests to charities. The seminars were hosted by the PCC Foundation and its partners, Community
Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Literacy Volunteers of Tucson, Pima Council on Aging Foundation and the
YMCA as part of Write a Will Month, a community-wide effort sponsored by the Planned Giving Roundtable of
Southern Arizona.
Your bequest to the PCC Foundation may be a specific dollar amount, or it may be a percentage of your estate.
You may determine how your gift will be used and whether it will be established as an endowment fund.
The recommended will language is:
“I give the sum of $_____ -or- I give _____ percent of my estate to the Pima Community College Foundation, a
non-profit charitable foundation located in Tucson, Arizona, Tax ID #86-0345089, to be utilized for the purpose of
(meeting the greatest needs of the College, providing scholarships, establishing an endowment, etc.).”
Please contact the PCC Foundation, 206-4646, for more information about creating a legacy for education with
your will.
Credits
The Pima Community College
Foundation was incorporated in 1977 to
generate and manage philanthropic
financial support for the benefit of Pima
Community College.
Possibilities is published two times per
year by the Pima Community College
Foundation’s Board of Directors to
recognize the positive impact of private
giving on education in our community.
Editor - Cheryl House
Writer – Jodi Goalstone
Graphic Design – Bryce Morthland
Photography - Antonio Arroyo, Jay Walsh
Printing – Spectrum Printing
Pima Community College Foundation
4905C E. Broadway Blvd.
Tucson AZ 85709-1320
(520) 206-4646 Phone
(520) 206-4648 Fax
[email protected]
www.pima.edu/foundation
High-Tech
Healthcare Lab
Debuts
Students in Pima’s HealthRelated Professions can now
practice real-life clinical
scenarios in a risk-free
environment, thanks to
funding from the Thomas R.
Brown Family Foundation.
Sarah Smallhouse (pictured
left), President of the Brown
Foundation, and other
trustees toured the new
clinical lab and, with the help
of students, performed
procedures on the “patients.”
Assisting Sarah is Esmeralda
Reyes, a second-year student
in Respiratory Therapy.
Mario
Yrun died
late last
year.
Now the
family’s
gift has
become a poignant, as well as
powerful, legacy.
Why did the Yrun family
establish an endowment
through the Pima Community
College Foundation?
“My parents have always had a
phenomenal respect for the
power of education and the
power of good education. Both
began school as non-English
speakers and had a wonderful
respect and appreciation for
education as a springboard to
life and career,” said Cindy
Yrun-Calenti, who is the
program’s Department Chair.
The elder Yruns are Tucson
natives. Mario Yrun, who was a
real estate broker, lived in
Tucson for 82 years; his wife
Mary Jo, a realtor, has been
here 78 years.
Their adult children followed
the family’s education ethic.
In addition to Cindy, Virginia
Yrun is CEO of the Southern
Arizona Center Against Sexual
Assault (SACASA); Margaret
Yrun is Coordinator of Pima’s
Post Baccalaureate Teacher
Education Program, and Mario
Yrun is a financial consultant
and adjunct faculty member at
San Francisco Community
College.
“We all talk in our family about
our work,” Cindy said. “As I
talked to my parents about the
program, I mentioned we have
students at Pima who struggle
to pay for tuition and books. My
parents thought it would be
wonderful to establish an
endowment to help students
who could be outstanding
teachers in all areas of K-12
education.”
When fully funded, the
Endowment will produce a
permanent income stream of
over $1,200 annually.
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
TUCSON, ARIZONA
PERMIT NO. 1476
4905C E. Broadway Blvd., #252
Tucson, AZ 85709-1320
This Alumna Digs Business
PCC News
The PCC Alumni Association held its annual meeting
on April 19, 2007, kicking off a new program of
activity and alumni involvement. Officers for 2007
were elected:
Chairperson
Vice Chairperson
Secretary
Treasurer
Member-at-Large
Interim Past Chair
Sarah Evans
Jaimie Leopold
Terrell Bivins
Mark Hanna
Juan Ciscomani
Francisco Padilla
Other Alumni Association Board members include
Deborah Munoz-Chacon and Valerie Vidal.
Toppy Burke is the Executive Director.
Pima Community College is partnering with the
University of Maryland University College (UMUC) to
offer a unique program for obtaining a bachelor’s
degree in accounting or psychology. The partnership
will enable students to first earn an associate’s degree
at PCC and go on to earn a UMUC bachelor’s degree
through online and distance learning courses
without having to leave the Tucson area.
USA Today’s All-USA Community College Academic
First Team has named PCC student Kennadi Stogsdill
one of 20 All-USA First Team members. Kennadi,
a 20-year-old pre-nursing student, will receive a
$2,500 cash award from USA Today.
Broadway’s revival of “Grease” will star former PCC
student Max Crumm as Danny. Max, who won the
role competing on NBC’s “Grease – You’re the One
That I Want,” appeared in PCC’s 2004 production of
“Damn Yankees” as the devil.
Deborah Munoz-Chacon’s studies at Pima Community College have laid
the groundwork for her career success.
After working for 18 years in a management company with a
landscaping subsidiary, Munoz-Chacon enrolled at Pima and earned her
associate’s degree. She currently is completing her Bachelor’s degree in
Business Administration at the University of Arizona.
Two years ago, she founded her own Tucson-based landscaping company
called Sonoran Oasis Landscaping. It hasn’t taken long for the business
world to notice.
The firm recently received the 2006 Minority Enterprise Development Service Provider of the
Year Award from the Arizona Small Business Administration. Additionally, she is a finalist for a
2007 Enterprising Women of the Year Award, a national award presented by Enterprising
Women Magazine.
“It’s been a real honor” to get the Arizona award and to be considered for the national award,
she said. “It’s wonderful for the business as well. It gives us a lot more credibility in our
industry. I work in an industry that is primarily male-dominated and it’s important for women
to have this recognition.”
What did she learn from her experience at Pima?
“I’ve learned that if you can manage well, you can run almost any type of business.” Without an
understanding and mastery of business management, “accounting, financials, marketing and
sales, you will fail. The classes I took at Pima were really good for real-life management issues.”
The aforementioned acclaim aside, Munoz-Chacon also is known for her community
involvement in organizations such as the National Association of Women Business Owners, the
Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity and the Southern Arizona Home
Builders Association.
Anyone who has attended a class at PCC is eligible to join the Alumni Association. For more
information, go to www.pima.edu/alumni or email [email protected].