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Our Snapshot of the Month
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October marks the start of our annual A-B Tech employee giving campaign, the
Universal Campaign. In 2015, our coworkers contributed over $29,000 to the A-B Tech Foundation - the equivalent of 29 scholarships! Combine that with over $26,000 in contributions to our campaign partners, United Way and Eblen Charities, and our coworkers are making a huge impact! At left, a few of our employees share why they support A-B Tech.
Click here to learn more about what this support means!
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I would like to share some amazing information with each of you that you may not be aware of - unless you are a member of Womansong of Asheville! Amazingly, though not surprisingly, the women who sing with Womansong have raised over $100,000 for their New Start Program over the last ten years. By focusing on their goal of supporting women enrolling in our regional community colleges, such as A-B Tech, the New Start Program has made grants and scholarship awards totaling an amazing $100,000!
As we move into the season of giving, reflect on the power of collective efforts. We often say, "No donation is too small." That's because, when combined with other gifts, the impact of your gift can be quite powerful. The Foundation, like Womansong!, is a resource for many. Scholarships change lives and create strong communities!
Sincerely,
Sue H Olesiuk
Executive Director
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A-B Tech Graduate Stella Galyean Shares Her Story at Autumn in Asheville
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On October 1, 2015 the A-B Tech Foundation, in conjunction with the College's Culinary Arts, Baking and Pastry Arts, Hospitality Management and Craft Brewing programs, hosted its annual Autumn in Asheville fundraising event, raising funds for student scholarships and the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Departments. The fifth annual edition of this fundraising event recreated the feel of a fall farmers' market. In spite of the weather, it was a lovely event, with A-B Tech students staffing food stations both inside and outside A-B Tech's Brumit Center for Culinary Arts and Hospitality.
Thanks to the consistently amazing work of the Culinary, Baking and Pastry Arts, Brewing, and Hospitality students, faculty, and staff; wonderful decorations by Brinda Caldwell (Director of Community Services Program at A-B Tech); the Foundation Board of Directors' Event Committee; and last but not the least the great support of our student scholarship recipient volunteers!
We're happy to report that due to the support of our generous event sponsors, event attendees, as well as those who donated but were unable to attend, we had another record-setting fundraiser in support of the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Departments and the scholarship programs of the A-B Tech Foundation!
During Autumn in Asheville, Stella Galyean, a recent A-B Tech graduate, shared her story. Stella, a past recipient of the Wachovia/Wells-Fargo New Futures Scholarship and the K. Ray Bailey Golf Classic Scholarship and statewide winner of the 2015 Dallas Herring Achievement Award from the North Carolina Community College System, spoke movingly about her experience returning to A-B Tech as a first-generation college student to get her GED and eventually a degree. The following is an excerpt from her speech:
"I grew up in a home with a mother who had a drug addiction, was married into an abusive relationship at the age of thirteen, and became a sixth-grade drop-out. I felt defeated from years of being told that I was stupid and would never amount to anything -- and I believed what I was being told. In the course of my life I have overcome a short bout with drug use, cervical cancer, and domestic abuse, but believing that I was stupid was one of the hardest things I've ever overcome.
"On New Year's Day 2011, I heard a radio ad for A-B Tech which got me thinking about my own education. Being the mother of five children the oldest graduating high school in the spring and the youngest starting pre-school. I knew it was time to do something for myself, so my new year's resolution was to enroll at A-B Tech to earn my GED.
"In only four-months I had completed my GED and immediately started taking curriculum classes. After one semester I received an invitation to join the international honor society Phi Theta Kappa. Phi Theta Kappa is well known for encouraging their members and officers to apply for scholarships, and this is where I first learned about A-B Tech's Foundation scholarships. I applied the next semester and was awarded the Wells-Fargo scholarship. Since then, I received a scholarship every year that I was a student, including the K. Ray Bailey Golf Classic scholarship, twice.
"During my second year of classes, my husband lost his job and I was looking at going back to work full-time in order to pay bills; if that happened, I knew that I would have to quit school. The scholarships I received made it possible for me to stay in school and complete my degrees. I couldn't have done it without the generous donations to our Foundation from people like you."
Stella's words highlight what the support provided by this event truly means:
"My time at A-B Tech and the scholarship opportunities I've received have truly helped me to start traveling as far as I can go. In May of 2015 I graduated, with honors, earning my second degree from A-B Tech; now I am working on my Bachelors of Science in Communication at King University in Knoxville, TN. Currently I am employed in the A-B Tech Financial Aid Office; however, my goal upon completing my education is to return to A-B Tech as a Communication Instructor and give back to the college and the students the same support I was given during my time at A-B Tech.
"I know that without the help of all of the wonderful instructors, the A-B Tech Foundation, and supporters like you I wouldn't be where I am today! Thank you!"
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A-B Tech Receives $612,232 from the National Science Foundation to Support Students Interested in STEM Fields
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A-B Tech Community College was recently awarded a $612,232 grant from the
National Science Foundation through its
Scholarships in STEM Program (S-STEM) to help the college better serve and support targeted STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students over the next four years.
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Students at Nesbitt Discovery Academy are determining the average speed for a certain amount of dominoes to topple over.
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According to the U.S. Department of Education, "President Obama has articulated a clear priority for STEM education: within a decade, American students must move from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math."
This project - called Ignite Inspiration and Innovation, or I3 for short - will "provide outstanding opportunities to positively influence a next generation of STEM scholars, by offering scholarships to students who show academic promise and have an unmet financial need," said Dr. Jon R. Wiener, the principal investigator of the grant. He is the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at A-B Tech. Co-principal investigators at the college are Russ Palmeri, Susan Schwarz, Vernon Daugherty and Tammy Sullivan.
The overall goal of the I3 project is to increase the retention and completion of targeted STEM students to enable them to competitively enter the workforce or transfer to a senior-level university in pursuit of a baccalaureate degree in a STEM field. Focus areas include biology, chemistry, math and engineering.
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These students from Nesbitt Discovery Academy are investigating if the speed of a toy car is constant by measuring the blue water drips that are dropped from the car.
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One way that A-B Tech will achieve this is by offering sch
olarships to qualified students based on unmet financial need identified through the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). "We know that too few young people are preparing for careers in the STEM fields which can lead to good jobs," said Asheville City Schools Superintendent, Dr. Pam Baldwin. "This new project at A-B Tech will go a long way to helping us encourage and incentivize students in this direction," said Baldwin.
According to NSF, A-B Tech is 1 of 21 North Carolina colleges and universities - and 1 of only 5 North Carolina community colleges - to have an active S-STEM project.
"We are honored and thrilled that A-B Tech will have an opportunity to better serve the region as it strives to create better futures for young people and grow the economy," said Dennis King, President of A-B Tech. "We are grateful to NSF for selecting us as a recipient and excited to begin serving students," said King.
Click here to read more about this new initiative.
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Donor Spotlight on A-B Tech Instructor Rock Doddridge
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Dr. Rock Doddridge, Social/Behavioral Sciences Instructor, and his wife,
Mrs. Suzanne Doddridge, created the
Lead the Way Scholarship for African-American males at A-B Tech because he noticed for years that opportunities weren't always equal for all students.
Doddridge, or "Doc Roc" to many of his students, played football in high school and considered himself a marginal player, but it was good enough for him to receive the last scholarship of the class at the University of Florida in 1967. "They did not allow blacks to play. I thought it was unfair and I was taking scholarships away," he said.
The next season, two African-American players were added to the team, but were not allowed to go with the team in public, white settings. "It broke my heart," Doddridge said. "I knew it was the way it was. It's impossible for a minority to have a level playing field."
He acknowledges he had advantages other students didn't through gifts passed down through his family. "I always had my way paved. I wanted to add a bit of equality. Black males are treated most unfairly in society," he said.
Rock and Suzanne paid for their three children to go to college and wanted to do the same for students at A-B Tech through the annual scholarship. They have now decided to increase their giving and sponsor two students annually. "We're trying to say we are all in this together and the playing field should be more level. My wife and I had been thinking about increasing the scholarship for a while," he said.
"It's exciting when students come into class with confidence and excitement but they all don't do that," Doddridge said. He remembers a student who was told in school that he was mentally challenged and pushed into special education classes. "By the time he got in high school, he could barely read."
The student would take classes over and over again at A-B Tech until he got an acceptable grade. "He was the exception. Most people give up after failure. How would it feel every day, over and over again, being told you are a failure? I want to let minority males know they have a future," Doddridge said.
The Lead the Way Scholarship is one of the ways Doddridge is trying to make it known. He may be eligible for retirement though it is not on his radar anytime soon. "I don't want to lose the opportunity to encourage 180 students each semester. I try to be their cheerleader. Let students know they can, even if they have been told they can't.
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NC State Employees
Combined Campaign
Designation Code #3803
Combined Federal Campaign
Designation Code #75833
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Thank You to Our 2015 Autumn in Asheville Sponsors!
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We'd like to thank all of our 2015 sponsors for making this year's Autumn in Asheville such a success!
Island Sponsors ($1,000+)
Aloft Asheville Downtown
Arby's
Beverly-Hanks & Associates
Biltmore Farms - Communities, Commercial and Hospitality Divisions
Dr. and Mrs. H. Denniston Crews
Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP
First Citizens Bank
Mission Health System
Omni Grove Park Inn
Pisgah Investments
Renaissance Asheville Hotel
Ann Skoglund, Broker, Beverly-Hanks & Associates
Friends of A-B Tech Sponsors ($250+)
Ambiance Interiors
Blue Ridge Energy Systems
Sandra and Jones Bryd
Chestnut
Chop Shop Butchery
Clean Environments
Kryzanek Properties, LLC
Mountain Kidney and Hypertension Associates
Northrup, McConnell & Sizemore
Pierce Group Benefits
RentAll
TD Bank
White Oak Financial
In Kind Sponsors
Asheville Airport Authority
Biltmore Estate Winery Company
Budweiser of Asheville
Special Thanks To:
A-B Tech Baking and Pastry Arts, Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management programs' Faculty, Staff and Students
A-B Tech Business Services Department
A-B Tech Craft Brewing Institute of the Southeast's Faculty, Staff and Students
A-B Tech Community Relations and Marketing Department
A-B Tech Foundation Board of Directors
A-B Tech Foundation Events Committee
(Sandra Byrd, Susan Haldane, Mike Kryzanek, Nancy Maher, Ann Skoglund)
A-B Tech Office of College Advancement Staff
A-B Tech Plant Operations Staff
A-B Tech Student Event Volunteers
(Terri Farless, Stella Galyean, Shelley Lloyd, Jennifer Ryan, Amanda White)
Buncombe Turnpike
Brinda Caldwell-Ramsey
Duke Says Sold Auctioneers
James Wright and Life Force Gardens
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2015
A-B Tech Foundation Board
of Directors
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Michael Kryzanek, 2015 Chair
Associate, PKF Consulting USA
Appraiser, Province Valuation Group, Inc.
Chris Young, 2015 Vice Chair
Clean Environments
Young Office
K. Ray Bailey
President Emeritus, A-B Tech
Joe Brumit
Brumit Restaurant Group
Tracy Buchanan
CarePartners
Dr. Sandra Byrd
Retired, UNC Asheville
Pat Carver
First Citizens Bank
John Ellis
Novus, Bowers, Ellis & Watson Architects
Jack Ferguson
Retired, Lowe's
Charles Frederick
TD Bank
Allan Gerson
Retired, Palm Beach State College
Darryl Hart
Hart Funeral Services, Inc.
Richard Hurley
Retired, Square D Company
Dennis King
President, A-B Tech
Thomas Maher
Pisgah Investments, LLC
Michael Meguiar
GE Aviation
Bill Murdock
Eblen Charities
John Oswald
Mills Manufacturing
Ray Rapp
Retired Dean of Adult and Graduate Studies, Mars Hill University; Former Member, NC House of Representatives
Mary Ann Rice
NCSECU
Dr. Lary Schulhof
Retired, Physician
O'Neal Shelton
Madison County Chamber of Commerce
Steven Sizemore
Northup McConnell & Sizemore, PLLC
Ann Skoglund
Beverly-Hanks & Associates
Ray Spells
Retired, Wells Fargo Bank
Ron Storto
Biltmore Farms
John Winkenwerder
Hampton Inn/Homewood Suites Asheville
Pat Wood
Budweiser of Asheville, Inc.
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Office of College Advancement Staff
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Patti Cameron
Volunteer Coordinator
Phone: 828.398.7761
Kristabell Certain
Grants and Foundation Accountant
Phone: 828.398.7358
Susan Haldane
Development/Events Coordinator
Phone: 828.398.7567
Chris McGuire
Development Specialist
Phone: 828.398.7177
Sue H Olesiuk
Executive Director
Phone: 828.398.7176
Laura Pennington
Director of Resource Development
Phone: 828.398.7571
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