Donors and Scholarship Recipients Meet over Breakfast

At the annual Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) Scholarship Donor Appreciation Breakfast, scholarship recipients and donors dined together and enjoyed the chance to get to know one another. As guest speaker, Dr. Richard Scheper, CEO of Jovian Concepts, Inc., shared his journey from CCBC student to donor. Dr. Scheper, who serves on the CCBC Foundation Board of Directors, called to action fellow business leaders to support the mission of CCBC to empower Central Maryland through education. Dr. Scheper also credited Rae Rosenthal, Ph.D., with inspiring him through her dedication to the CCBC Honors Program. Dr. Scheper and Dr. Rosenthal are pictured, above, with student Cyril Ikeh, who also spoke at the breakfast. Mr. Ikeh shared his experience as a scholarship recipient and brought attention to the many students in the room benefitting from the support CCBC provides.

In addition to the experiences Mr. Ikeh and Dr. Scheper highlighted, students from a variety of backgrounds were given opportunity to share their stories, illustrating the impact CCBC scholarships have on the community. Traditional students fresh from high school expressed their gratitude as did non-traditional students, many of whom spoke of their grandchildren. Telling of struggling to balance school while working through personal and financial difficulties, raising a family and holding down full time employment, or overcoming homelessness, unemployment, health obstacles, and bad advice, the students' stories brought to light the diversity of the Greater Baltimore area.

CCBC President, Dr. Sandra L. Kurtinitis, inspired the crowd with facts about the impact donations make for the students. Considering that close to 90% of the students stay in Central Maryland after their time at CCBC, Dr. Kurtinitis emphasized that contributing to their education is an investment in the community. CCBC offers a broad variety of majors and programs, some of which lead to further education and some of which lead directly to employment opportunities.

In 2014, Jovian Concepts, Inc., established an endowment scholarship to benefit CCBC honors students. As Dr. Scheper, noted in his morning address, "Honors students volunteer to work harder to gain an advantage. We want to help driven people who are willing to work hard and advance their careers." The endowed scholarship provides funding or program support to students in pursuit of an eventual B.S. or B.A. degree in business or a non-medical technical field. The company is proud to support such students who embody the mantra of Jovian Concepts, Down to Earth...Up to the Challenge.

Jovian Concepts strives to enrich the environment in which our employees work and live, primarily by supporting educational programs and programs aimed at improving the lives of U.S. Armed Forces.

Learn more:

To learn more about the CCBC Honors Program, click here.

To learn about support offered to military-connected students at CCBC, click here.

Dr. Scheper is the CCBC 2016 Distinguished Alumnus. To read about it, click here.

Photo by Rachel Rock Photography, see her work here.