HARRISBURG – HACC-York Campus student Emily Gallagher of York is among six HACC students who will attend Bucknell University this summer with scholarships earned through the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
She joined Capri Dubois and Jonathan Fertal from the Harrisburg Campus, Zinkal Bhutwala and Nathaniel Nauman from the Lancaster Campus and Amanda Frey of the Lebanon Campus for a recognition dinner recently at C. Ted Lick Wildwood Conference Center on the Harrisburg Campus.
Gallagher enrolled at HACC York when her daughter turned 1.
“I wanted to set an example for her,” she said. “I never thought I’d have an opportunity to go to college and live on campus.”
Although she initially didn’t think she would be a good candidate for the Bucknell Community College Scholars program, she has been thrilled with Bucknell’s willingness to work with her.
“I can’t believe how well everything has come together,” she said, adding that she and her daughter will live in an apartment on campus. “The classes look amazing. Living on campus—the whole experience of it. I’m so excited!”
Dory Leahey, HACC dean of retention services, oversees the Cooke Foundation program for HACC.
“It's hard to believe that we have selected our fifth cohort of Bucknell Community College Scholars students,” said Leahey. “In addition to the six students planning on participating in the Bucknell Community College Scholars program this summer, we have five previous scholars who have been accepted to Bucknell this fall, 10 scholars currently attending Bucknell—four of which just graduated this spring—and three previous scholars who graduated from Bucknell during the spring of 2009.”
Students attending Bucknell this fall are recent HACC graduates Sean Fortney of Mechanicsburg, Danielle Renno of Spring Mills, Matthew Hager of Carlisle, Jessica Slagle of Gettysburg and Jay Knaub of Middletown.
The four students who graduated from Bucknell this spring are Nicholas Gehman of Bowmansville, Angie Arthur of Dallastown, John Tilghman of Millerstown and Jason Zawisky of Harrisburg.
The spring 2009 Bucknell graduates were Heather Ingram of Gettysburg, Elena Mihaylova of Hershey and Kevin Schneck of Camp Hill.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s Community College Transfer Initiative is designed to increase access to designated colleges and universities for high-achieving, academically prepared community college students with low to moderate incomes.
Bucknell scholars first attend an all-expenses paid summer orientation, then return to HACC to complete an associate degree. They can apply to transfer to Bucknell to earn a bachelor’s degree.
If accepted, Bucknell provides $42,000 to $52,000 in a financial aid package to each student a year depending on financial needs.
For more information about scholarship opportunities at HACC, contact Heather Reber, scholarship coordinator at 780-1168 in Harrisburg or 800-222-4222, ext. 1168.