Northern Arizona University’s Distance Learning program is making higher education even more accessible and affordable for 10 Maricopa Community College transfer students, awarding them each a $1,000 scholarship for the next academic year.
“The Maricopa Scholarship is allowing me to concentrate on what is most important: my education,” said Kayleigh R. Wright, a hotel and restaurant management major at Scottsdale Community College. “My education is the foundation for what life and my career has in store for me.”
Students earned the scholarships based on their student status, their GPA and an essay that expressed why they believe they deserve a scholarship. They will receive $500 each semester for the 2008-09 academic year.
The students will enroll in the fall in one of NAU’s 15 locally delivered programs.
In addition to Wright, the recipients include:
- Meleanie Harshman, elementary education, Glendale Community College
- Carmen Hernandez, elementary education, South Mountain Community College
- Morgan Miholich, administration of justice, Mesa Community College
- Hazel Medina, elementary education, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Daniel Molenaar, elementary education, South Mountain Community College
- Elizabeth Odneal, dental hygiene, Phoenix College
- Christine Oliver, elementary education, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Susan Sciubba, elementary education, Chandler-Gilbert Community College
- Albulene Shemsedinini, speech communication, Glendale Community College
“Northern Arizona University’s coming to South Mountain Community College as a Distance Learning program is one of the best things to happen in my educational experience,” Hernandez said. “When I was awarded one of 10 scholarships I could not stop smiling. Thank you NAU.”
NAU and the Maricopa Community College District established a memorandum of understanding in spring 2006 that strengthened a partnership that dates back 30 years. NAU has 12 sites across Maricopa County with an office on each of the 10 Maricopa campuses.
The two institutions officially call the partnership “The Connection,” emphasizing their cooperation to deliver four-year programming and student services right on a Maricopa Community College campus.
Students can earn a bachelor’s degree from NAU in such areas as business, education, criminal justice, interior design, hotel and restaurant management and speech communication. NAU is introducing a new program this fall that allows community college students to transfer as many as 90 credits toward the completion of a bachelor’s degree in humanities or public management.
For information go to maricopa.edu/connection.