TVCC honors scholarship contributors
By larry meyer - argus observer
Sunday, May 6, 2007 12:22 AM PDT
ONTARIO - It was a time to say thank you to the people who give money for scholarships to help students further their education at Treasure Valley Community College, and to show the difference those donors are making in lives of students who are reaching their career and life goals.
The evening included a reception at the Four Rivers Cultural Center April 27, hosted by the TVCC Foundation to honor people, businesses and organizations that have given money to the foundation for scholarships.
It also brings the donors together with the students who are receiving those scholarships so they have the opportunity to personally say thank you, and donors can see the people they are helping.
The foundation has assets of more than $2.4 million with an endowment of nearly $2 million, Cathy Yasuda, executive director, said. There are about 70 different scholarships students can apply for, and the foundation awards about $130,000 in scholarships to deserving students.
The main speaker for the evening was Dr. Sandra Dunbrasky, an Ontario pediatrician who saw her her dream of becoming a medical care provider come together at TVCC.
Growing up in Payette, she came from a poor family, Dunbrasky said.
“We didn’t think about college,” she said.
It was after she was married that she saw an article in the newspaper about TVCC’s registered nursing program, in which she could become a licensed practical nurse the first year, work for a year and then come back for the RN program, Dunbrasky said.
She thought she could at least get into the medical field and take care of people as a nurse, she said.
She and her husband were able to put the money together for the first year, but the second year there wasn’t enough money, and she sat in the dining room upset, wondering what to do. Lou Gasca, dean of students at time, came over and asked if she had filled out the financial aid papers. Dunbrasky said she did not know what he was talking about and did not know that financial aid even existed.
Gasca insisted she fill out the form and she was recipient of a scholarship from the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, which has been providing for scholarships at TVCC since 1973. Dunbrasky did receive her nursing degree from TVCC and worked at Holy Rosary Medical Center in pediatrics until she decided to return to school to earn her medical degree, which she received in 1991 from Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland.
“I’m a supporter of TVCC because it allowed me a dream I never though I would have,” she said.
Because of TVCC, she became the first college graduated in her family, Dunbrasky said.
“We need this school. We need this foundation,” she said. “We won’t have a hospital without this nursing program.” Dunbrasky said that many of the nurses working at Holy Rosary came through the TVCC nursing program, which is one of the best in Oregon. It is very difficult to get into and very competitive, she said.
“There is a huge shortage of nurses,” she said.
