ROSEBURG, Oregon – What started out as a year-long project has the potential to become a lasting legacy at Umpqua Community College (UCC). This year’s Leadership UCC class has published a 107-page book of student, staff, and alumni works. Copies of the book, called Reflections of the Umpqua 2018, are being sold through the campus bookstore; the proceeds will fund a scholarship for students to buy textbooks.
Each year, a new group of employees is chosen to come together once a month for 10 months. The goal is to educate and mentor leadership from within. During the program, the class puts its learning into practice and completes a project that will benefit the College. This year’s class decided early on it wanted to leave a legacy. After looking at UCC’s mission statement and vision, they came up with a textbook scholarship idea.
Our College is taking a hard look at its retention efforts, Micque Shoemaker, one of this year’s class participants, said. We felt this project aligned with those efforts. A bookstore coworker and I actually had this idea a few years ago, but I didn’t have a lot of support to make it happen. This year, it all just clicked.
Shoemaker (pictured above) has witnessed the need for a scholarship like this one first hand. In her current position as the UCC Bookstore manager, Shoemaker says she has taken money out of her own pocket to help a student pay for books. She also talks to students who have to make choices on whether they will buy a book or eat.
This scholarship could be the difference between someone going to college or not, Shoemaker said. Students may not qualify for other scholarships, but this one they may.
“This project means a lot, even if it helps just one student,” Seri Hall, a Leadership UCC class participant, said.
The original thinking behind the book’s creation was to sell enough copies to establish a $250 per student/per term textbook scholarship. That meant raising $1,000. The book is priced at $19.99. Book pre-orders were offered to the UCC community for $2 off the selling price (or more depending on the quantity ordered).
Nearly 400 books were earmarked before copies hit the shelf. The campus’ student leadership group, ASUCC, decided to purchase 300 of those copies so that each of the year’s graduates would receive one.
I literally cried the day (ASUCC) called me and made the decision, Shoemaker said. Their decision was in part due to knowing they would be contributing to the scholarship fund as an additional gift to students.
After paying for the book’s printing and shipping costs, the group has a little more than $3,000 to establish the textbook scholarship fund. It means the scholarship will continue to be awarded for at least the next three years. And even though the leadership class is coming to the end of its year-long commitment, nearly all of its 10 members have decided to form a committee that will produce a second edition next year-ensuring that the scholarship fund has an opportunity to grow and help several more students for several more years.
The book will be available in the UCC Bookstore starting May 21. Click here to order online.
About Umpqua Community College
Nestled in the beautiful North Umpqua River Valley, Umpqua Community College is the regional center for higher education in Douglas County, Oregon. UCC provides high quality college degree programs, workforce development, and community learning opportunities.
Contact
Micque Shoemaker
Bookstore Manager
Phone: 541-440-7779