The Orange Coast College Foundation was recognized by Share Our Selves Community Health Center in Costa Mesa for its continuous support of graduating high school seniors who attend the center’s programs.
“Share Our Selves has a ‘First in Family to Go To College’ program, where the kids who are graduating high school receive a sweatshirt from the college that they will be attending. Always the biggest number are going to attend OCC,” explains Executive Director of Advancement Doug Bennett.
Each year for the past five years the Foundation has donated sweatshirts for the high school seniors from the OCC Bookstore. This year, Share Our Selves invited Bennett and OCC President Angelica Suarez to attend the ceremony, where they were presented with a proclamation from the nonprofit organization in recognition of the College’s support.
“It was a chance to go down there and see the kids, which was really nice,” says Bennett. “What was really neat was seeing Dr. Suarez talking to the kids’ parents in Spanish. They’re sitting there, talking to the president of the College, who is telling them that she herself was the first person in her family to go to college. It’s nice to see that kind of networking.”
