ORICL again donates funding for Roane State scholarships

The Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL) has once again donated $5,000 to the Roane State Foundation for scholarships for students attending Roane State Community College.

Roane State and ORICL’s partnership began when ORICL was established in 1997, and the Roane State Foundation provides financial support for students and programs.

Now with nearly 500 members, ORICL offers its members an assortment of enrichment courses during three terms each year. Most courses are conducted in classrooms provided at Roane State’s Oak Ridge Branch Campus.

The John Million Scholarship, in memory of a longtime ORICL member, is supported by a $5,000 annual donation from ORICL. Members also underwrite several other scholarships.

This year’s winners of the John Million Scholarship are Jessica Osborn, majoring in health sciences; Darlena Ivey, majoring in nursing; Taylor Hatfield, majoring in wildlife biology; Sara Nesbitt, majoring in health sciences; and Amy Cox, majoring in dental hygiene.

Cox was one of three students nationwide invited to the College Promise Campaign in Washington, D.C., last October, and she described how Tennessee’s Reconnect program had affected her.

Cox, an Oak Ridge resident, told attendees she wouldn’t have been able to take the dental hygiene curriculum without Tennessee Reconnect, which provides tuition-free scholarships to adult students.

For more information about ORICL, visit www.roanestate.edu/oricl or email oricl@roanestate.edu.

The Roane State Foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) corporation governed by an independent board of directors and established to provide financial support for Roane State students and programs. The Foundation seeks to enhance community awareness of the college, to secure private contributions and bequests and to manage monies or properties given to the Foundation. For more information, visit www.roanestate.edu/foundation or email Foundationdept@roanestate.edu.

Roane State is a two-year college providing transfer programs, career-preparation programs and continuing education. Founded in 1971, the college has locations in Roane, Campbell, Cumberland, Fentress, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, and Scott counties as well as a branch campus in Oak Ridge. For more information, visit www.roanestate.edu.

Remember, eligible adults can now attend Roane State tuition-free with the new Reconnect grant. Learn more at www.roanestate.edu/reconnect.