ECTC Foundation holds annual Student Success Circle members event

The Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Foundation held its 2nd annual Student Success Circle luncheon where $25,000 was awarded to initiatives that remove barriers and support student success.

“I am proud of the Student Success Circle because it gives our community a chance to support ECTC students and come alongside our faculty and staff and invest in their efforts at the college,” said ECTC Foundation Executive Director Chrissie Angell. “ECTC employees care deeply about helping students reach their goals, and this program gives them new ways to do that.”

Membership to the Student Success Circle comes with a gift of any amount to ECTC’s Unstoppable fund. ECTC faculty and staff develop programs to help students overcome obstacles to their success, and members are invited to the annual spring luncheon to hear presentations from grant finalists and vote to award funds.

This year’s event featured projects from five finalists addressing different barriers across the college. ECTC Culinary Arts Program Coordinator Chef Robey Smith won the event, receiving the full amount requested for the Knife Lending Program. 

“Professional knife kits are required for culinary training, but their cost can be a financial barrier for students starting the program. We want to ease that burden,” Smith said. “By creating a lending library of quality knife kits for students to borrow, we can help them begin and complete the program to prepare for a successful career. Helping students reach their dreams is our goal at ECTC, and we will do everything we can to make it happen.”

Runners-up at the event received full or partial funding, including JoNell Henderson and Dr. Telly Sellars for Sharpen Gateway; Tabitha Kerr for Your ECTC Journey Begins Here; Ann Knopp for Work Study Leadership Conference; and Jerisia Lamons for Career Pathways Software. The ECTC Foundation and Student Success Circle Committee help select finalists, demonstrating another facet of this initiative’s goal of having the community and college work together to ensure ECTC students succeed.

The ECTC Foundation’s annual UnGala fundraiser supports Student Success Circle grants. This year’s event will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, August 28 in ECTC’s Student Center. The event takes a different approach to traditional fundraisers, featuring a casual back-to-school theme where jeans, dancing and karaoke set the tone. Attendees become members of the Student Success Circle by purchasing tickets. Tickets are $75 and available at ectc.us/ungala.

For more information about joining the Student Success Circle, contact Chrissie Angell at chrissie.angell@kctcs.edu or 270-706-8833.