by Kysa Anderson Daniels

 

Carole MacMullan spent 35 good years as a high school biology teacher in and around Pittsburgh. But the former educator remembers the pain of watching student after student get to the end of their senior year—only to realize they wouldn’t be able to attend college.

 

“It just broke my heart how many of these students weren’t able to go to college because they didn’t have the money,” she says.

 

Today, as president of Assistance League of Atlanta, MacMullan supports college dreams for a number of local students, including some attending Georgia Perimeter College (GPC). Assistance League, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization, serves Atlanta area children and adults through a variety of philanthropic programs, such as its Links to Education scholarship fund, which MacMullan chairs.

 

Proceeds from the organization’s Attic Treasures thrift store accounts for 80 percent of the funding for Assistance League initiatives, including its Links to Education Scholarship program. For more than a decade, the league has given $6,000-$10,000 annually to the GPC Foundation—enough to award 68 scholarships since 2004.

 

“With Georgia Perimeter being a two-year school, we can cover so many students with a minimal amount of money,” MacMullan says, noting that the league funds scholarships at six other schools, including Oglethorpe, Kennesaw State and Georgia State universities.

 

Vicki Carew, executive director of Institutional Advancement and GPC Foundation at Georgia Perimeter College, says this type of continued support for the college’s students is critically important, especially now.

 

“As Georgia Perimeter College plans a new future for our students and the community through the consolidation with Georgia State University, support of the new institution will remain central to our ability to help students succeed,” Carew says.

 

Those associated with the GPC Foundation also are encouraged by recent commitments from organizations such as the National Association of Chinese Americans (NACA), which has invested more than $100,000 in Georgia Perimeter College programs and students since 2003. NACA has supported the college’s international education efforts and GPC students studying abroad, in addition to establishing an endowed scholarship with the foundation. The award enables a student with Chinese language skills to pursue a nursing degree.

 

GPC’s interim President Rob Watts accepted a $10,000 gift for GPC nursing and study abroad students during the association’s Chinese New Year gala in February.

 

“With NACA’s support, GPC is working to address a critical need in Georgia by preparing more students to enter the workforce; students who are qualified to serve our communities with a degree in nursing or a global perspective that is crucial to their success,” Watts said when receiving the award.

 

Pat Warthan is scholarship chair for the Decatur/DeKalb Retired Educators, an organization that has been giving to the GPC Foundation since 2011. They typically award a $500 scholarship, but Warthan remembers the year retirees bumped the award to $1,000 to support a DeKalb County school cafeteria worker who had returned to GPC to pursue a degree in education.

 

“That year we had done a very good job of raising money,” Warthan says, adding that funds for their scholarship come from an annual auction.

The retired educators, Warthan explains, feel very strongly about giving to Georgia Perimeter, because of its access mission as a community college and commitment to student success.

 

Dedication like this is what makes the GPC Foundation robust, says Erica Hart, GPC director of advancement services, .

 

“We’re able to assist so many students because of the generosity of foundations and organizations and even individuals who contribute generously to help fulfill the educational goals of Georgia Perimeter students,” she says.

 

Long-time Assistance League volunteer Kay Schoepke is responsible for making sure the nonprofit’s scholarship is administered at GPC. Each year, the league invites its scholarship winners to a meeting, during which recipients are asked to share a little about themselves with the organization.

 

 

Georgia Perimeter engineering student Jessica Kissel attended a recent league meeting and expressed how grateful she is to be a scholarship recipient.​

 

“I’m working full-time, but able to work fewer hours, so I can focus on some of the more difficult subjects I’m taking,” she said.

 

Schoepke says many members get all warm and fuzzy knowing they’ve helped yet another student reach his or her educational goals.

 

“Sometimes it brings tears to our eyes and fills our hearts full of love,” she says.