RCC hosts huddle for university transfer; establishes scholarship
Robeson Community College held a “Huddle” today with its University Partners, and representatives from the Public Schools of Robeson County, to make university transfer acceptance a slam dunk for its students.
“This is our first-ever networking event specifically for high schools across the county and our university transfer partners,” said Daniela Newland, the director for English and transfer partnerships at RCC, as she welcomed guests to RCC.
“We have realized for a long time that we have this perfect pipeline of high schools, RCC, universities,” said Newland. “But at the same time, we also realize that a lot of people don’t know about that, a lot of people don’t know about those benefits of guaranteed admissions that so many of our programs offer.”
Newland says that many of the transfer students at RCC enrolled in the transfer partnerships will already be students of those universities, but they may not realize or capitalize on the benefits available to them.
“There are other perks like scholarships, there are other perks like dual enrollment, there are other perks like dual advising, eligibility to visit athletic events,” said Newland of the partnership agreements RCC has with universities in North Carolina.
The event today was held was to connect high school counselors and faculty to RCC and its university transfer partners, as well as to inform them about the many opportunities available for students through transfer programs.
Representatives from Lees-McRae University, UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Fayetteville State University, Methodist University, UNC Pembroke, UNC Wilmington, and East Carolina were in attendance. Each college had an opportunity to pitch their partnership programs to staffers from the high schools.
Each university attending has an established university partnership with Robeson Community College, guaranteeing admissions of its students upon transferring.
“It’s hard to believe that anyone would want to leave the state,” said Newland after hearing from all the college and university representatives explain what they could offer students as they transferred. “We have so many great schools in North Carolina.”
Guests enjoyed lunch prepared by RCC culinary students, which included barbecue sandwiches and meatballs.
At the end of the event, Robeson Community College announced the founding of a university transfer partners scholarship that will be awarded each fall. The total amount of the scholarship is $1500 but can be split up to be awarded to a maximum of three students who have declared the associate of arts or the associates of science as their major and has enrolled in a university transfer partnership program.
“We wanted to show our dedication to our university transfer programs by investing our personal resources in a scholarship that would provide another opportunity for student success in something that we truly believe in,” said Scott Lamm, dean of university transfer and health sciences at RCC. “We felt like this would give students an incentive to come and explore the university transfer programs we offer and they would discover opportunities they did not know existed.”
“The Fall 2022 scholarship will be named in memory of Chris Walker,” said Newland.
Walker was an English instructor at RCC who passed away unexpectedly in February.
“Chris was active in the university partnership program. He was the coordinator of the Pirate Promise and was very active in promoting that program,” said Newland. “He died suddenly and we wanted to honor him and his memory. Chris was a big contributor and a really awesome team member.”
Last fall during the College Transfer Fair held at Robeson Community College, Chris Walker dressed up as a pirate to help promote the Pirate Promise program at ECU.
To be considered for the scholarship, students must be newly enrolled, have a minimum 2.0 GPA while in high school, and must complete an application answering two questions. The first being, which university in the partnership program are you interested in transferring to from RCC, and the last question asks, how can that university help turn your passion into a career.
For more information on the University Transfers Partnership program, or the scholarship, please contact Daniela Newland at dnewland@robeson.edu or (910) 272-3394.
