OUR COMMUNITY SPRING 2017

It’s human nature to wonder what former classmates and colleagues, friends and first loves are doing these days. We’re curious if they married so-and-so, fulfilled a childhood dream of becoming a doctor or teacher, and, let’s be honest, have they changed?

Social media lets us fill in the gaps, reconnect and follow their lives.

Recently at the Southwest Florida Community Foundation we’ve begun following the lives and successes of the people impacted by our programs. One of our biggest thrills is seeing scholarship recipients earn post-secondary college degrees and certifications and sharing their success stories with our community.

The foundation administers 88 scholarship-related funds and last year distributed $700,000 in new and multi-year awards to the freshman class of 2016, current college students and adults returning to the classroom. These funds have been established by community patrons who realize post-secondary education is an investment in the community.

“Scholarships have the power to shape someone’s future,” said Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. “The beautiful thing about our scholarship programs is that the donors understand the importance of launching a student on a career path. They tell us, ‘I want to help a student pursue their goals and dreams even if I never meet them.’”

The community foundation has awarded $2.75 million in scholarships during just the last five years, providing financial assistance to students like 2016 Dunbar High graduate Nahisha Alabre, just wrapping up her freshman year at Cornell University. Receiving scholarship money was “a blessing upon me and my family,” said Ms. Alabre.

A scholarship is just the beginning of the community foundation’s connection with students. Like proud parents, we walk with them every step of the way, supporting and cheering them on, celebrating college and technical college graduation and the next big step to a career. We’ve seen many scholarship students change their community and the world, becoming engineers, artists, scientists, teachers, advocates and leaders.

Sharing the successes of nine present and former scholarship recipients shows how scholarships have opened a world of opportunity for thousands of Southwest Florida students. These students and young professionals have realized their dreams, including a practicing cardiothoracic surgeon, an Emmy Award-winning manager at NBC Sports, and a chief financial officer for a Texas gas and oil company. Others are working right here in Southwest Florida, including the assistant head of school at Montessori School of Fort Myers, an assistant district attorney, and the 2008 Miss Florida who now mentors young women through her church and runs a home-based business.

The Power of Believing

Scholarships permanently entwine the lives of donor and recipient.

“Someone believed in me and really wanted me to succeed,” said Jessica Williams, the recipient of the 2011 Paul & Aline Flynn Scholarship established by the community
foundation’s former CEO and his wife Aline Flynn. “I want to thank them for giving me a chance to become who I could be. Someone who I had never met wanted to invest in me. That kept me going.”

As a first-generation college graduate, Ms. Williams said her bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida Gulf Coast University is “my family’s degree. They are so proud of me.” She is now working on her master’s at the University of Vermont where she received a full-ride scholarship.

Christopher Howland received the first Flynn scholarship in 2008, following the career path of Mr. Flynn who started in sports journalism and later became president of USA Today. Mr. Howland landed a job at NBC Sports soon after graduating from Florida State University and
received a 2016 Emmy for digital innovation. He’s nominated for two 2017 awards and was recently promoted to manager of sales integration, responsible for the custom commercial advertisements users see when streaming live events.

“What the Flynns did is admirable, giving kids like me an opportunity,” he said. “I know Mr. Flynn was a major player in sports journalism. I would love to have met him. I would ask for career advice and what he would do in my shoes to continue to advance.”

Scholarships for Every Scenario

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation awards annual scholarships to students who meet a variety of criteria established by donors – from simply living in the five-county region and demonstrating a financial need to those following a certain career path or attending a donor’s alma mater.

Ms. Alabre was identified in middle school as a candidate for the Jo Anne Olmsted and John F. and Mary W. Hotchkiss scholarships which the community foundation provides to the Foundation for Lee County Schools to administer. The scholarships were created in 2005 from $2 million in gifts to the community foundation and require recipients maintain good grades and stay drug and crime-free through middle and high school.

Ms. Alabre, who lights up the room with her megawatt smile, was selected by her teachers and mentored through the school foundation’s Take Stock in Children program. She also received the Dunbar Heritage Scholarship and is grateful to the donors who gave her an early start.

“If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am now, doing what I’m doing,” she said. “The scholarships were important because I knew my parents couldn’t afford college. I don’t have the stress about where the money is coming from and if I’m coming back next semester. There are kids who couldn’t come back.”

A Dunbar track standout and Lee County’s fastest woman in 2016, Ms. Alabre was also recruited for the Cornell track team. She’s majoring in human development, minoring in business and plans to pursue sports psychology in graduate school. She’ll then return to Dunbar and give back to the community she credits with supporting and guiding her to success.

“I don’t quit,” she said. “I want to lead by example and give back to the community that built the Nahisha Alabre you see today. I have a big heart and once I put that in
there, boy, boy, boy. Things get rolling and magic happens.”

Multiyear Awards Shape a Doctor and a Scientist

Erin Gillaspie and Lee Visone received money for college from the John M. and Mary A. Shanley fund, a fouryear scholarship. It helped Dr. Gillaspie realize a lifelong dream of becoming a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Ms. Gillaspie was a unique candidate for scholarship – at 18 she had already achieved her high school diploma and her first college degree.

“I knew I wanted to do this since I was a little 13-year old in oversized scrubs sitting in the operating room watching my first case,” said, Ms. Gillaspie, who recently completed a fellowship in surgical training at the Mayo Clinic and is an assistant professor in thoracic surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “I’ll never forget my first day as an attending walking into my office knowing I accomplished this because of people like the Shanleys. I remember the day I interviewed with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation for the scholarship. Everyone was kind, compassionate and excited for me.”

The Shanley scholarship funds supplemented money Mr. Visone received through the GI Bill after serving a four-year tour in Iraq. The Marine veteran graduated with honors from the University of Florida in microbiology and is now a senior-level patent examiner for the federal government.

“This scholarship helped me achieve a lot of things in life,” he said. “I’d like the donors to know their money went to a great cause.”