Blue Devil Notebook: Foundation awards 277 scholarships

The Merced College Foundation held its annual Scholarship Sunday awards ceremony on May 17. Held in the Merced College Theater, the event brought together scholarship donors with their recipients. This year, a packed house of donors, student recipients and their families cheered and celebrated as each recipient’s name was called.

Now in its 37th year, Scholarship Sunday is one of the more important activities the foundation conducts, according to executive director Robin Shepard.

“Scholarships are a valuable investment in our students,” he said. “We are very grateful to our donors, many of whom have endowed perpetual scholarships in honor or memory of a loved one. Many individuals and community organizations continue to support our program each year. It is truly gratifying to see how much our donors care for our students.”

This year, a total of 277 individual awards were provided, totaling more than $178,000.

“Of course, there are many deserving students who applied but who did not receive awards,” Shepard said. “Our goal is to provide a scholarship for every qualified student who applies.”

For more information on student scholarships at Merced College, call the foundation at (209) 381-6470.

New mural completed

A new art installation on the Merced campus was unveiled with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 22.

Spreading across a wide wall in the student union building, the mural, which depicts both the local mountain and valley environments with key industries such as agriculture, solar energy and high-speed rail, was a collaborative project between Associated Students of Merced College, the Greater Merced Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Merced Class of 30, and the Merced Community College District.

While the themes are easily recognizable, the project also supports several of Merced College’s strategic goals, including “partnering with the community” and “promoting a sustainable, supportive and safe learning environment.”

Drought-tolerant landscaping installed

Sustainability is on many people’s mind. With its recently adopted water conservation plan, Merced College is working to reduce the amount of water used in its landscaping. While parts of the plan will require long-range planning, many quick solutions are being completed.

Recently, landscape horticulture professor Bryan Tassey and his students renovated the landscaping on the northwest side of the science building, replacing the grass with drought-tolerant agave and aloe plants.

They installed an industry-leading drip irrigation system that comes with a check valve, which helps prevent over watering. Wood chips were spread around the garden areas as well.

The college has also begun shutting off water to key sites on campus to allow for immediate water savings. The college will also begin replacing some irrigation station nozzles to increase efficiency, and will also install drip irrigation around trees.

This story was originally published June 2, 2015 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Blue Devil Notebook: Foundation awards 277 scholarships."