Over the past few months, the City of Huntsville and Madison County has continuously shown its desire for community engagement, connection, and growth.

Huntsville’s most recent example comes in the form of an anonymous $200,000 donation to Drake State Community & Technical College.

According to Drake State President Dr. Patricia Sims, the benefactor chose Drake State because they were impressed by the college’s recent success and growth within the community.

Over the past few months, Drake State became the first and only Historically Black Community College to be awarded a Cooperative Agreement Notice from NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP). The college was also awarded a grant of $1.3 million from MUREP to help continue Drake State’s involvement with the STEM field in the Huntsville community, especially focusing on Huntsville’s minority and underrepresented populations.

And, despite the recent challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Drake State’s enrollment and retention numbers continued to climb.

“What this donation will allow us to do is continue to grow from our recent enrollment numbers and allow us to pursue even higher goals over the next few years,” said Mark Moore, Drake State’s Director of Public Relations. “With more than 1,000 full- and part-time students enrolled, we hope to continue our positive trends to show donors that we are making an educational impact in the Huntsville community.”

Moore also stated that the donation will help the college impact future students and provide them with funding that will help students achieve their personal goals, as well as connect them with Huntsville’s growing workforce.

“The donation will allow us to continue to offer students, from all walks of life, access to an education that will rocket them into the Huntsville community,” said Moore. “Regardless of where our students are in life, oftentimes funding is a barrier to continued education. Most students are seeking a certificate that will help them jump into Huntsville’s workforce. Many of these students don’t qualify for federal aid, so this donation will help provide said students with even more scholarship opportunities to achieve their goals.”

And, for many faculty and staff at Drake State, this sympathy is shared.

“We are humbled by the faith shown to our institution and look forward to reporting inspiring success stories about students benefiting from these new scholarships in the months ahead,” Dr. Sims stated. “I invite other individuals and businesses in our community to learn more about the good work we are doing and step up to support our efforts.”

“So many students will benefit from the scholarships funded by this donation.”

For more information, please visit https://www.drakestate.edu/

Photos courtesy of Drake State Community & Technical College