Southern California Edison Supports Norco College STEAM Week
Norco College launched its inaugural "STEAM Week" on Earth Day, April 22, 2019. This week of outreach and student activities was sponsored in part by generous donations from long-time RCCD Foundation corporate partner Southern California Edison.
The acronym "STEAM" stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. STEAM is an expansion of the STEM educational approach, in which the arts are incorporated as a way to enhance critical and creative thinking in traditional STEM related disciplines.
STEAM Week at Norco College began with the Solar Engineering Challenge, which brought together two teams of students who competed in creating original, solar powered outdoor charging and work stations for the Norco campus. These two teams, Team MOMA and Team Sol Circuit, designed, developed and built their projects from scratch and presented their work to an audience of college administrators, faculty, and fellow students.
 The projects were critiqued and scored by a group of impartial judges, including RCCD Foundation Board member and Edison government relations manager, Jeremy Goldman and several of his colleagues. In the end, Team MOMA prevailed with their innovative and practical pergola design with built-in seating/work space, which will now be replicated at various locations around campus. Team MOMA is pictured, from left to right: Harsha Antony, Estefani Ontiveros, Dunia Mahmoud, and Rosa Martinez.
Norco College's STEAM Week also included a resource fair to provide information about STEM disciplines offered on campus, a STEM transfer panel to help students understand the process of transferring to four-year institutions, a robotics competition, and movie night with Hidden Figures.
Many thanks to Foundation board member, Jeremy Goldman, and Southern California Edison for supporting STEM and STEAM education at Norco College!
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Local Artist Donates Sculpture to RCC
On May 8 in a special ceremony in the Arthur G. Paul Quadrangle, Riverside City College became the second local college to install a sculpture by local artist Frank Heyming.
The donation of the original piece, entitled Aspirations, combines Heyming’s love of art and his passion for philanthropy. He has never sold any of his pieces, he says. Last August, he also donated an original sculpture called Inspiration to California Baptist University.
“It isn’t about the money, but more about the idea that other people will appreciate them,” he said. “My wife and I have always believed in being philanthropic. When we were young, we were giving to various organizations and causes. So, donating the piece to RCC is more about giving.”
 His wife, Lucy (pictured at left with the artist), also an artist, attended RCC and was a staff reporter for Viewpoints, the College newspaper. Her specialty is water color, and she runs a business called Garden Glass which repurposes glass for garden art.
It wasn’t until his retirement that Heyming began his art career. After 40 years in real estate and property management, he took classes at the Lynn Forbes School of Sculpture in Carlsbad for four years.
When Heyming approached RCCD Foundation executive director Launa Wilson about donating a piece of art to the College, he initially envisioned a tiger. His early drawings were of a multi-faceted tiger to match the College mascot. But one day, he glanced at the College seal which contains the lamp of learning with a burning flame. The flame leaped at him and ignited another idea.
“I thought, wow, I have some experience with flames,” he said. “Flames are actually one of my trademarks, so I started drawing a flame…and thought I have to do something with the flame. I took the flame and multiplied it four times, giving it great dimension.”
Not having the equipment needed for what he envisioned, Heyming took his sketches to a metal fabricator. With the help of a fiber optic laser and a 130-ton break (a large press) his work began to take shape. The laser cut the flames with precision and the break soon made the 1/8-inch thick flames flicker. The stainless steel was then polished to a magnificent shine.
Aspirations stands nine-feet tall, with six-feet of flames atop a three-foot base. Heyming envisioned all along that the piece would find its home in the Quad, the iconic student gathering place on the RCC campus.
 When asked about the title of his sculpture, Heyming says, "Aspirations are timeless. To me, an aspiration is a goal, an aim, something you strive for. It isn’t judgmental. It doesn’t talk about how you should strive for those things or how much of it you need or what your interpretation is…it just says those are things we should aspire for in life. I hope students and staff read the inscription and think about those aspirations and what they mean to them.”
The RCCD Foundation staff and board of directors, as well as the entire leadership team of Riverside City College (President Gregory Anderson pictured at left with the artist), are immensely grateful to Frank Heyming for his most generous gift.
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Union Bank Funds Scholarships
Union Bank has been a strong corporate partner and supporter of the Riverside Community College District since 2013. In addition to providing sponsorship dollars for a variety of fundraising events throughout the District, Union Bank approved a generous $75,000 grant in 2016 for the TriTech Small Business Development Center that was housed at RCCD at the time.
In late 2017, Union Bank received the news that TriTech was no longer part of RCCD, but the relationship the bank had enjoyed with the leadership and board of the Foundation proved integral to the bank's decision to continue providing funding to help RCCD students.
"I was initially a bit apprehensive about being the bearer of the news of TriTech's departure from RCCD." said Foundation executive director Launa Wilson. "It was such a pleasant surprise and reward when our friends at Union Bank informed me that they wanted to maintain their relationship with us and continue supporting our hard working students."
Union Bank has been true to their word, providing an additional $15,000 late last year for the Foundation's general scholarship fund. Scholarship support continues to be the heart of the Foundation's mission, and the staff and board of the RCCD Foundation are grateful for this ongoing relationship and funding from Union Bank.
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RCCD Foundation Scholarship Impact: 2019-20 Academic Year
The staff and board of the RCCD Foundation thank all of our scholarship donors for contributing to another great scholarship season. Thanks to your generosity, the Foundation's scholarship program helped nearly 450 students throughout RCCD.
Total Scholarships Awarded for 2019-20 Academic Year: $335,275.
Total Number of Awards: 447
Moreno Valley College Totals
Amount awarded: $43,725.
Number of recipients: 66
Norco College Totals
Amount awarded: $55,650.
Number of recipients: 75
Riverside City College Totals
Amount awarded: $235,900.
Number of recipients: 306
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Thanks to Our Outgoing Foundation Board Members
As we approach the end of another great year of philanthropy at the RCCD Foundation, the Board of Directors and staff would like to thank the following members who are completing their service as of June 30:
Jamil Dada is leaving the Foundation Board after his most recent three years of service to the organization. Jamil has been involved with RCCD and the Foundation for decades and has also served the District in a multitude of roles over the years.
Mark Hawkins is leaving the Foundation board after six years of service. During his tenure, Mark played an integral role in overseeing the finances of the Foundation as Chair of the Finance Committee. His strong business and financial expertise have been invaluable to the organization.
Raymond Hicks is leaving the Foundation board after six years of service. During his two terms of service, Ray worked diligently to expand outreach for RCC Athletics and participated in the Foundation's early efforts to reconnect with RCC alumni.
Eugene Montanez is leaving the Foundation Board after six years of service. During his time on the board, Eugene was a strong advocate for the RCCD colleges, with special emphasis on Norco College. In addition to his service on the Foundation Board, Eugene also served as a charter member of the Norco College President's Advisory Council.
Incoming Foundation Board members and officers will be inducted at the RCCD Foundation Annual Meeting & Celebration event on Monday, June 24. For more information about the recruitment and nomination process for Foundation Board of Directors, please contact the Foundation at 951-222-8626 or foundation@rccd.edu.
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Upcoming Foundation Activities
RCCD Foundation Annual Meeting & Celebration
June 24, 2019
5:30 p.m.
For more information about this event, please contact the Foundation office at 951-222-8626 or foundation@rccd.edu
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Alumni - We Want to Hear From You!
As the Foundation continues to build its programmatic infrastructure in support of the RCCD colleges, we are working hard to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information on our alumni. If you attended an RCCD college and would like us to know it, please click here and provide your name (current and maiden, if applicable), college and year(s) attended, mailing address and other contact information, and any other pertinent details regarding your time as a student that you would like to share. Your help is greatly appreciated and the information you provide will be used to stay in contact and invite you to upcoming Foundation and/or College events that you may find of interest.
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