Scholarship recipients from Battle Creek connect with mentors

September 14, 2021 (Volume 45, Number 2)

student in face mask sitting and conversing with faculty member in face mask

large group of students, faculty stand outside the Kirkhof Center in two rows

At right, Kelly Margot, assistant professor of education, talks with a student at the luncheon to connect BCPS scholarship recipients with their mentors.

Photo Credit: Kendra Stanley-Mills

Grand Valley’s Battle Creek Regional Outreach Center held a luncheon September 3 to provide Battle Creek Public Schools Health and Teacher Education Pipeline Scholarship recipients a chance to connect with their faculty and staff mentors.

Many BCPS recipients are first-generation students. The program matches students with mentors to provide someone to help them navigate Grand Valley and connect them to resources.

Kelly Margot, an assistant professor of education, is the mentor of two students and said she looks forward to the opportunity to work with them.

“It’s just exciting to have them here because they are excellent students,” Margot said. “They’re truly interested in and dedicated to the field that they’re pursuing, so it’s just a wonderful thing to be able to help them.”

Alaysha Cannon, a first-year student majoring in biomedical science, said the scholarship helped her overcome barriers to attending college.

“I really wasn’t going to be able to come to college at all, so getting this scholarship totally changed my life because I’m now going to college,” Cannon said. “I’m able to be a part of things, find resources, find people that care about me and can help me while also not having to worry about that financial burden.”

Along with Margot, other faculty and staff mentors are Lindsey Corneal, associate professor of engineering; Alisha Davis, associate professor and assistant chair of allied health sciences; Juanita Davis, assistant director, Office of Multicultural Affairs; Daisy Fredricks, assistant professor of education; Zachary Kurmas, associate professor of engineering; Jared Moore, assistant professor of engineering; Emily Nichols, assistant professor of social work; and Geraldine Terry, associate professor of nursing.

The scholarship program was funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about the partnership among Grand Valley, BCPS and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is online at gvsu.edu/battlecreek.

-- Written by Camryn Snider, student writer