Applying for a PCC Retirees Association Scholarship

Dear Students:  Below you will find information about how to apply for our Retirees Association scholarship.  To qualify, you must have been out of high school at least five years, have completed 18 units at PCC, be currently taking at least 9 units, and have maintained a GPA of 3.0.   

If you satisfy these requirements, we welcome you to apply for our scholarship, which awards selected students with $2,000.   Students who receive awards will be invited to our awards luncheon on Friday, May 10 at the Pasadena University Club.   Best wishes to all who apply.

Alan Lamson, Chair—Retirees Scholarship Committee

To apply for one of our scholarships, you will first need to apply for the General Application.  To do this, follow these instructions.

  1. First, visit the Foundation website at www.pasadena.edu/foundation

  2. Click on the SCHOLARSHIP tab where you can find out how to apply for the general scholarships.  You will need to create an account before beginning your application. You can find information about creating an account at the above website.

  3. After you have set up your account, you can then start your application by logging in to the following website: https://pasadena.academicworks.com/users/sign_in. You will need to use your Lancer Point user name and password.

    If you need help, you can get it by registering for at a virtual workshop at: https://calendly.com/pccsfoundation/scholarship-workshop

  4. The General Application will be your first step in applying for our scholarship. There are a few questions to answer and two short answer prompts to respond to. Our retirees review committee looks at your responses, but we pay most attention to your personal narrative where we can find out about you, what struggles you have had in life, and what your plans are for the future. 

  5. When you have completed the general application, hit the red “Finish and Submit” button. You will be taken to an “Opportunities” page. Our PCC Retirees Scholarship is one of many opportunities available to you. The system will automatically show you various scholarships for which you qualify, and you will have to individually apply to each of them.

  6. You might not qualify for this scholarship based on the criteria for this scholarship: You must have been out of high school at least five years, have completed 18 units at PCC, are currently taking at least 9 units, and have maintained a GPA of 3.0.

    If you see the words, NOT QUALIFIED FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY,  it means you do not meet all the minimum criteria for the scholarship and will not be able to apply for it. If you feel strongly that you do meet the criteria, please send an email to kmmcpeak@pasadena.edu so she can review the opportunity and your application.

  7. For this scholarship, we require two Letters of Recommendation. Contact your instructor early to make sure that they send a letter to us.

  8. For questions about this scholarship, contact Kris McPeak at kmmcpeak@pasadena.edu

PCC Retirees Scholarship Fund

Photo of Juliana Salas and Alan Lamson at award luncheon

Alan Lamson with scholarship winner Juliana Salas

This year our Retirees Association has awarded $2,000 scholarships to eleven students.  All of these students have faced difficulties in their lives.  One of this year’s recipients, Juliana Salas, has faced more than most.  She was raised in foster care since the age of seven and was abused by her paternal grandparents for four years.  In her teen years, she was tossed from home to home, viewed as a troubled teen that no one wanted.

After high school she tried five times to go to college, but each time she found herself having to quit to help her ailing grandmother. Then after her grandmother died, she was finally able to enroll at PCC.  She recalls that a “fire was lit under her” to finish school.   She put her “face in [her] books” and tried not to think about family problems.   Several family members had recently died after her grandmother’s passing. 

Her housing situation has always been unstable.   At times she slept in friend’s cars and rented rooms.  Occasionally, she came to campus early to catch a nap before class.   But even with unstable housing, the fire under her pushed her to take four, sometimes five classes, and she has maintained a good grade point average. 

 Juliana still faces unstable housing but is well on her way to finishing at PCC and transferring to a four-year college.   While sitting next to each other at our awards luncheon, she remembered that a few years ago she slept in a nearby church behind the University Club, where our awards luncheon was held.  In thinking about her future, she recalls that her grandmother once said that she would be somebody someday.  And that’s what she plans to do.   Our scholarship is a vote of confidence that she will. 

Those who "adopt" a student will be invited to our scholarship luncheon where you will sit with your adopted student and introduce him/her to other donors and our Retirees' board.

To contribute you can send a check to the PCC Foundation at 1570 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena 91106. Or you can contribute on-line at give.pasadena.edu. Select the amount you want to donate then designate PCC Retirees Association Scholarship Fund. Or you can phone the Foundation office at (626) 585-7065 to contribute using your credit card. You can arrange for payments to be made over time.

Many thanks for your generosity,

Alan Lamson, Chair PCC Retirees' Scholarship
Committee and Committee members-Mikki Bolliger, Harry Kawahara, Kathy Rodarte, Pat Savoie

2023 PCC Retirees Scholarship Awards Luncheon