Three students from Renton, Issaquah win BCC Reads! Scholarships

BELLEVUE, WASH. – Three Bellevue Community College students have won competitive BCC Reads! scholarships.

Sopheary Chiv, of Renton; Mikeya Harper, of Renton, and Connor Olsen, of Issaquah, won the awards on the basis of essays they wrote on the theme of “the impact of environmental disasters on culture, society and the natural world,” which is the theme of this year’s BCC Reads! book selection.

A project of the college’s Center for Liberal Arts, BCC Reads! is a college-wide common book program that promotes creativity, critical thinking and interdisciplinary learning by selecting one book to be a focus of as many classes, lectures and performances as possible across the campus each year.

This year’s selected text is the National Book Award winner, The Worst Hard Times: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan.

Chiv’s entry was titled, “The Struggle to Survive;” Harper’s essay was titled, “Our Greed Will Lead to the Demise of Mother Earth,” and Olsen’s was named, “Misleading or Merely Modified.”

Providing tuition for one quarter of study at BCC, the scholarships were awarded in ceremonies earlier this month during a reception for the author.

Thirty-four students entered the scholarship competition this year. The winners were selected by a committee of BCC faculty and staff.

BCC Reads! scholarships are funded by the BCC Faculty Association’s Community Fund and the Bellevue Community College Foundation.

ABOUT THE BCC CENTER FOR LIBERAL ARTS

The Center for Liberal Arts enriches the BCC educational experience through programs to expand civic engagement and multicultural and interdisciplinary learning.

Among other activities, the Center hosts an International Scholar-in-Residence on campus each year, involves community civic scholars in campus life through its Fellows program and presents civic speakers and events through its Hands-On Democracy series.

Information on the Center’s activities and events is available on-line at www.bellevuecollege.edu\liberalarts.

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