Ryan Endorses Value of Eastern Gateway College
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13th Ohio, endorsed the value and benefits of attending the downtown campus of Eastern Gateway Community College Monday during a news conference.
“There is not a better educational opportunity in the Mahoning Valley,” he stated.
At a press event Monday, the director of public information at Eastern Gateway, Ann Koon, two students, the president, Laura Meeks, and Ryan spoke glowingly of why the community college is a valuable asset to the Mahoning Valley.
“I’m here to endorse one of the most phenomenal programs [in higher education],” Ryan declared. “We want to communicate that we can’t have a full economic renaissance in the Mahoning Valley without higher education.”
The fall semester begins Aug. 26 and nearly 1,000 students will take classes in the Valley Center campus, Koon said.
The message Meeks, Ryan, and the students, Gia Herrera of Canfield and Tim Spalding of North Jackson -- want to get out is that high school graduates apprehensive about attending a four-year college can test the waters at Eastern Gateway, earn an associate’s degree debt-free and go on to pursue a baccalaureate at a college or university.
The tuition grants are available through the school's operating funds. Students are eligible if they attend the school full-time this fall, have graduated from a high school in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbaina counties, and apply for a Pell Grant. Classes begin Aug. 26.
Both Herrera and Spalding graduated from high school in 2012, the former from Canfield, the latter Jackson-Milton. Both are on track to graduate from Eastern Gateway next spring and both expect to continue their studies at Youngstown State University and earn baccalaureates, they said.
Ryan picked up on this as well, noting fears that Eastern Gateway would hurt YSU have been unfounded. The community college, he said, “is feeding into YSU, not a detriment to YSU.”
Both students allowed they were “nervous” about attending a four-year college immediately after graduating from high school and Herrera said her grades at Canfield were “horrible.” Eastern Gateway provided the opportunity to motivate herself after not liking either grade school or high school.
“I feel really proud of myself,” Herrera told reporters. She is studying interactive and Internet digital media.
Spalding quickly overcame his uncertainty, he said. “I made a lot of friends,” he continued. “The teachers and staff have just been wonderful.”
Spalding is majoring in business management.
Eastern Gateway is “suited to students like Tim and Gia,’ Meeks stated.
Because of Gateway’s source of funding, both students are attending on full scholarships, she and Ryan noted, a savings of $6,600 in tuition each over the two years.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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