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Claytie gives $20,000 for MC's Fort Stockton program
Since its founding, Shuster said Dollars for Scholars has raised almost $300,000 and awards scholarships to more than 200 students every year in the fall and spring.
by Ruth Campbell
Midland Reporter-Telegram
- Dollars for Scholars program helps students at Fort Stockton campus of Midland College get GEDs, learn English and train in nursing, computers and many other fields.
By Ruth Campbell
Staff Writer
Tall City oilman Clayton Williams on Monday donated $20,000 to Midland College's Dollars for Scholars program to finance student scholarships in a wide range of vocational, GED and English as a second language programs.
He made the contribution at the Williams Regional Technical Training Center in Fort Stockton, an MC satellite campus. While there, he planned to offer a pep talk to students on the importance of continuing their education.
Williams said the two things that help students most are encouragement and money.
"There's a great life out there, if you work for it. All people are capable of doing more than is generally required of them," Williams said.
The Dollars for Scholars program was started four years ago by Pecos County Judge Joe Shuster, after he saw an ad in a local newspaper for a similar venture at Odessa College.
Along with Williams' contribution, Abell-Hanger Foundation and SandRidge Energy chipped in $20,000 each for a total of $60,000 this past summer. The money is used for matching funds so when people in the community donate $200, for example, the fund can add another $200 to a student's scholarship, Williams Regional Technical Training Center Director Brenda Mowry-Tipton said.
Help takes the form of grants, loans and scholarships.
Williams said he has contributed to Dollars for Scholars anytime "oil is above $80" a barrel.
One of Williams' favorite stories is about Estella Valenzuela Molina, whom he met when she was a waitress at Sarah's Cafe in Fort Stockton. According to a story in the Fort Stockton Pioneer, Williams kept asking Molina if she planned to go attend college.
Finally, she told him her counselor informed her she wasn't college material, the story said. The youngest of eight children, she couldn't ask her parents for help. The story said Williams told Molina to come to his office to discuss what she should do.
He advised Molina to take a finishing course at Columbia Secretarial School to teach her about color, clothes, make-up and how to dress, the article said. Williams said he then paid for tuition and books for a semester at Odessa College. She then got into a work/study program and kept going.
Ultimately, she earned a bachelor's degree in criminology and a master's degree in counseling, Williams said. She and her husband, Joe Molina, have four children and all of them went to Odessa College.
Williams has long understood the importance of higher education. Born in Alpine, he graduated from Texas A&M in 1954 with a degree in animal husbandry and served two years in the U.S. Army.
In his long business career, Williams has founded 26 companies in Texas.
Since its founding, Shuster said Dollars for Scholars has raised almost $300,000 and awards scholarships to more than 200 students every year in the fall and spring.
Mowry-Tipton said WRTTC features 15 different technical programs, such as auto tech, medical transcription, nursing, child care development, computer training, digital animation, Web authoring, criminal justice, microbiology and an education certificate class for students who want to become teachers.
An energy technician certificate course will likely be offered in fall 2009. Set for review by an oil industry advisory committee Oct. 17 at the at Professional Petroleum Development Center (PPDC), the course will allow high school students to graduate with an energy tech certificate and move on to an associate's degree and/or bachelor's of applied technology degree from MC.
Ruth Campbell can be reached at ruth@mrt.com.
By Ruth Campbell
Staff Writer
Tall City oilman Clayton Williams on Monday donated $20,000 to Midland College's Dollars for Scholars program to finance student scholarships in a wide range of vocational, GED and English as a second language programs.
He made the contribution at the Williams Regional Technical Training Center in Fort Stockton, an MC satellite campus. While there, he planned to offer a pep talk to students on the importance of continuing their education.
Williams said the two things that help students most are encouragement and money.
"There's a great life out there, if you work for it. All people are capable of doing more than is generally required of them," Williams said.
The Dollars for Scholars program was started four years ago by Pecos County Judge Joe Shuster, after he saw an ad in a local newspaper for a similar venture at Odessa College.
Along with Williams' contribution, Abell-Hanger Foundation and SandRidge Energy chipped in $20,000 each for a total of $60,000 this past summer. The money is used for matching funds so when people in the community donate $200, for example, the fund can add another $200 to a student's scholarship, Williams Regional Technical Training Center Director Brenda Mowry-Tipton said.
Help takes the form of grants, loans and scholarships.
Williams said he has contributed to Dollars for Scholars anytime "oil is above $80" a barrel.
One of Williams' favorite stories is about Estella Valenzuela Molina, whom he met when she was a waitress at Sarah's Cafe in Fort Stockton. According to a story in the Fort Stockton Pioneer, Williams kept asking Molina if she planned to go attend college.
Finally, she told him her counselor informed her she wasn't college material, the story said. The youngest of eight children, she couldn't ask her parents for help. The story said Williams told Molina to come to his office to discuss what she should do.
He advised Molina to take a finishing course at Columbia Secretarial School to teach her about color, clothes, make-up and how to dress, the article said. Williams said he then paid for tuition and books for a semester at Odessa College. She then got into a work/study program and kept going.
Ultimately, she earned a bachelor's degree in criminology and a master's degree in counseling, Williams said. She and her husband, Joe Molina, have four children and all of them went to Odessa College.
Williams has long understood the importance of higher education. Born in Alpine, he graduated from Texas A&M in 1954 with a degree in animal husbandry and served two years in the U.S. Army.
In his long business career, Williams has founded 26 companies in Texas.
Since its founding, Shuster said Dollars for Scholars has raised almost $300,000 and awards scholarships to more than 200 students every year in the fall and spring.
Mowry-Tipton said WRTTC features 15 different technical programs, such as auto tech, medical transcription, nursing, child care development, computer training, digital animation, Web authoring, criminal justice, microbiology and an education certificate class for students who want to become teachers.
An energy technician certificate course will likely be offered in fall 2009. Set for review by an oil industry advisory committee Oct. 17 at the at Professional Petroleum Development Center (PPDC), the course will allow high school students to graduate with an energy tech certificate and move on to an associate's degree and/or bachelor's of applied technology degree from MC.
Ruth Campbell can be reached at ruth@mrt.com.
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