Ivy Tech in South Bend celebrates over $400k awarded in scholarships in 2019

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – During a breakfast event on Tuesday at the South Bend campus, students at Ivy Tech Community College got to meet with donors who have awarded them scholarships.

In 2019, Ivy Tech in South Bend/Elkhart awarded more than $400k dollars in scholarships to more than 700 area students.

Officials for the college say that this is a great opportunity to provide hardworking students with assistance in paying for college, and to show appreciation to the community for their donations.

“It’s important for us just to learn to be thankful for what we get,” Austin Lantz said, who is a second year student at Ivy Tech. “Seeing these people as other humans really for me just shows me this is somebody who reached out to my life that didn’t even know me and that important connection — making that human connection — just brings us closer together.”

The event helps unite the community, but it’s also about making things a little bit easier for the students.

“Taking a little bit of stress off I can focus on work,” Rebecca Tibbles said, who also attends Ivy Tech. “I like to be in the community, I like to help take care of people in general. I think that it’s important for everybody to have a chance and this is definitely a big step.”

Students took the opportunity to thank the donors and the people who have changed their lives.

Ivy Tech has awarded over 2 million dollars in scholarships to more than 4 thousand students since 2014.

The scholarships are used for tuition-related costs.