Two Douglas students take top WNCC scholarships

Two Western Nevada Community College Douglas students will find the road to their career dreams a lot less bumpy after receiving prestigious $12,000 scholarships. Olga Pacheco and Wendy Miller of Gardnerville are recipients of the Hites Family Scholarship, the largest ever awards made by WNCC.

The scholarships are made possible by the Hites Scholarship Foundation in St. Louis. WNCC was one of only 13 community colleges in the country to receive the grants. The fund was endowed by Bob Hites, who was a vice president of Ralston Purina in St. Louis and an adjunct professor at the St. Louis Community College's Meramec campus.

Growing up in the village of Huejuquilla in Jalisco, Mexico, Olga Pacheco probably never dreamed she would become one of the top scholars at a college in the United States. But the 19-year old Gardnerville resident will receive $3,000 per semester for four semesters to continue her college education. She graduated last week from WNCC with an associate degree in pre-engineering with a 3.92 grade point average.

After completing her mechanical engineering degree at UNR, Olga plans to stay in the area and work as an engineer for Bently.

Wendy Miller of Gardnerville is the second Hite Family Scholarship recipient of $12,000. She also received another honor, the UNR 2000-2001 Community College President's Scholarship award of $2,000. Wendy earned a 3.67 grade point average at WNCC and has also taken classes from Central Texas College and University of Maryland. A full-time student and mother, Wendy is pursuing her dream of becoming an elementary education teacher.

She has been accepted into the teacher education program at UNR, and after obtaining a teaching position, Wendy hopes to travel abroad each summer with her family and the share her experience of various cultures with her students.