The Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) Foundation accepted a check from the Gene Haas Foundation for $12,000 this week.
This marks the fourth year that the Gene Haas Foundation has selected PHCC to be a recipient of this generous donation. The continued support enables PHCC to provide scholarships to students pursuing a variety of engineering and machinist-based programs at PHCC. These programs include PHCC’s popular motorsports program and the college’s new precision machining program.
Kathy Looman, administrator of the Gene Haas Foundation, said that supporting PHCC aligns with the foundation’s mission “to expose students to careers in manufacturing and to provide scholarships to the students who choose a career in CNC machining and/or manufacturing engineering.”
According to Looman, support for this particular demographic is crucial because “53 percent of high school students don’t believe they will have an opportunity to have a good job.”
According to PHCC officials, this support is also critical because scholarships often play a pivotal role in a student’s decision and ability to pursue a field of interest.
“Many of our students rely on scholarship to pursue their goals,” said Tiffani Underwood, executive director of the PHCC Foundation. “We are so very grateful to the continued support the Haas Foundation has shown us. This donation makes an impact in the future of manufacturing and engineering in our area just as it makes an impact in the lives of the PHCC students pursuing these fields.”
The Gene Haas Foundation was founded in 1999 by the owner of Haas Automation, Inc., America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. To promote American manufacturing and manufacturing education, the Haas Foundation has donated more than 50 million dollars to over 4000 charitable organizations and schools.
