Congratulations to Dr. Glasper, Dr. Helfgot and Yvonne Watterson...

...for being recognized by the community over the past few months. 

Dr. Glasper and Yvonne Watterson both received Living the Dream Awards from the Phoenix Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration committee.  In receiving his award, Dr. Glasper stated, “Ever since I was a young kid, I’ve been living the dream.” He described the path his life has followed and the changes he has seen. When his ten year old granddaughter speaks about her goal to become president of the United States, he reflects that thirty years ago that would have been impossible, but now he will empower her dream because “all things are possible.”  Dr. Glasper looks at Maricopa as part of the dream, and he concluded by considering all those for whom it is a path and support system by saying, “We will not fail you.”
For more information go to: http://www.maricopa.edu/press/releases.php?nr=344

Yvonne Watterson, recognized for the outstanding progress of students at Gateway Early College High School delivered an impassioned speech. She described her childhood in Northern Ireland and compared it to her experience working at Gateway Early College High School where she works daily with many immigrants, who are “collateral damage” of current immigration policies.  She compared their daily experiences to her own daughter’s, who is able to think of all the possibilities of her future. “When hearts harden, dreams diminish…our immigrant children today have little more than hope.”  In relation to the holiday, she stated that “I am sure that if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he’d be breaking the silence about undocumented students.”  

Dr. Steve Helfgot received the Sumner “Al” Brooks Community Leadership Award from the Anti-Defamation League. The award was established to pay tribute to people who, in the course of their daily lives, give back more than can be measured, for their lifelong dedication to humanitarian concerns, and activism that exemplifies the life of Brooks and the principles on which the Anti-Defamation League was founded.  Upon receiving the award, Dr. Helfgot stated, "This award is really less about me than it is about my 11,000 colleagues at the Maricopa Community Colleges who, day-after-day, week-after-week, and year-after-year are changing lives, creating futures and building     communities all across the Valley.  I am honored and privileged to simply have a job that lets me, on occasion, be their representative in the wider community."