Dress for Success awards scholarships to PBSC Belle Glade campus students
Three Palm Beach State College students enrolled in the Nails Technician Career Certificate Program at the Belle Glade campus will be able to launch their new careers in style thanks to $1,000 scholarships from Dress for Success Palm Beaches. In addition to the money for tuition and education-related expenses, Guadalupe Ruiz, Maya Vallejo and Jessica Riquiz will have access to a network of support, mentors, professional attire and developmental tools that will help them thrive in their work and life.
With a mission to empower women to achieve economic independence, Dress for Success Palm Beaches awards the scholarships annually to women who reside in Palm Beach County and attend classes at the Belle Glade or Lake Worth campus. The female scholarship candidates must demonstrate financial need and be enrolled in the College’s Cosmetology programs: Nails Technician, Facials Specialty, Barbering or Cosmetology. Dress for Success Palm Beaches provides these scholarships through a grant from the Quinn Foundation.
“Our collaboration with Dress for Success has been an incredible journey from the beginning, when our first working lunch revealed our mutual aim to accelerate upward mobility and transform lives,” said Dr. LaTanya McNeal, Executive Dean of the Belle Glade campus. “We are thrilled to offer our Cosmetology students the opportunity to benefit financially, professionally and personally from the amazing Dress for Success organization.”
Maya Vallejo entered the Nails Technician program looking for a career where she could express her creative side. Along with her classmates, she’ll graduate in December and looks forward to the support she’ll receive from Dress for Success as she seeks her first nail salon job.
“With this economy and the bills piling, this scholarship is like a light at the end of the tunnel. I’m lucky and I’m grateful,” Vallejo said.
This past summer, Dress for Success Palm Beaches also established a scholarship honoring the leadership and contributions of their former executive director. The Mary G. Hart Scholarship for Women is a five-year scholarship of $2,500 a year to support PBSC female students in financial need.
For more information about scholarships available to PBSC students, visit www.palmbeachstate.edu/foundation/student-scholarships.
