Saturday, Oct. 04, 2008

CBC invests in future hopes with scholarships

By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer

Christian Okemgbo quietly wove his way Friday through a maze of crowded tables at Columbia Basin College's Byron Gjerde Center with three small, bouncing children in tow.

He found the table where his wife, Marcelina Okemgbo, waited in a neat black dress suit. She waved and smiled as he sat across from her and hoisted one of their children onto his lap.

Marcelina Okemgbo, 35, was there to receive her first college scholarship -- $1,000 from the Eugene & Jessie Poteete endowment that is allowing Okembgo to pursue her American dream three years after immigrating from Nigeria.

"I have been eager for her to get educationally improved," her husband said. "I help out with the kids so she can study. She kind of lives in the library, so I have to take care of the kids."

She was one of 168 students who received 193 scholarships from the CBC Foundation totaling $213,900. It was a second record-breaking year for the foundation, topping last year's total of $169,500 awarded.

"It is the investment of much more than money," said CBC President Rich Cummins. "It is the investment of hope in the future."

Hope in the future is what drew the Okemgbos to the United States from Nigeria three years ago on the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, which makes 50,000 permanent resident visas available each year to eligible immigrants drawn at random from a lottery.

The visas are available to people living in countries with low rates of immigration, according to the U.S. State Department website.

The Okemgbos came to America hoping to find prosperity. Things haven't been easy -- Christian Okembgo hasn't found a job that allows him to use his Ph.D. in social statistics and demography.

But the dream is coming true for Marcelina Okembgo, who worked in customer service in Nigeria. The scholarship she received Friday helps pay her tuition at CBC, where she's in her second year working on an associate's degree with plans to transfer to Washington State University to study nursing.

Her eventual goal is to get into a career that will allow her to help take care of not only her own family, but her friends and neighbors.

She said the scholarship was the first she had ever won.

"CBC has really elevated me," Okembgo said. "It is a big encouragement to me."

Don Paddock, CBC Foundation chairman, said he's gratified to know the foundation is helping make students' dreams come true.

"It's just a wonderful feeling to know that we're making it possible for more students to have an education," Paddock said.