Donna Hudson and Kevin Oldham of Rockingham are recipients of the NC Community College System Academic Award for Excellence and are among 12 students honored Friday with a luncheon at the Cole Auditorium.  All students are in their second-year of study in an Associate or Associate in Applied Science Degree program and have maintained a 4.0 grade point average each semester.

N.C. Community College President Dr. Scott Ralls was the keynote speaker.  He explained that budget constraints prohibited them from hosting the annual banquet in Raleigh where two students from each of the 58 community colleges would be recognized and meet with legislators, local board of trustee members, and college presidents.

“I’m having fun right now.  Given all of the problems in the world today, all of the problems we face with budget cuts and a growing enrollment of dislocated workers, I get to hear about good things.  For a moment, I get to focus on all of the wonderful things community colleges do,” said Ralls.

“We’re celebrating a community college achievement.  Your education wasn’t handed to you on a silver platter.  You’ve earned this because you wanted it.  You put in time and effort while working and caring for families.  If you’re like many native North Carolinians, you may not be the first in your family to go to college, but you’re close.  You can’t pay back everyone who helped you get here, but you can pay it forward.  Encourage others to get an education.  Go out and show others they can do it, too” he said.

Hudson explained she enrolled at RCC on the spur of the moment in 2007 when her youngest daughter was enrolling.

“My children were grown, I did not work, and I was bored.  At first, I felt a little out of place, after all, it had been 30 years since I graduated from high school.  I soon learned that RCC is truly a community college – for the young, the old, and for all those in between.  I have learned so much,” said Hudson.

Hudson thanked her husband “for allowing me to make going to college my ‘job’ and for supporting me in this venture.  He has always said we are fortunate to live in an area where we have such a fine facility as RCC.”

Oldham said he never thought he would have a 4.0 grade point average.

“I work 40-hours-a-week and come out here at night.  I have a wife and two kids.  It’s hard juggling work, school, family, and homework.  Somehow, I’ve just worked hard and spent a lot of late nights studying and have maintained a 4.0,” he said.

He said the convenience of having a school close to home that was affordable was a factor in choosing RCC.

“Another reason is that my wife encouraged me to go back to school.  She came out here and went on to Pembroke.  She got her degree and teaches now.  She has encouraged me to do the same,” he said.

At the end of the program, RCC President Dr. Sharon Morrissey presented Student Government Association President Delia Michael of Rockingham with a certificate of nomination as RCC’s representative to the All-USA Academic Team which recognizes scholastic achievement and is sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and USA Today.

Other students honored are:  Sara Allen, Brittany Bates, Vickey Baxley, Amy Carlyle, Ronald Dukes, Sherry Gardner, Brenda Hendrix, Natalie Kirkley, Shirley McFadden, and Westley Newberry.