Year-round Copper Mountain College Foundation works hard to support programs, activities and facilities at Copper Mountain College including providing a hearty bowl of soup for students throughout the day. Any current college student can walk into the campus cafeteria, Bruce’s Place and ask for K.C.’s Special. With no fanfare, a student receives a hot meal. These meals are contributing to student success who now can concentrate on their students and not their rumbling tummy. Named for Karen Coghill, a 39 year employee who retired from CMC in 2018, the K.C. Special reminds us that not only do we need to feed the mind, but often we need to feed the body. To date nearly 20,000 meals have been served. https://www.mightycause.com/story/Kcspecial

CMC Foundation owns the childcare center adjacent to campus and leases it at a reduced rate to a private provider in an effort to maintain quality childcare for our staff and students nearby. For further information, contact Neverland directly at 760.366.0030.

Did you know 70% of California nurses received their education from a California Community College like CMC! The CMC Foundation has been funding ATI testing program for our Vocation Nursing students since 2012. The ATI prepares our students to take the NCLEX, their nursing boards and since 2013 the first time pass rate has been 100%. This past school year, 12 VN students received their tests paid for at $1440.25 each . Recently Foundation donors also bought a new Organ Torso, a Heart Lung Breath Simulator, and a Tracheostomy Care Simulator. 

Donate to Health Science Students Here

This semester, Copper Mountain College Foundation funded thirteen sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or turnout gear for the current Fire Academy students at a cost of $500 per student. This investment results in job ready students!! For the past two years, all our graduates have been successfully employed after graduation. CMC Fire Technology Program has its own fire truck, breathing apparatus and ambulance to train on and now they are fitted with new turnout gear thanks to Foundation donors. Copper Mountain College offers courses in the Fire Technology field that will count toward a certificate or Associate of Science Degree. These courses are designed for students who plan to transfer to a four-year institution, gain employment in the fire service, or as a refresher for those individuals currently employed in any area of the fire service. The approved list of courses include those that meet the National Fire Academy Fire & Emergency Service Higher Education (FESHE) core curriculum requirements and include those accredited by the California Fire Service Training and Educational System for State Board of Fire technology certification.

Recently CMC Foundation outfitted the Science Lab with custom storage cabinets that are both OSHA and ADA compliant for the space. New smart TVs in the classrooms and meeting space have been upgraded thanks to CMC Foundation donors.

Copper Mountain College Foundation is proud to support out Community Internship Partners with a Kindle Fire for each CMC student who completes a 100 hour internship at a local business. This work experience certainly puts our students on the road to success, matching them with potential employers and giving the essential skills for the workplace.

Juliana Jimenez of Yucca Valley is the 2022 Greenleaf Scholar 

Copper Mountain College Foundation is proud to announce Juliana Jimenez of Yucca Valley as the 2022 Greenleaf Scholarship winner.

Through a rigorous application process, Jimenez along with four other finalists, Elizabeth Dahlberg and Griffin Hilderbrand from Yucca Valley High School, and Bernadette Hopkins and Daniel Ramon Iniguez from 29 Palms High School showed their stellar character in written and oral interviews. A celebration ceremony will take place on May 12, 2022 for all scholarship awardees. 

Jimenez who attends Yucca Valley High School, was chosen out of a highly competitive field to receive this year’s Greenleaf Scholarship.  The scholarship will pay tuition, books and fees plus living expenses while Jimenez attends Copper Mountain College. In addition, those same expenses will be paid while she attends a University to complete a baccalaureate degree.

Endowed by local banker F. Roy Greenleaf Jr., the scholarship is awarded each year to a promising student that is interested in learning, is success oriented, has performed well in school and shows a desire to return to the Morongo Basin upon completion of her education.  Jimenez, who moved to the Morongo Basin in 2013, says her heart is drawn to the desert and she hopes to have a hand in local businesses as she pursues her education and beyond. According to CMC Foundation Executive Director Sandy Smith, “Julie came across as a self-assured young women ready to take on the world and make a lasting impact on her community. We are thrilled to have her join us at CMC as the latest Greenleaf Scholar.”

The George Floyd Scholarship Fund was established in June of 2020 by Copper Mountain College Professor of Psychology and Student Success Kay Jayo-Meads with her deepest gratitude as a woman of color who has been so helped by people all along the way and to show solidarity to end this inequity in the United States and in the world.

Copper Mountain College Foundation honors Mr. Floyd’s memory as well as Ms. Jayo-Meads wishes and invites all to join in this beautiful scholarship opportunity at our community college.

During this time of injustice and unrest in the midst of an already existing pandemic, we would be remiss not to say something. Now is not the time to be “colorblind”. Now is the time to see color. Therefore, to our black community, we see you, and we see the experiences you have endured solely due to the color of your skin. We see the centuries of systemic pain and suffering overwhelmingly caused to your community, we stand in solidarity with you, and support you in your efforts for the change that is desperately needed in our society and in our world.

It is our job to make sure our students are supported. We have a group that, as a community, as a people, are not being supported in this society. We see it loud and clear in our data across our K-12 and community college systems that black, especially black male students are continuously disproportionately impacted in education, and disproportionately targeted beyond the education system.

We will do better. As an institution, this is what we will strive to work on:

• We will acknowledge the lived experiences of our students of color, hear where they are coming from, and learn from our students just as much as we expect them to learn from us.
• We will check our unconscious biases at the door. We all have them. We will acknowledge them, and work to break through them.
• We will listen and have understanding of the important experiences our students bring, and know that we do not live in a society where everyone is treated equally.
• We will unify in the fight against racism.

The killing of George Floyd was not an isolated incident. He is one in a long list of lives unjustly taken. We stand in solidarity with the black community. To quote Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. As individuals that belong to an educational institution, we are stewards of the most powerful weapon to make things right. We, at CMC, are committed making things right.

Together we stand,

CMC Faculty, Staff, and Administration

2023 CMC Alumni Association Scholarship Application

2023 HS Alumni Scholarship Recommendation Form

CMC Foundation Alumni Scholarships for Local Area High Schools

The CMC Foundation Alumni Scholarships are intended to encourage students from the local high schools to pursue their first two years at Copper Mountain College and then transfer to finish their Bachelor’s degree at a 4-year college or university.

These scholarships are to attend Copper Mountain College.  Graduating high school students are eligible. CMC Alumni Association  Members choose the deserving students.

Copper Mountain College Foundation is proud to offer the Sergeant Dominic Vaca Memorial Scholarship for Criminal Justice and Administration of Justice Majors at Copper Mountain College. 

Memorial donations from the community poured in when Sergeant Dominic Vaca, a 17 year veteran of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, was shot and killed following a vehicle pursuit of a motorcycle in May of this year. 

The Copper Mountain College Foundation established a scholarship fund to help criminal justice students when it began receiving the funds from fellow officers and friends.  The application is open to current CMC students majoring in Criminal Justice or Administration of Justice with a 3.0 GPA or more.  Applications are due September 15, 2021. Scholarship recipients will be named by September 30. 

Anyone interested in learning more about Copper Mountain College’s Criminal Justice Program can contact jbrakebill@cmccd.edu.

Donations are still being taken in memory of Sergeant Vaca at  https://bit.ly/3AtnGT6.

If you would like to learn more, please contact the Foundation at 760-366-3791 ext. 4200 or www.cmccd.edu/Foundation. #