Full Disclosure: I am a student who has received awards from the ACC Foundation. 

On November 7th at 11:30 A.M., the Arapahoe Community College (ACC) Foundation hosted its 2025-2026 Scholarship Luncheon, drawing staff, donors, the students who have received scholarships from the organization, and volunteer support from the ACC Study Abroad program. 

Before the speeches began, students and donors mingled over food and non-alcoholic beverages, with aspirants of every degree type sharing their stories with the donors and receiving insight and advice in return. 

Dan and Beth Whitemore were such donors: the couple was particularly passionate about aiding those less fortunate. Beyond their work with the foundation, they also sponsor Indigenous American students pursuing a career in law. 

Another donor, Cheryl Chiasson, believes in the ACC’s student-driven mission and is passionate about “helping marginalized students without means or ability to start at a four-year college or technical trade.”  

After everyone was settled, the event began with ACC President Stephanie Fujii thanking everyone for attending before inviting Courtney Loehfelm, Director of the ACC Foundation and Associate Vice President of Institutional Advancement, to the stage. 

After noting that this year’s luncheon had a record number of attending students, Loehfelm held a moment of silence “to honor the members of our ACC family whose lives continue to shape this college through their generosity and for the funds established in their names.”

That legacy continues with the year’s Champions of Education award winners, Libby Bortz and Charlie Vail. Bortz spearheaded industry reform to increase the representation of women in the medical field, successfully initiating a lawsuit that led to the medical industry opening its doors to women in Colorado. Vail has worked and mentored at the Littleton Equine Medical Center for more than six decades and has championed continuing education through the foundation, the Rotary Club of Littleton, and beyond.

Upon receiving their awards, Bortz imparted some wisdom passed to her by her mother, “Remember you have to have an educated heart besides an educated brain.”

Following that, the community heard from the event’s Alumni of the Year award recipient, Brandon Martinez, and how, despite his uncertainty when entering college, finding his own goal and then the foundation led to him earning a double degree in philosophy and psychology.

To the current ACC students in the room, Martinez asked them to do three things: “One, embrace your community. Two, surround yourself with your people; they will come with your integrity. And three, find a way to take what you learn and give it to others so you can give them a hand up as well.”

For the last round of speakers, attendees heard from two current ACC students. The first, nursing student and Follett Scholar Delaney Morris, was inspired to pursue a career in medicine due to a medical emergency within her family. “But when you’ve got someone banking on you and the environment of ACC people, I mean, all of the advisors, all of my teachers, anyone wanted to see you succeed and you felt supported through the whole journey,” said Morris.

The last guest speaker was Interior Design Student and Follett Scholar Robin Harch, who takes pride in her Afro-Caribbean background and working-class origins. “Every step of the academic journey has been through hard work, balancing a full course load while I’ve worked to pay for school,” said Harch. She went on to thank the foundation for providing her with the support that allowed her to thrive in the program, enabling her to focus on her academics and creative ventures.

A pervasive sentiment rang through the event; it was not just about how money can alleviate the stress of being a student. As Loehfelm said at the beginning of the luncheon, “scholarships do more than just pay that tuition bill, right? Scholarships buy time, you know, buy time for students to be able to study, to finish their lab hours, to meet with tutors. Scholarships build momentum.” And with that momentum, scholars can move mountains.