For more information, contact Darnell Holopirek, 620-793-9367.

February 2, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Linda Jerke

The Barton Community College Foundation has been offering privately funded scholarships since 2006 for inmates taking Barton’s classes at Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

In recognition and appreciation of those efforts, the Post Rock Jaycees, comprising inmates of the facility, honored the Foundation and Barton’s Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Darnell Holopirek with the Distinguished Service Award Jan. 23 at their 20th Annual Post Rock Jaycees DSA Banquet.

In addition to scholarship support, the award recognizes Barton’s Foundation for its donation of used weight equipment to ECF and its inmates, continued support of Barton’s courses offered at the facility, and development and offering of career technical education training to the inmates through the Community Based Job Training Grant, which supports payment of tuition and fees and allows the courses to be available to the inmates at no cost.

With the DSA Award, the Foundation received a $500 donation and Holopirek received a wall clock that is now hanging on her wall in the Foundation Office on Barton’s campus. The inscription on the wall clock notes:

“Barton Community College Foundation exemplifies what the Distinguished Service Award is all about. Not only do they reach out to their local community by improving the lives of others, but they have touched the lives of men here at ECF by allowing them an opportunity to better themselves through the knowledge they need to succeed. We want you to know that you are making a difference.”

“This award is wonderful and we are proud to be recognized as one of the ECF’s partners,” Holopirek said. “But it isn’t just for the Foundation. It’s for Barton Community College, its Workforce Training and Community Education Division and all of the people who work so hard to create and maintain this educational opportunity.”

She added, “The Foundation may be the icing on the cake, but remember the cooks who baked the cake are the real winners and should get the praise (and blue ribbon) for putting the right ingredients together from scratch.”

Elaine Simmons, Barton’s Dean of Workforce Training and Community Education, was pleased to have the Foundation receive the honor. “It is impossible for me to articulate how meaningful it is to know that our institution contributes to the rehabilitation of incarcerated men,” she said. “It is my hope each time we enroll a student inmate at ECF that we are helping to prevent future victims while assisting the student to gain knowledge and skills that will help him secure a livelihood that contributes to his community and helps to repair relationships with his family.”

The inmate scholarships go toward class tuition, fees and textbooks. Funds for the scholarships are received through donations from individuals, community organizations, churches and the Barton faculty members who teach the inmates, Holopirek explained. The Christian Motorcycle Club funded the first scholarship. One church started with one scholarship and now gives four, she said.

“I have a passion for helping this program and giving the financial support so the students have the opportunity to succeed,” Holopirek said. “It is heartfelt to realize the difference we are making in their lives. These inmates know they are there to pay their debt to society. They also know they want a better life and know education is going to be the key to finding a job and starting a new life.”

Holopirek would like to speak to church mission groups in the community. “This program has a positive impact all the way around,” she said. “There isn’t a better mission project in this community than to help prepare these inmates for a fresh start upon their release.”

Barton Community College has offered courses to the inmates since 2002 when it initiated the BASICS program (Building Academic Skills in Correctional Settings) at ECF. For more information about Barton’s ECF programs or funding a scholarship, contact Holopirek in the Barton Foundation Office, 620-792-9367.

Emel Smith, left, board member of the Ellsworth Correctional Facility’s Post Rock Jaycees, presents the Distinguished Service Award recognizing the Barton Community College Foundation and Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Darnell Holopirek, who accepted the award at the 20th Annual Post Rock Jaycees DSA Banquet. Also pictured are Barton’s Dean of Workforce Training and Community Education Elaine Simmons, second from right, and Executive Director of Business Technology and Community Education Jane Howard, right.