Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Provides Marines with College Scholarships

In 2007, Mario Clay, who had completed two deployments to Iraq, was out of the Marines—just as a deep recession began. He wanted to get his education back on track, but until he discovered the scholarship program at MiraCosta College, he thought that was destined to remain only a dream.

MiraCosta's scholarship program for student veterans has been around for more than a decade, operated throught the MiraCosta College Foundation and supported by donors such as the Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club which presented a check for $6,000 to the foundaton on March 25. The check represents part of the proceeds from the service club’s 2012 scholarship fundraiser: the Teens and Marines Golf Tournament.

According to MiraCosta College Superintendent and President Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, student veterans at the college have doubled in the last five years and quadrupled in the last decade, primarly due to the student veterans’ scholarship program.

Rodriguez thanked the Rotarians for their continued support of this program at the March 25 meeting when he received the check and introduced former Marine Mario Clay as one of the program’s many success stories.

With assistance via a student veteran scholarship, Clay enrolled in MiraCosta College at the end of 2009, and he became one of the college’s most outstanding students. He not excelled academically, he assisted other veterans in the college’s Veterans Information Center.

He’s now attending CSUSM, pursuing a business degree, after receiving the largest scholarship ever given in the history of California State University San Marcos.

 “I owe so much to MiraCosta for helping me get to CSUSM,” Clay said, while also thanking Rotarians for their financial support of the college’s scholarship program. His MiraCosta course of study, he said, “helped prepare me to compete for scholarships...to set the path I’m following. I learned persistence does pay off. I hope to graduate with my master’s in the next two years, and then I may go on to grad school.”

Four years ago, Clay said, “I didn’t think this was possible. The MiraCosta scholarship was a big reason.”

MiraCosta’s Rodriguez said MiraCosta believes it has “the obligation to serve those in the military who are transitioning, and an obligation to remove the barriers to an education” for those veterans. Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary’s continued financial support of the student veteran scholarship program goes a long way towards ensuring this goal can be met, he said, with a giant smile, as he held a giant replica of the Rotary club’s $6,000 check.

The Carlsbad Hi-Noon Rotary Club meets Mondays at noon at the Hilton Garden Inn on Highway 101, just south of Palomar Airport Road. The club of almost 100 welcomes men and women interested in camaraderie in service to community and worldwide. For information, visit the club website at carlsbadhinoonrotary.org.