New CORE Scholarship Brings Huge Boost for Two Students’ Big Plans

For two hard-working Asheville students attending A-B Tech Community College, the fall semester brought more than a return to classes.

It brought full scholarships for completing their associate degrees, and then for two years at UNC Asheville to earn baccalaureate degrees.

The new CORE Scholarship further unites A-B Tech and UNC Asheville in helping qualified local students pursue academic excellence while gaining skills for employment opportunities that benefit the community. The CORE Scholarship program provides a full scholarship for two years at A-B Tech and then two years UNC Asheville.

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“This is huge. This is life-changing,” said Patricia Downey, a South Asheville single mother of five and one of two recipients of the new joint CORE (Connecting Opportunities for Regional Excellence) Scholarship program at A-B Tech and UNC Asheville. For Downey, the scholarship “is assurance that I can actually achieve my goals. All I have to do now is the work.”

Hard work is no stranger to Downey or to Amber Owens, who also received a CORE Scholarship as part of a highly competitive application process. “I work multiple jobs,” said Owens who lives in Weaverville with her 10-year-old daughter. “I’m a CNA and I do in-home health care, I clean a local restaurant and I’m also an esthetician.”

Owens and Downey are both in their second year at A-B Tech and have excelled at their classes while supporting themselves and their families. Both have tremendous drive and big goals.

Downey plans to pursue a double major in accounting and psychology when she arrives at UNC Asheville. Her goal after graduating is to work as a CPA while earning advanced degrees in counseling so she can work with adolescents. “I want to be able to pay for my master’s and doctoral program,” said Downey. “CPAs make a good living, and it’s a field I do well in.”

Owens also plans to major in psychology at UNC Asheville. “My passion and my focus are to help empower women who have been in abusive relationships,” she said. “I know how powerful counseling can be in getting a different perspective of your situation; how it can be life-changing. I also want to focus on strengthening families and helping children.”

The scholarship support comes after tremendous sacrifice by both Owens and Downey. “I’ve taken out every student loan that they will give me to help support the family while I attend A-B Tech, along with working the maximum 19 hours they allow me to work in the work-study program,” said Downey.

Owens, who has worked multiple low-wage jobs as she studies, said, “At first it was, ‘how can I do this, I can’t do this,’ and then you have to switch your mindset to ‘I have to do this.’”

“It is deeply moving to see these two inspiring women who have worked so hard to pursue their dream of higher education as they move toward a four-year degree and beyond,” said UNC Asheville Chancellor Mary K. Grant. “Thank you so much to those who have donated to the CORE Scholarship fund – this scholarship is a such great thing for students whom we know will benefit our community in the future with their skills and passion.”

“Patricia Downey and Amber Owens are extraordinary people, two of the many extraordinary hard-working students we have at A-B Tech,” said A-B Tech President Dennis King. “I want to thank the community for supporting Patricia and Amber, and what I hope will be a growing number of students who will be able to receive CORE Scholarships in coming years.”

The CORE Scholarship is supported by a growing community of donors, which includes corporations like Wells Fargo bank, organizations like the Children’s Welfare League, and many generous individuals. Owens and Downey recently had a chance to meet with Chancellor Grant, President King, and donors George and Sandra Beverly who made a significant contribution to the CORE Scholarship Fund.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Owens, “not only for the opportunity that it gives me personally to grow and reach my goals and pursue my education that otherwise, I don’t know how I could pull it off … it would be an immense struggle, so it not only helps me but it helps my daughter. It’s a blessing in so many ways and I’m so grateful.”

“We all have dreams,” said Downey. “We work really hard toward them, but without the financial support, they can be stopped short. There’s the will, there’s the drive, there’s the talent but there’s not the financial backing. And so with this scholarship that the Beverlys and others have come together to offer us, for me personally, that gives me the ability to realize my dreams. Without it, there would be bumps that I don’t know if I could overcome. Without their generosity, that opportunity would not exist and I’m very grateful.”

UNC Asheville and A-B Tech hope to expand the program to include more students as financial support for the CORE Scholarship Fund continues. For more information, visit giving.unca.edu.