For the fourth consecutive year, Alfonso Medina Jr. came to the Marshalltown Community College campus to award the annual Medina Family Scholarship to two deserving MCC students. This year’s recipients of the $400 scholarship are Mariana Gonzalez Ordaz and Tiffany Thomas (both of Marshalltown), who were selected based on their essays entitled “The American Dream.”
“I started this scholarship fund four years ago when I graduated from college,” said Medina. “It was important to me to ‘pay it forward’ and help others achieve their dream of college. With the family restaurants of La Carreta and El Portal supporting the scholarships, we like to think of it as ‘burritos for books.’”
“I was so excited to find out I’d been selected,” said Thomas. “I work full time and attend school full time, so every dollar helps. But I enjoy writing and am proud that my essay was selected, because it made me think and inspired my creativity to work on it.”
Medina congratulated both students and told them that he insists on the essay as a scholarship criterion because he loves to write and really enjoys reading the submitted essays.
Donors who are inspired by the Medina family’s generosity to contribute to or establish scholarship funds are encouraged to contact MCC Foundation Executive Director Carol Geil for more information at 641-844-5747 or Carol.Geil@iavalley.edu. Gifts to the MCC Foundation are always tax-exempt.