Annual Thanks-4-Giving Dinner and Reception

Shawn Kochhar, staff writer

 Every year, PVCC hosts a dinner for students, administrators, and donors to meet and have a reception. Scholarship & Alumni Association Coordinator Silvia Dowell, who arranges the event, took over in 2010 when it was a lunch-in during school hours. In 2013, she changed it to a dinner at night to allow more donors and students to attend.

The dinner and reception serve a few  purposes: to thank the donors, to show how recipients were helped by the scholarships in the real world, and to showcase their talented students. In the past, they have had a quartet, a bluegrass band, gospel music, art students’ artwork, and a Piedmont Student Launch Team presentation that donors could walk around and ask about.

“We want to showcase the talent and intellect of the students to donors and active members of the community,” said Dowell.

The dinner normally takes place in the North Mall Meeting Room. However, this year it was in room 249, an advanced technology classroom. This classroom was used to show the donors some of the innovative creations that the students are working on. The reception was from 5-6 p.m. for donors and administrators only, and dinner was from 6-8 p.m. It was catered by the Blue Ridge Cafe from Ruckersville, a change from the usual menu consisting of traditional Thanksgiving dinner items.

Recipients sat down with their donors to eat and talk about what they are doing and how they have been helped by the program. The school tries to have a combination of student and donor guest speakers. They give testimonials of their unique experiences since the students tend have different life stories. This showed the diversity of our student population.

“One of the donors said that they are invited to numerous dinners and events this time of year, but the scholarship dinner is their absolute favorite that they don’t want to miss,” said Dowell.

An average of 150 students per year get scholarships, and 120-150 people attend the dinner. It always takes place two weeks before Thanksgiving Day.