OCC Celebration Honors Novi Student Scholarship Winners, Donors

Oakland Community College honored five Novi students and the Novi/Northville AAUW branch during a Thursday lunch that drew nearly 200 scholarship recipients, donors and family members to the school's Orchard Ridge campus in Farmington Hills.

In all, 296 students received scholarships during the 2012-2013 academic year, and student speaker Richard Pingle of Beverly Hills said the money he received, raised through the college's annual golf outing, helped him return to school without fear of tremendous debt. 

"This money has given me a chance to focus more on my studies, and less about how I was going to pay the bills," he said. "To say the least, I'm grateful to all the donors." 

Former OCC faculty member Dennis Fiems, who spent 48 years at the school, created a textbook scholarship to honor his late wife. Susan died of cancer shortly after they both retired in 2007. Fiems said the scholarship is a way "to give back to a school that ahs been very important to me and my family." 

Novi students honored included:

• Dawn Smith - AAUW Northville/Novi Annual Scholarship, "Golf to Scholarship" Endowed Scholarship and Lillian & Victor Kelmenson Memorial Scholarship
• Lauren Conrad - Michael Golds Annual Scholarship, Project BOLD Endowed Scholarship
• Xhilda Beqiraj - "Golf to Scholarship" Endowed Scholarship
• Takako Taki - Arthur Pyrros Scholarship
• Carolann Rose - Karen A. Spann Memorial Scholarship

The event was hosted by the Oakland Community College Foundation, which was formed in 1979 to receive private contributions from members of the community, corporations, philanthropic foundations and alumni. Gift dollars support scholarships and special programs.