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Viva Germanna!
A little bit of Las Vegas comes to Culpeper at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, when Germanna Community College’s 15th Annual Monte Carlo Casino Night returns to the Joseph R. Daniel Technology Center.It’s a sinfully indulgent evening, and yet it’s guilt-free, because hard times have made your having a good time a good deed. Monte Carlo Night assists local students and promises to jump-start Culpeper’s economy at the same time by helping Germanna help revitalize the local economy by making the area’s workforce more competitive.
The popular black tie event, which is the college’s biggest fundraiser each year, has firmly established itself as a highlight of Culpeper’s social season while providing scholarship funds for the Germanna Educational Foundation’s Germanna Guarantee Program. The program ensures that students with financial need who cannot gather enough aid from other sources get the funds necessary to fill in the gaps in paying for tuition and books.
Casino-style gaming can score points that win Monte Carlo Night participants big prizes donated by local merchants. Last year’s top prize was an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas. For those not into gaming, there’s also music, dancing and libations.
Because of the recession, student aid applications at Germanna have spiked, and need is greater than ever. Last August alone, 80 percent more applications were filed than during the same month in 2007.
Two current examples of students who wouldn’t be at Germanna without Monte Carlo Night and the Germanna Guarantee Program:
· Forty-year-old nursing student Carrie Combs says she came from a poor family and never thought she’d be able to afford to go to college. She was forced to put her dream on hold for decades, before the Germanna Guarantee Program helped her through her first year of college. She proceeded to rack up a 4.0 grade-point average. That earned her scholarships for this year. She will graduate in May and become a registered nurse.
· In addition to taking classes at Germanna, 22-year-old Courtney Bradley was working three jobs. But she still couldn’t afford tuition and books, because she was supporting her mother. Bradley, who dreams of starting a day care business for young children, says that without the Germanna Guarantee Program, she would have had to drop out of college.
Over the past 15 years since the event’s inception, Monte Carlo Night has raised about $550,000 to help local students. The 2008 Monte Carlo Casino Night raised approximately $45,000. Because of increased need during the recession, this year’s goal is $60,000.
Tickets and sponsorship package information are available through the Educational Foundation. Individuals can buy their first ticket for $75 and then others for their group at $50 each.
For more information, to volunteer to help staff the benefit event, or to reserve tickets, go to www.germanna.edu or contact Christine Slattery, Foundation Coordinator, 2130 Germanna Highway, Locust Grove, Va. 22508, (540) 423-9073 or Cslattery@germanna.edu
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