Two students at RCC receive $5000 scholarship from SECU

Robeson Community College is pleased to announce that two of its students, Michaela Gayle Mickles and Decarius McKeithan are the recipients of a $5,000 scholarship from the State Employees Credit Union (SECU).

The People Helping People scholarship is a two-year scholarship program. Students are awarded $2500 each year, $1250 each semester, for a maximum of four consecutive semesters. The scholarship was established by the SECU to help assist community college students in achieving success. Two students from each of the 58 community colleges in the North Carolina Community College System are awarded scholarships each year.

The criteria for the scholarship is simply stated in the name. It’s about people helping people, and students are asked to write an essay about how they have contributed to their community

In center, Michaela Mickles holds her scholarship certificate from the SECU, joined by members of the RCC Foundation and Financial Aid Offices.

Mickles, who hopes to become a registered nurse by 2023, states that receiving this scholarship will not only benefit her to “achieve the impossible, but in the long run, it will benefit a superfluity of people from all races, nationalities, ethnicities, sex, and religions,” as she works in healthcare to help and heal people.

Mickles says she has dedicated her time throughout high school and college to contribute to her community, from food, toy and clothes drives; mental health counseling for high schoolers; and being involved in reading programs for middle school-aged children.

One event of giving back sticks out in Mickles mind – the food and toy drive orchestrated by the Baptist Fellowship Program.

“It is a yearly event held in Fair Bluff during the Christmas and New Year’s season,” said Mickles. “It is targeted for low-income families with and without children. The church community gathers together and buys a diversity of toys and nutritious food.”

Mickles continues by saying, “This activity has left a significant effect on my life by displaying to me that everyone does not have the basic necessities for survival and when we have what others lack, it is our duty to support our fellow man.”

Another turning point for Mickles was when COVID-19 shut down the world as we all knew it in March of 2020.

“It was a season of loss, adapting, and sacrificing. I knew that the people around me could relate and we were suffering,” said Mickles. “With the help of my church, we created a “Soul Delivery” where we bought as many supplies as possible that we could find and created delivery gift bags. We stamped the bags with Christian bookmarks with scriptures to read during such a time as that. Every Saturday, we drove around neighborhoods in Rowland, Lumberton, and Whiteville to deliver gift bags.”  

For Mickles, giving during that time was also a way to forget the pain of losing her father, who passed away in January 2022.

“By focusing on other people, it made my situation a little less overwhelming,” Mickles said. 

She adds, “Though my contributions are different in many ways… they have one aspect in common, humanity.” 

Mickle’s spirit of doing good and spreading good cheer around those less fortunate, are some of the many reasons she was selected as the scholarship recipient for 2021.

RCC Staff from Financial Aid and the RCC Foundation, Zilma Lopes, Jessica Bullard, Deborah Kauba, and Adam Hardin, stand with Decarius McKeithan as he holds the scholarship he has received from the SECU.

For McKeithan, he says that when he is not helping others, he feels useless and that he is always looking for new ways to serve his fellow students and his community, whether that is through collecting toys for children at Christmas, collecting gently used coats for those in need during the winter, or serving as a work-study in the admissions office and helping other students complete their applications.

“This opportunity to work in Admissions has given me so much pleasure in seeing and helping students take the next step in completing their dreams of obtaining a college degree.”

McKeithan made a promise to one of his instructors who passed away a few years ago. She had started a food pantry on campus, which was open to anyone and everyone.

“As a promise to her, I vowed to help keep the food pantry up and running,” said McKeithan. “During the 2019-2020 school year, I assisted with the organization of Students Helping Other People Shop food drive to help keep the food pantry stocked. We collected clothing and personal hygiene supplies for the homeless and our campus community during the storms.”

“The joy that this brings is why I serve and will continue to do so,” said McKeithan. “I wish I had the resources to do more.” 

Having the heart and giving as a volunteer is something that McKeithan says he is passionate about, and it’s one of the many reasons he was awarded the SECU scholarship for 2021.

“Being a State Employee Credit Union Foundation receipt is an honor as I continue to pursue my degree here at Robeson Community College in Surgical Technology,” said McKeithan.