Donnie Richardson of Mossy Head is a successful businessman who knows the value of education and says that Northwest Florida State College has been one of his best investments ever.

“OWC is very important to us,” says Mr. Richardson, speaking for his family: his wife, Sharon, and adult sons Aaron and Matthew, who, like him, are OWC alums. “We have really fond memories of going there. We all feel it was an integral part of our educational process.”

Donnie Richardson is 49 and sits on the board of the OWC Foundation. During the college’s 25th anniversary, he was named a Distinguished Alumni, an honor he relishes, because he considers himself a lifelong learner. As a farmer – he grows corn, peanuts, cotton, hay, soybeans, oats and wheat on more than 2,000 acres in Mossy Head – Mr. Richardson says he is constantly having to readjust his way of thinking, depending on the weather, the economy, changes in technology and a whole array of other factors.

“I’m a firm believer that a good education pays off,” says Mr. Richardson, who, after graduating from OWC with an AA degree in 1978, went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of West Florida. “There’s a lot of ways my education has helped save me money and make me money. The way I see it, the more education you have, the more opportunity you have.”

Donnie and Sharon Richardson have been married more than 25 years. They graduated a year apart from Walton High School, each in the top 10 percent of their class. They were the first in their families to attend college. She was a nurse, and then a middle school science teacher, and now she teaches the STRIDE program at Davidson Middle School in Crestview for Florida State University’s College of Medicine outreach program.

OWC set them firmly on their way.

“My wife and I were just starved for knowledge,” Mr. Richardson says, recalling their early adult years,” but neither of us were prepared to move away from home to go to school.”

At OWC’s Niceville campus, “I felt comfortable immediately,” he says. “It was a lot like my high school. There were a lot of people I knew, the classes were small and the teachers really seemed to care. They all took a special interest in you.”

Mr. Richardson was not only a full time academic student, he audited practically every trade class that was then offered, and learned electrical wiring, mechanics, welding, construction, you name it. As a result, he was able to build his own house – a beautiful, sprawling country home – practically by himself, and he fixes whatever breaks around the farm.

“I call myself a jack of all trades,” he explains, adding that being self employed, “you can’t afford to go and hire somebody to do this and that for you.”

He says each of his college specialties has paid dividends. “Biology, of course, was right up my alley,” Mr. Richardson points out, “but the business end has helped me just as much, because I understand, for example, depreciation,” and he was savvy enough about real estate to buy his land, 40 to 80 acres at a time, before the market took off.

Along with farming, Donnie and Sharon Richardson raise cattle, and own about 250 animals. Both are active in the community. And they are proud of their sons, who are achievers in their own right – Aaron, 23, is earning a doctorate in biomedical engineering and Matthew, at 20, is already headed to law school.

“We see it as a pyramid,” Mr. Richardson says of his family’s educational progression. “Our parents were here at the base, with just high school educations. Sharon and I were able to go a little further. Our kids are going even past that. It’s a building process.”

Ann Teel Hatcher wants to provide some encouragement for students coming to Northwest Florida State College. Just like the boost the Crestview businesswoman got when she graduated from OWC when its was known as a junior college.

“What the college does for the community is develop strong programs and provide the opportunity for students who live here and can’t go away to a four-year college,” said Ann, who practically grew up in her father Billy Teel’s State Farm Insurance Agency and now is an agent herself. Ann is an OWJC alumnus who is making a financial difference by establishing the Ann Teel Hatcher Scholarship Endowment through the OWC Foundation. She particularly likes the fact that her contribution is receiving a corporate match from State Farm and both donations are then eligible for the state’s $1-to-$1 match on scholarship gifts.

As the mother of a daughter, who works part-time for the Florida Senate in Tallahassee, and a 10th grade son, Ann Teel Hatcher, who earned a degree at Florida State after OW, has a nononsense business approach to matters. She says the scholarship “will be an encouragement for students who are learning and taking education seriously.”

But, there is a sensitive side that her father remembers about Teel Hatcher’s time at OWJC and a visit with former president Dr. Ed McCracken. “Apparently she’d gone in tears to see Dr. McCracken because she’d made a B in a course and the professor had told the class half of them would not pass because it was too tough for them,” recalled Billy Teel of the episode.

Teel Hatcher says said there was another reason that prompted her to fund the scholarship. “I’ve seen and read so much about what the foundation has done and how generous the college was to provide land for the Children in Crisis facility in Fort Walton Beach. It’s another example of the college’s commitment to serve the community.”

Dr. Bob Richburg, OWC president, said it marks a “special time in the life of a college when our graduates return as donors. The Ann Teel Hatcher Scholarship Endowment is one of those times. We are proud that Ann has chosen to honor ‘her college’ with this endowment. We thank the Teel family for its involvement with O-W over the years and for the future
generations of students who will benefit from the scholarship.”

Richburg said OWC is reaching an age where “I hope other alumni will consider following Ann Teel Hatcher and include the college in their charitable giving plans.” He noted that often a corporate matching fund can double the size amount of an individual’s contribution, helping them reach a goal even sooner.

Bruce Shavey likes to say he’s investing in tomorrow each time he contributes to the Shavey Family Scholarship Endowment he began 11 years ago through the OWC Foundation.

“Where else can I can invest and double my return at the start,” said Shavey, the quiet Tennessee chemical company official and OWC Distinguished Alumnus, referring to the State of Florida’s $1-to-$1 match on private scholarship
gifts to the college.

For more than a decade, the donations Shavey annually directs to the OWC Foundation include more than $120,000 to the Shavey Scholarship Endowment and another $12,000 for the Shavey Family Ethics in Business Scholarship, a restricted scholarship that also was matched with state funds several years ago.

“Each year it means our family’s scholarships are helping one more student attend OWC and that’s the important thing to me,” said Shavey of his recent $12,000 contribution. Shavey, who was in town for the OWC Foundation’s 20th anniversary dinner celebration, had been uncertain where he was going in life when he first attended then OWJC in the 1970s. That’s until one day now retired chemistry professor Dr. Ron Head took an interest in him and opened the door that ultimately led him to his career.

Shavey, of course, also gives credit to his late parents, who came to live in Valparaiso after an Air Force career. “They always believed in sharing and giving something back,” he said. “It’s because of them I’m able to do this.”

OWC Foundation president Lori Kelly said, “Bruce Shavey has demonstrated a loyalty and commitment that we would enjoy
seeing from many other alumni. We really appreciate how Bruce has made an impact on scholarship support for so many students.”

There are not many people in the nation, and even fewer from the rural Okaloosa County community of Blackman near the Alabama line, who have the distinction of serving as chef for the President of the United States.

The late Sam Hayes could make such a claim after his U.S. Army career led him to become chef for President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. Hayes, who would go on to teach the culinary arts at then Okaloosa-Walton Junior College after
earning a degree and become a Crestview City Councilman, passed away in December 2007. He was 87.

“The college lost one of its own and the community lost a great leader,” said Dr. Bob Richburg, OWC president. “Sam
Hayes was a good friend, a patient man who listened, and truly was a man of the people.”

Dale Rice Jr., college trustee and longtime friend of Hayes also expressed sadness. However, Rice said family and friends have established a scholarship in Hayes’ memory “to honor his tremendous service to the city of Crestview, the college, Northwest Florida, and to his country.”

The eighth of 11 children Hayes received his early education at Rocky Bayou, Garnier, and Carver schools which are
no longer around, and then enlisted in the Army in 1941, where he received training as an Executive Chef. As a combat
wounded veteran, Hayes fought in North Africa and Europe in World War II and later did a tour in Southeast Asia ending a 31-year career as a master sergeant.

During his more than two decades on the Crestview City Council, Hayes was known for “his strong leadership” and for “leaving a lasting impression on those he served.” Rev. Dwight Baggett said Hayes “used what he had” and “always looked out for the people. He treated everyone like family and he always had an extra seat at the table come dinner time.”

Contributions to the Sam and Florence Hayes Scholarship Endowment can be forwarded to the OWC Foundation, 100 College Blvd., Niceville, FL 32578 or you may donate online at www.owcfoundation.org.

The 2007 OWC nominee for the Against the Odds category of the LeRoy Collins Distinguished Community College Alumni Award is Melissa “Misty” Cromer, a shining example of what perseverance, tenacity, and pure will power can produce.

For more than 40 years, Northwest Florida State College has provided a sturdy bridge of opportunity for countless students to fully develop their individual talents and abilities. OWC alumni impact our lives daily, enriching us through their accomplishments, enhancing their respective professions, and most important of all, setting positive examples for future students.

Every year OWC recognizes the best and the brightest among the college’s alumni by nominating a graduate for the LeRoy Collins Distinguished Community College Alumni Award. The award categories, Lifetime Achievement, Rising Star, and Against the Odds, are designed to honor diversity of achievement represented by community college alumni.

The 2007 OWC nominee for Against the Odds is Melissa “Misty” Cromer, a shining example of what perseverance, tenacity, and pure will power can produce. A woman who, in spite of being told she would never graduate from high school, dreamed of being a photographer with her own studio. Armed with steely determination and an instructor who believed in her, she started with the OWC Adult Education program to complete the requirements for the high school equivalent diploma and went on to become an honors student who repeatedly made the dean’s list for her performance in college classes and completed an A.A.S. degree in graphics technology.

“I’ve been a teacher for many years, and although I’ve seen a lot of amazing success stories, Misty certainly worked the hardest of
anyone I’ve ever taught,” says OWC’s Marsha Kaplan, who was Cromer’s teacher in the Even Start program, which offers free GED and basic-skills training to parents who do not have a high school diploma. “Misty spent nearly four years – four years! – studying for her GED test”. “What teacher could resist Misty’s eagerness to learn and her determination to succeed?” asks Kaplan. “The woman had plans, and she marched us right through them.”

Kaplan says Cromer overcame a learning disability and a sub-par primary school education to achieve her dreams: fi rst, to get
a high school diploma, and second, to be a photographer.

In nominating Cromer for the 2007 distinguished alumni award, Kaplan explained how much effort Misty expended to reach
her goals. “Through the Even Start program, we worked together for four years,” Kaplan wrote. “Melissa was always prepared with a clean kitchen table, a pot of green tea and a pile of texts, which she had neatly bookmarked to indicate exactly what she wanted to know. She read and reread every instructional book
I owned, and at her request, we even plowed through some of the ‘Oprah novels’ together.”

Once Cromer passed her GED, she signed up for college immediately. “I kind of knew (I had a knack) for photography but I needed more skills,” Cromer says. “You don’t need much more than a camera for capturing the moment but if you’re going to make a living at it you do have to have technical skills, to do the right lighting, for instance.”

Like countless working mothers, Northwest Florida State College grad Misty Cromer runs a household and a business – raising three children and working as a self-employed portrait photographer. “I really love my job, I just love it,” Cromer says. “I get to work with all kinds of people, capturing all their special moments, and it just makes me feel great.”

“It’s where I struggled and where I cried a lot and where I remember now how far I’ve come from that,” says Cromer.

She says she loved the college experience, the exchange of ideas, campus life and the good advice she got from instructors such as Benjamin Gillham, a professor of graphic design who always gave her pointers “and would just help me out.”

“I always say Ms. Marsha and Ben are the best teachers anyone could have,” Cromer says proudly. “OWC is great.”

The primary goal for the OWC Foundation’s Annual Fund Campaign in any year is to broaden the base of support to the college and to raise awareness of college activities and programs. According to Sandy Sims, past chair of the Annual Fund Committee and Gulf Power Executive, the Annual Fund helps the foundation communicate to the community OWC’s need for support as well as encourages involvement in OWC events and volunteer opportunities.

“As a committee, our job in the past has been as much about ‘friend-raising’ as it has been about fund-raising.” With that end in mind, 2006 and 2007 showed an increase in communication via newsletters and a new alumni website as well as an increase in special events and activities.

The upcoming 2008 Annual Campaign will extend beyond communication and “friend-raising” by encouraging the more than 22,000 individuals who have received degrees or certificates from OWC to contribute financially to the annual fund.

“Alumni support is critical—as OWC’s need for private funds rises, so does the importance of support from our alumni. Simply put, we need help from alumni to achieve our mission of providing quality educational programs.” says Lori Kelly, OWC Alumna and President of the OWC Foundation.

The strategy for this year’s campaign, as in the past, will be to first reach out to all members of the college family. In 2007, members of the college’s Board of Trustees and the Foundation’s Board of Directors set a resounding example by supporting the college with gifts totaling $156,215, while college faculty and staff gave a record $35,623. This level of support demonstrates the extraordinary confidence that those who know OWC best have in the college and, no one knows better than OW faculty and staff what a difference private support makes to instructional programs and services.

Direct mail solicitations to alumni will begin in Spring 2008. Contributions to the Annual Fund will also be solicited from the community and gifts may be designated to areas of special interest to the donor or those of greatest need for the college. Annual Fund revenue will be used for the college’s immediate needs such as financial aid for deserving students, upgrading computer and lab equipment throughout all campuses and enhancing library materials and instructional support. Annual gifts provide a foundation for OWC to build upon for larger, capital initiatives as well.

Ultimately, the funds raised will help maintain a college community that is committed to academic excellence and help OWC fulfill its wider goal of contributing in a meaningful way to the economic, cultural and social well being of Okaloosa and Walton Counties. Contributions to the OWC 2008 Annual Fund Campaign may be made to the OWC Foundation, 100 College Blvd., Niceville, FL 32578. For more information on specific needs or to become involved in alumni activities, please call 850-729-5357.