CVCC student Lopez receives award through CVCC School of WDA, CVCC Foundation, Inc.

Catawba Valley Community College student Jackie Patrick Jimenez Lopez recently became the latest recipient of CVCC School of Workforce Development and the Arts (WDA) student incentive funding.

10/05/2021

The award will cover Fall semester 2021 textbook and course materials for Lopez as he completes his Associate in Arts college transfer studies at CVCC.

Lopez was nominated for the award by CVCC Director of Student Help Renee Neal.

“Not only is Jackie an excellent student, but he also plays third base and catcher for our Red Hawk baseball team,” said Jeff Penley, CVCC School of WDA Special Advisor and Senior Professor for Technical and University Transfer Programs. “The term ‘student-athlete’ gets bandied about quite a bit, but Jackie is an outstanding student-athlete in the truest sense of the term. Jackie is professionally-minded, he is responsible, he manages his time very well and he is goal-oriented. Regardless of whether his academic success or his baseball skills reward him with a successful career, he will most certainly ‘get there’ one way or the other.”

Those attending the ceremony to recognize Lopez included School of WDA Dean Gary Muller and Penley.

“Jackie greets you with a smile, while at the same take taking his education and his baseball training very seriously,” Muller said. “We are very proud of our academic programs and our baseball program here at CVCC, and Jackie serves as a remarkable ambassador for both. Some may remember the famous phrase by the legendary Chicago Cub baseball player Ernie Banks: ‘Let’s play two.’ Well, Jackie is ‘playing two’ roles — one in the classroom and one on the baseball diamond — and he is playing both very well.”

For more information regarding this initiative and the CVCC School of Workforce Development and the Arts and its programs, please contact Dean Gary Muller at gmuller@cvcc.edu or Senior Professor and Student Advocate Jeff Penley at jpenley@cvcc.edu.

Note: The photograph accompanying this article was taken in full recognition of COVID-19 safety protocol, and all participants voluntarily removed their masks for only a few seconds for the purpose of having the photograph taken.

# # #