PCC Chooses Student Speaker for Graduation
May 17, 2010
TUCSON, AZ – Pima Community College announces Pamela Neal as the student speaker for PCC’s 2010 Commencement ceremony May 20.
Neal, a paralegal major with a 3.91 grade point average, is receiving an Associate of Applied Science degree with her Paralegal major as well as an Associate of General Studies.
This degree marks a major accomplishment for Neal. Ultimately, she wants to get a law degree and do work with underprivileged women and children. Though Neal says she always has longed for a college degree, she often was detoured by “life”. After deciding not to attend Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia though she was accepted out of high school in 1976, she moved to Phoenix. She intended to get a degree from Arizona State University, but for various reasons did not complete a class.
Still she has had a successful 31-year career in the title and escrow business. Yet, she yearned for a degree. In 2008, she enrolled full-time at Pima.
“It was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” says Neal, a senior escrow officer with Metro Title Agency of Arizona. “It’s not necessarily the time you take to do something, but whether or not you complete it.”
Her desire to work full-time to help underprivileged women and children has been fueled by years of volunteer work with such groups as Desert Dove Farm, a horse therapy program for at-risk youth, Sonoran Glass Art Academy and The Hearth Foundation, the only Realtor®/Real Estate community foundation in the United States. She also recently started Shoes for Success at the urging of her boss, Metro Title Tucson County Manager Lenny Robles. Through the program, Fleet Feet Tucson, a locally-owned running, walking, and fitness specialty store, solicited donations of new or slightly used shoes. After Old Pueblo Community Services cleaned and sanitized the shoes, Tucson Urban League distributed them to underprivileged adults and children. In its first effort, Shoes for Success distributed nearly 350 pairs of shoes.
“It’s amazing how many people in our own back yards don’t have shoes,” she says.
Being connected and giving back to the community are themes she will present at the Graduation Ceremony.
“The choices you make will not only impact your life, but those around you,” says Neal, who has lived with her husband in Tucson since 1991. “Remember our community has much to offer and we have much to give back.”
This fall, Neal will be enrolled full-time in Northern Arizona University online classes through its Interdisciplinary Studies: Degree Completion program, majoring in Public Administration. (She’s considering a double major of Public Administration and Communications.) The program is part of the Interdisciplinary 90-30 program through NAU’s Extended Campuses program and is one of Pima’s many transfer partnerships with colleges and universities.
PCC graduation is at 7 p.m. May 20 at Tucson Convention Center Arena, 260 S. Church Ave.
CONTACT:
A. Rachelle Howell, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Marketing,
(520) 206-4850