The Bakersfield College Foundation program received a financial gift from the Clifford and Patricia Mettler State in early July. The gift was directed to support students from the Agriculture Pathways Early College Program.
The Clifford and Patricia Mettler State financial gift will assist students that live in rural communities and are the first ones in their families to get a college degree. Since the distance is a challenge for most students to get campus resources, the gift will be used by the Bakersfield College Early Program to help students have expanded access to instructional materials like textbooks and supplies, and improved grammatic support while they are working toward an associate degree in agriculture and completing their high school coursework.
“We are tremendously grateful for the generous gift offered through the Mettlers’ estate,” said Sonya Christian, Bakersfield College president. “This gift comes at a time when our community is experiencing uncertainty in many respects. Knowing that future generations of our rural Early College Renegades will be provided the support to pursue their educational dreams is certainly a ray of light for the future of our agricultural community.”
The Mettlers grew up in Kern County and both attended local schools. The physical and economic landscape of Kern County was impacted by the Mettlers, mostly due to Clifford farming operations in the Edison and Mettler areas, according to a news release.
Now they are going to continue their legacy on agriculture students for the next generation of farmers in Kern county.
The Clifford and Patricia Mettler State gift will help students from 120 high schools that are participating in the Agriculture Pathways Early College Program, which means 70 college students approximately are going to receive support in the academic year 2020. However, the BC Early Program plans to scale the support to help at least 120 students annually in incoming years.
Students do not need to apply for the funds to get help. BC will use the funds to support students at-scale, which means that they will invest those funds to ensure every class has what they need to succeed.