Foothill Robert and Patti Henshel Great Perseverance Scholarship

Description & Purpose of Scholarship:
Dr. Peter Mills was a student at Foothill College in the mid 1960s and has always been grateful for the opportunity to obtain housing through the student firefighter program where he lived in the firehouse (which was located at the Carriage House) and served as a student firefighter. The firefighters, led by then Fire Captain Robert (Bob) Henshel, were extremely kind and generous to Dr. Mills and the other students. Bob and his wife Patti welcomed the students into their home for meals and provided support and encouragement to the students to help them achieve their goals. Bob and Patti were like a second family for the student firefighters, particularly Dr. Mills. In recognition of their kindness and support, Dr. Mills decided to name the scholarship after Robert (Bob) and Patti Henshel. (Patti passed away in 1998 and Bob passed away in 2009). Dr. Mills went on to receive a PhD from the University of California, Irvine, and is a retired emeritus professor at the University of Oregon.
While at Foothill, Dr. Mills also received a scholarship and could not have completed his AA without this financial help. Dr. Mills felt strongly about giving back to Foothill and chose to set up this scholarship to recognize students with financial need who have persevered academically having overcome a great hardship, having lived with a disability, being the first in their family to go to college, overcoming economic hardship, having re-entered college after a period of absence, single parent, etc.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Applicant must be enrolled at Foothill College in at least 6 units at the time of application and disbursement of scholarship funds
• Applicant’s cumulative Foothill GPA must be a 2.5 or higher
• Demonstrated Financial Need. We, therefore, strongly recommend that applicants file a current academic year’s financial aid application (the FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov for U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens, or the California Dream Act Application at https://dream.csac.ca.gov for undocumented students who qualify for AB540 status) at least one week prior to the scholarship application deadline by 4:00pm. NOTE: Undocumented students who do not qualify for AB540 status should contact the Financial Aid Office for guidance about completing a financial aid application.
• Be sure to demonstrate how you have overcome a great hardship and persevered in achieving your educational goals in your personal “My Story” essay as part of the application.