I
have been truly blessed and honored to live the tale of Cinderella by
being awarded a scholarship from the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy
Scholars. On September 19, 2013, I was invited to a reception
(the ball) given by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust to welcome Cohort 13 and to wish farewell to
the Scholars that will be graduating in 2014. The reception was held
at the C.W. & Modene Neely Education and Event Center in the Phoenix
Zoo.
I
arrived at the zoo and felt a bit overwhelmed because it is a very large
place but I trusted that I would find the location and did because there
were several signs that directed me to where the event was being held. I
walked in and was greeted by one of the Trustees (the fairy
god-Trustee) of the trust who welcomed me and asked me for my name
and presented me with a name tag and a program of the event. My
name tag read "Cohort 13, Diana Monell, South Mountain Community College”
and the program listed each of our names with a brief description of
each of us and our academic goals. I looked around the
room and was so impressed with what I saw. The event was so
professionally organized. There was a wonderful buffet-style spread,
waiters and waitresses removing dishes from the tables, and photographers
taking pictures as we mingled with each other and with the Trustees.
The
program began with a welcome and introduction by the President and CEO and
there was information shared about how the Trust came to be. I had
the honor and pleasure to meet the niece of the late Mrs. Nina M Pulliam,
who i sits on Board (another fairy god-person). She
shared information about her late Aunt Nina and her life growing up around
her. Thereafter, the Director of Grant Programs
introduced each and every one of the Scholars and we were all photographed with
the Trustee. When my name was called, I was so excited and honored that I
did not hear the rest of the introduction. The fact that my name was read
was my Cinderella moment. That truly humbled me because it was
not , as in the tale, that I was being rescued or saved by someone. It was
instead a moment of true victory. I was chosen and given
a scholarship ("my glass slipper") based on my academics,
my story and all the requirements that I had fulfilled. My moment of
truth!
The picture at the top of the post shows Diana at the recent reception.
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