Steve and Leslie Shuman visited the PTA program in August 2022 and got to see the hospital bed and study guides that were purchased with their donation.
When Steve Shuman’s father passed away in 2021, the Black Hawk College alum received an unexpected inheritance. Shuman decided that he wanted “to do something good with it.”
“Someone else can benefit from something I inherited,” he said.
Shuman graduated from the Physical Therapist Assistant Program in 2008 and even though he left the Quad Cities in 2014, he kept in touch with Dianne Abels, his former professor and current PTA program director.
Now living in Tennessee, Shuman called Abels and asked if the program needed anything. She told him that one of the hospital beds in their simulated patient care room was on its last leg.
Shuman and his wife, Leslie, decided to donate $10,000 to the Black Hawk College Foundation for the PTA program. They left it up to Abels to decide the best way to use the funds to benefit the college and PTA students.
The gift not only is being used to purchase a new hospital bed, it is providing scholarships, emergency support to PTA students, and program supplies such as study guides.
“We are so appreciative of the Shumans’ gift,” Abels said. “This will positively impact student learning experiences for years to come.”
BHC Foundation executive director Zenaida Landeros is grateful for alumni who want to give back.
“It’s so wonderful that Steve and Leslie want to invest in the college and enhance the lives of our students,” she said.
For Steve Shuman, it’s about coming full circle.
“I had a great experience at Black Hawk College,” he said. “I wanted to pay it forward.”