More than 200 people recently paid homage to America’s founding mothers, along with mothers of today, at a May 1 fundraiser at Bucks County Community College.
The event, which coincides with the nation’s semiquincentennial, is the college’s 19th annual Salute to Mothers Scholarship Tea.
The fundraiser supports scholarships for students who are parents, such as Kassandra Castillo, who shared her story of returning to college after losing her father to COVID-19 just before learning she was pregnant.
Her father’s last words to her were, “Please graduate college and be someone important in this life.”
The scholarship has helped her do just that, as she graduates from Bucks County Community College on May 21 with an associate degree in journalism while already working as a freelance reporter.
The journalism student delivered the keynote speech at the Tea. Castillo won multiple awards as editor of the student newspaper.
She credited her mother for helping her succeed.
“Without her watching my daughter day in and day out every day while I work and go to school, I wouldn’t be here. She is the reason for my accomplishments. She is the reason I am where I am,” Castillo said.
The annual fundraiser was established in 2007 by Professor Emerita Betty Tsai. The scholarship fund has helped more than 265 students, providing more than $366,000 in financial assistance to those pursuing their academic goals while raising a family.
At the Tea, guests were greeted by students in colonial-era costumes. Student research posters about the women who helped forge the new nation 250 years ago were on display.
The costumes were courtesy of Bristol Riverside Theatre. The Tea took place in the garden behind historic Tyler Hall on BCCC’s Newtown Campus.
The 2026 Salute to Mothers Scholarship Tea Committee celebrated nearly a year’s worth of planning that included creating more than three dozen raffle baskets and gathering several more high-end silent auction items.
The committee included Nereida McCulley-Breustedt, Pam Ottenheimer, Susanne Derby, Reeti Behera, Karen O’Donnell, Mary Ellen Bornak, Elizabeth Luckenbill, Mary Jane Leonard, Susan Pfizenmayer, Amy Masgay, Samantha Gross, Andrew States, Danielle Brody, Carole Williams, Betty Tsai, and Marilyn Puchalski.
