HOLLAND, MI – Zeeland’s Primera Plastics, Inc., provided $10,000 in tuition grants for Holland and West Ottawa schools students to attend summer school classes to stay on track to graduate.
File photo from the mezzanine of Zeeland’s Primera Plastics, Inc. Nolar Cuellar, founder and president of the company has provided $10,000 in tuition grants for 100 Holland and West Ottawa students to take a summer school classes to stay on track for graduation. Cuella is a graduate of Holland High School.
Company founder and president, Noel Cuellar, recently spoke to 120 students at the start of the program and challenged them to get their education, be the best person they can be and to believe in themselves.
“There’s nothing you can’t do with an education and not much you can do without one,” said Cuellar to students at Holland’s Van Raalte Tech School. “Be the best you can be and if what you want is to be a factory worker then be the best factory worker there is.”
Cuellar, a Holland High School graduate, company is a major plastics parts supplier to the auto and furniture industries.
The tuition grants are meant to help students make up lost ground in their core subject and motivate them to graduate. Classes kicked off Tuesday, June 17, and run for six weeks ending in late July.
“With our tight budgets, it is challenging to help all students who need classes to get caught up with their classes and it’s a welcome gift of assistance from a local employer that will give students a second chance to be part of their graduating class,” said Holland Schools Superintendent Brian Davis.
File photo of Noel Cuellar, president and founder of Zeeland’s Primera Plastics Inc.
Kent Henson, West Ottawa Schools superintendent for instructional services, said this is the second year Cuellar’s company has provided the grants, which give students who might not be able to pay for tuition a chance at class credit recovery to get back on track for graduation. He said it was a great, ongoing partnership.
Cuellar told students he barely graduated but only came to appreciate how education could change your life, after he was married and working. He said he began study plastics manufacturing technology in his late 20s. The company employs 150 people and reports $20 million in annual sales.
“I feel I would be lost if I couldn’t catch up this summer,” said student Rocio Enriquez, a Holland senior, who is making up a math class at Holland High School this summer, in a press release.
Enriquez said it is important to him that he passes his classes and graduates with his class next year.
Monica Scott is the Grand Rapids K-12 education writer. Email her at mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter @MScottGR or Facebook
