Bill Alvarez Memorial Scholarship

According to Bill, “Life is short; don’t waste it! If you want to do something, then go do it. If it was meant to be, it will happen; if it wasn’t, it never should have happened.” These words are wise indeed and Bill believed in those words and lived his short life through those words. He was a doer, an achiever, an athlete, a motivator and an inspiration to his beloved wife Susan, his family, his students and fellow staff members and, most of all, he was a friend to all at OCC.

Bill suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury in 1984. From that point forward he used a manual wheelchair to get around. In 1986, Bill helped form Campus Colleagues; a campus club for both able bodied and disabled students. In 1990, he was selected as Disabled Student of the Year. In 1991, Bill was the heart and soul in the development of the Disabled Students’ High Tech Center. In 1996, he initiated and organized the first in a series of Wheelchair Rugby charity exhibition games on campus to benefit the OCC Campus Colleagues scholarship fund.

This memorial scholarship is awarded to a disabled student who has demonstrated academic performance, involvement in campus activities, athletic interests and educational goals.