Donate

Gen-1 students are resilient, hard-working, and resourceful, but they also know that they are not blazing this trail alone. Donor support is an integral part of UC's Gen-1 program.

Even after leveraging federal, state and local financial aid, there is still an annual need of $650,000 of additional aid to support Gen-1 students.

On-the-job experiences are essential for student success. UC's ELCE is an excellent program that places students in internships and co-ops. However, many nonprofit internships are unpaid, creating a substantial financial hardship if not impossibility for Gen-1 students. Three thousand dollars underwrites a Gen-1 student's semester-long internship with a nonprofit organization.

Accomplished "trailblazers", Dr. John Cuppoletti and wife, Dr. Danuta Malinowska created the Cuppoletti Fund to support academic enrichment opportunities such as study abroad experiences, graduate school applications, unpaid internships, and graduate school-related travel.

With a firm belief that education involves more than just books, the couple's annual gift provides options such as the chance to travel, attend a professional conference, study abroad, or the opportunity to forego taking an outside job in order to conduct a field research project.

Through the Cuppoletti Fund, students have studied and interned both internationally and domestically, such as, Botswana, Japan, Costa Rica, Georgia, Colorado, Los Angeles, and many more.