ALUMNI Spotlights

Next thing, the two were searching for schools that had a program. SMCC immediately came up in the search. The South Portland campus was close to home, so he visited and one he did he knew he had found the next chapter in his life.

Flores took full advantage of his time at the SMCC as a threeyear men’s basketball program member and chaired the student activities programming board, which gave him hands-on experience with event management. Flores took that experience, promoted concerts, and managed his own production company for several years.

“SMCC gives such a great one-on-one experience that you won’t get at a bigger university. It really helps you focus in and be able to ask questions as needed,” Flores said. “Combining that personalized experience with work and, of course, the basketball team, provided a challenge that made it much easier to succeed when focusing on my career.”

Flores graduated from SMCC in 2009 with a degree in Cardiovascular Technology and immediately started his career as a Lab Technologist at a Rhode Island Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. After several years of catheterization lab experience, Flores pursued the Registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist (RCIS) national certification, allowing him to travel to different hospitals nationwide and perform various types of procedures in other cardiovascular-oriented settings.

Flores has seen his SMCC education take him throughout New England and the Northeast, working in some of the most renowned healthcare facilities while treating patients for the past 14 years. As of 2022, Flores has spent roughly five years in a cardiac catheterization lab and six years in an electrophysiology lab working in many top hospitals across the U.S. Flores currently works as an electrophysiology lab technician at WakeMed in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Flores credits his time at SMCC as the catalyst that helped springboard career advancements within the cardiovascular profession. “SMCC was so fun and a solid learning experience that was the start of so many of my life and career opportunities.”

SMCC receives a donation in excess of $1 million to support students

Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) has been provided with a donation in excess of $1 million from a longtime, anonymous donor to benefit students in hands-on trade programs looking to enter the workforce after graduating.

“This anonymous donor completed a gift of over $1 million directly to the SMCC Foundation,” Cassidy said. “That is a big gift in our world. A requirement of the donation is that the entire gift goes directly to students and that it’s completely spent down in ten years. We’re going to put a million-plus directly into the hands of SMCC students.”

The donor shared with us, “We were originally inspired to give by seeing the hard work of SMCC students first-hand. We’ve beengiving for a while, and now we’re at a place where we feel we can make a real, positive impact on the lives of SMCC students.”

Roger K Williams Foundation commits $170,000 to SMCC Foundation in support of student scholarships

The Roger K Williams Foundation committed to donating $170,000, creating a scholarship in the name of the Foundation’s founder and native Sanford, Mainer, Roger K. Williams to support SMCC students in Applied tech, health science and public safety.

Tom Williams, Roger’s nephew and co-trustee, said his uncle created the Foundation to help hardworking Mainers improve their lives. “Uncle Roger was always huge on education,” Williams said. “We want to help (students) enter a field they enjoy, create a career, give back to the community, and make a good living.”

“This scholarship supports our mission of transforming the communities our students will serve,” President Joe Cassidy said. “Applied technology, health sciences, and public safety are all areas with critical staffing needs and this scholarship will help place our students into the workforce, creating better futures all-around.”

Highlighting the generosity of SMCC supporters.