HAZLETON — Students at the Luzerne County Community College Hazleton Center have a new place to relax, work together or get some tutoring help, thanks to the generosity of the Schiavo family. On Thursday Linda Schiavo, sister of the late Attorney Pasco Schiavo, formally cut the ribbon on the “Pasco L. Schiavo Student Learning Commons” in the center’s second floor.
With a donation from the Pasco L. Schiavo Memorial Fund of the Luzerne Foundation, the space was renovated, refurnished and renamed for a man known for legal work, real estate work and philanthropic support of community-minded organizations.
The new space represents “what the Pasco Schiavo Memorial fund is all about,” Luzerne Foundation President C. David Pedri said during brief remarks. “If you have the opportunity, and if you work for it, you will succeed.” Pedri and others who spoke prior to the ribbon cutting stood by a wall with a message printed on it: “The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it.”
LCCC President Thomas Leary praised the “gracious gift from the Schiavo family” that helped create a space where students can learn in group or one-on-one tutoring sessions, work collaboratively on school projects, or just get some quiet time in hectic days that may be filled with college lessons and outside jobs.
Hazleton Center Director Kimberly Whalen beamed as she thanked the Schiavo family for making the commons a reality, while student Colton Edmund Miller talked of how LCCC support had turned his life around after COVID-19 disrupted his final years of high school and he drifted aimlessly for a year without any plans. College staff helped him find a purpose and develop confidence, he said.
“Without their support and guidance I could never succeed.”