KVCC

Boxer Dewey Bozella, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1983 and spent 26 years in prison, will be the keynote speaker at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Foundation’s 8th annual Opportunities for Education Dinner on April 25, 2012.

Bozella was exonerated and released from prison in 2009. He learned to box in prison and made it a goal to one day box professionally. On Oct. 15, he achieved that goal by defeating Larry Hopkins at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The 52-year-old said that fight was his first and last. He is now devoting his life to helping others, working with a non-profit that assists recently released prisoners who are making the transition back into the world. This last July, Bozella received ESPN’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award for his courage and perseverance. Past recipients of the award include Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali and Billie Jean King. “Although many lessons in my life have been difficult to learn, I am now in a position to help others based on my experiences and that is worth the world to me,” Bozella said.

The OFE dinner benefits Kalamazoo Valley Community College students with financial needs. In 2010, Kalamazoo Valley Community College processed 17,533 requests for financial aid, a 25% increase over the prior year. Of those requests, only 49.9%, or 8,741 students, received some form of financial aid. Each year, a larger percentage of applicants have been left un-served due to grant and scholarship funding levels not keeping pace with financial aid.

Tickets for the April 2012 event will be available through the KVCC Foundation website at www.kvcc.edu/foundation

For more information about the event and the KVCC Foundation, contact Executive Director Stephen Doherty, 269-488-4442 or email: sdoherty@kvcc.edu

For more information about Dewey Bozella, see:

http://www.deweybozella.com/biography

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=6740501

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/web/COM1191255