The Winter Gathering Confronts Uncomfortable Campus Realities

       After an hour or so of casual socializing at the get-together on January 12, Scholarship Plus students and alums took comfortable seats for a discussion of uncomfortable facts about campus life.  The death of Trayvon Martin, the killing of a Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement had been the sparks in recent months for demonstrations on many campuses.  Our scholars talked frankly about their experiences at their schools. 

        "It's always there," said one.  "Coming from Brooklyn," said another, campus attitudes on race "came as a culture shock."  The unconscious pervasiveness of "micro-aggressions" involving race was noted by a student at a New England college, as well as the less frequent, but inescapable, "macro-aggressions."

          Several of our scholars noted the lack of participation by white students in attempts to push for changes, or even to discuss racially fraught subjects.  Meetings to encourage discussion about race, they said, are often attended only by blacks and Latinos.  One senior at a New England school told of having informed her seminar professor of a campus-wide gathering about racial concerns scheduled at a time that would cut into the class period. The professor told her class that she encouraged them to participate, and that anyone could leave the seminar at noon to do so.  When noon came, the seminar's two black students got up and left, and the ten white students remained behind.

         "People don't like talking about race," said one of our scholars. "They don't like to use the word "black.' "  One, a Chinese student from a New England women's college, offered another perspective, saying: "It's always about the binary" – not about Asian and international students. A former New York Times Scholar, now in a graduate school of social work, noted another difficulty:  "We don't have a common language to discuss race," she said.  "Part of the problem," said a Cornell junior, "is creating space where people feel empowered." 

       "Every voice," said another student, "is important." 

 From left: Aixin Li, a junior at Smith College; Vidal "Jamie" Nino de Guzman, a Columbia junior; Elina Duro, an N.Y.U. senior; Muska Akbari, a sophomore in the C.U.N.Y. honors progam; Soma Golden Behr, and Natalia Munoz Perez, a Yale sophomore.

Diana Shifrina, a former New York Times Scholar now working at an internet startup, with friend of the program, Archie Crawford.

Lhamo Dorji of the State University at Binghamton, with a fellow sophomore, Muska Akbari of the City University of New York's Honors Program.

Emony Robertson, a Cornell sophomore, makes a point as Aixin Li listens.

Ibrahim Cisse, a Rochester Institute of Technology freshman, and Zeshan Gondal, in his first year at Yale.

Zeshan Gondal and Iona Cash listen as Davia Steeley, a former New York Times Scholar now a social work graduate student at Columbia, makes an observation.

From left: Raquel Beckford, a senior at Trinity College in Hartford; Desiree Sim, a Skidmore freshman, and Archie Crawford and Kate Fenneman Stokes of Scholarship Plus.

Reasons to smile: It's the final semester for Lavern Cash at LaGuardia Community College, left, and  Itzel Delgado at Haverford, center.  Iona Cash can look back at her Columbia graduation.

Family, Friends and Supporters

Gather to Welcome

The Class of 2015

       On June 9th, Scholarship Plus introduced the seven members of it sixth class at the magical Jerome L. Greene Space at New York Public Radio's offices.

       Also in the audience were several members of the second Scholarship Plus class, who had received degrees in the previous few weeks from Barnard, Columbia, Harvard, Stony Brook and Syracuse. One of the new graduates will be attending Harvard for graduate work in physics, another will be attending N.Y.U. Law School and another plans to enroll in Peking University on a Chinese Government scholarship.

In the spotlight: Scholarship winners in the front row, their selections for the Teachers Who Make a Difference award in the row behind them.

Laura Walker, Chief Executive Officer and President of New York Public Radio, welcoming the scholars, who will have paid internships at the station this summer.  

Ibrahim Cisse exchanges congratulations with classmates as he heads out to his prom. He had offered to skip the dance; his place on the welcome program was changed so he could attend both.

Leticia Quezada, who had graduated from Harvard a few days previously, gave a certificate and a rose to Ambar Paredes and each of the other scholars. 

Haldane Rogers of Brooklyn Technical High School, chosen by Zeshan Gondal as his Teacher Who Makes a Difference, reflected on distinctions between good students and great students.

Zeshan Gondal, who will be attending Yale, and his mother, Maqsooda Gondal.

From left, Pamela Vassil and her daughter, Sadye Campoamor, both friends of Scholarship Plus, with Ellen Marson, our Manager of Group Funding.  

Marshall Goldberg, a generous guide and champion for Scholarship Plus, with Michael Leahy, who introduced the new Scholarship Plus winners.

John Alvarez, a member of the new class, and his sister, Jessica, speaking with Judith Watson, a professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and academic adviser to Scholarship Plus.

Barbara Dixon and Deborah McManus of the Wellmet Group, which recently designated Scholarship Plus to receive a one-time grant of $20,000.

In foreground, Denise and Rob Wyse, longtime friends of Scholarship Plus.

New college graduates from our second class: Gregory Scott, with a degree from the University of Rochester, plans to go on to Beijing University.  Janagan Naahanathan, at left, was a valedictorian at Stony Brook and is preparing to apply to medical school.

Melanie Brooks, Scholarship Plus director, with Mylasha Furlonge, a member of our first class who just earned a Master's in Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts.  

Soma Behr, Executive Director of Scholarship Plus, with Jayson Jones, a New York Times Scholarship winner who earned a Master's in Social Work last year,  and Kandace Rodriguez.

Pamela Vassil greeting Philomina Kane, a Scholarship Plus student entering her junior year at Princeton.    

Keli Almonte, holding the rose and the copy of Justice Sonia Sotomayor's book, "My Beloved World," that each of the students was given, hugs her choice for Teacher Who Makes a Difference, Norma Feriz-Gordon of Hillcrest High School, holding the award certificate.

Scholars' Summer

Five scholarship winners are interning at New York Public Radio this summer.  In addition to their work day, they participate in activities reflecting the rich cultural offerings of New York.  Here are some of them:

A Day at the Ballpark

On June 14, five students took in a Mets game.  From left, Thema Williams, Ibrahim Cisse, John Alvarez, Fabien Paul and Keli Almonte. The Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-8.  And horizons were broadened to include ballpark hot dogs, Cracker Jacks, the seventh inning stretch and the wave. 

A Night on Broadway: 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'

Atop the TKTS booths in Times Square.  From left, Thema Willams, Kevin Baichoo, Ambar Paredes, Lhamo Dorje and Keli Almonte. 

Before the curtain: From left, Kevin Baichoo, Lhamo Dorje, Ambar Paredes, Keli Almonte and Thema Willams.

To the Battery
And Beyond

During an afternoon that is always a high point of the summer, the students explored the Battery and then took a ferry to Liberty Island.  We were warmly welcomed at the offices of the Battery Conservancy by Warrie Price, the organization's President, who gave a presentation on the park's history and plans for the future.  She then led us into the park, where we visited the construction site of new carousel, called Sea Glass, in which riders will sit inside representations of bioluminescent fish as they whirl around the recreation of an underwater world.  Next we boarded ferries for the trip to the Statue of Liberty, with some of us stopping on the way back at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

Warrie Price briefing the students on the Battery's history and plans for its future.

Inside the Sea Glass carousel, where visitors will ride inside giant representations of  bioluminescent fish through a representation of underwater life.

And these fish are tall!  Warrie Price explains their features to Kate Fenneman Stokes and Zeshan Gondal.

On Liberty Island, from left: Zeshan Gondal, Keli Almonte, Thema Williams and Ambar Paredes, with lemonade.

Widening Horizons
At the New Whitney

After work on a Thursday afternoon, this year's class of interns enjoyed a special tour of the recently opened Whitney Museum, designed by Renzo Piano. The visit was arranged by Diane Exavier, a New York Times Scholarship winner now doing graduate work in playwriting at Brown University.  In recent summers she has arranged for Scholarship Plus students to visit studios of individual artists and a printmaking collaborative.

On one of the Whitney's terraces, from left: Diane Exavier, Zeshan Gondal, Thema Williams, Lhamo Dorje,  Manuela Gonzalez, our excellent guide to the collection, and Ambar Paredes.

Multiple personalities: Looking at, and thinking about, Marisol's "Women and Dog."

Ambar Paredes and Zeshan Gondal listen to Manuela Gonzalez.  On wall in background: Edward Hopper's "Railroad Sunset."

In Paul Chan's "1st Light," moving silhouettes projected on the floor show bodies falling and manmade objects exploding upward, among         them rail cars and electrical equipment.

Zeshan Gondal and Ambar Paredes flank Thomas Downing's "Five," made of acrylic and shaped canvas.

Lhamo Dorje studies George Tooker's "The Subway."

Syllabi, Roommates and Budgets:
The New World of College

College is like 'Another Country,' said one of the slides in a program preparing scholarship winners for the next four years.  The program, held at the City University's Graduate School of Journalism, was led by Kate Fenneman Stokes and Marllee Jones, who has worked for decades in college admissions.  Scholarship Plus students who are now in college supplied their expert, and current, perspective.

Among Marilee Jones's insights: The pull of group behavior, the centrality of personal responsibility and the importance of being kind to yourself.

The view from the lectern.

Expert input: Karen Izquierdo, at right, a premed sophomore at Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, makes a point as Philomina Kane, left, a Princeton junior, and Kevin Baichoo, a Stamford sophomore, listen.

A Midsummer Night's
Shakespeare in the Park

20 Scholarship Plus students and friends attended an electrifying production of the rarely-performed 'Cymbeline" under a full moon. With a cast that included Kate Burton, Raul Esparza, Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe, Daniel Sullivan's production was a memorable outing to Central Park.

The audience assembles, appropriately dressed for a very warm evening.

Scholars, friends and a curious passerby.

It was a repeat performance in the park for Itzel Delgado, going into her senior year a Haverford, and Elira Duro, who will be a New York University senior.

When everybody had arrived, the Scholarship Plus group took up a row and a half of choice seats.

Celebrating a Summer
And Looking Ahead

Summer ends early at Scholarship Plus, as internships wind down and students start the process of saying goodbye to family and preparing for life at colleges all over the country.  So on Aug. 5, thirty-some  members of the Scholarship Plus family -- undergraduates, recent grads and friends of the program -- got together to renew friendships, make new ones, enjoy a hearty buffet and say goodbye until our winter gathering.

A major subject of the evening's chatter was summer internships of all sorts, among them paid jobs at New York Public Radio, including with one of the station's best-known on-air hosts, a research position at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and work at two top New York law firms.  Two students, neither of them Chinese, compared notes on learning Mandarin.

The evening's only speech was brief and moving, a personal story told by Eda Pepi, fresh back from a Fulbright research fellowship based in Amman, Jordan.  A former New York Times Scholarship winner, Eda told of undergraduate years at Harvard and her experimentation with several career paths since, including Wall Street and helping to organize academic conferences all over the world.  Now a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant at Stanford, she ended with some advice for undergraduates.

First, she said, get to know your professors – who very much want to get to know you.  Second, never hesitate to ask for help. The system, she said, has given many of your college classmates all the help in the world.  Now it's your turn. But you have to ask. And finally: Don't be afraid of the unknown.  Embrace it, and you may wind up finding your future.

All eyes on the speaker, as Eda Pepi tells her story and gives some excellent advice.

Listening as Eda Pepi makes a point are Janny Scott, head of one of the "pods" that jointly fund one of the scholarships, and Marshall Goldberg, a longtime supporter of Scholarship Plus.

From left, Jane Leung, soon to join the nursing staff at Mount Sinai Hospital, Aixin Li, a junior at Smith and Lhamo Dorje, who is majoring in Physics at the State University at Binghamton.

Karen Izquierdo, left, returning to her second year at Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College after doing research this summer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Muska Akbari, a rising sophomore in the City University's honors program, who worked in the program's administration this summer.

Graduates in 2015: Jane Leung, who received a nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania; Gregory Scott, who was a summer intern at the Paul, Weiss law firm after graduating from the University of Rochester and will next study for a year in Peking on a Chinese Government scholarship, and Bryan Mera, who graduated from Brown and will now take two years of pre-med classes at Harvard Extension School.

Marshall Goldberg with Jeffrey Ng, entering third-year engineering studies at N.Y.U. after a summer as an analyst on a trading desk at J.P. Morgan Chase.

Our 2015 College Graduates

Graduation scrapbook, clockwise from top left: Janagan Naahanathan at Stony Brook, holding souvenirs of his selection as a class valedictorian. Yuexia Lin at her Barnard honors ceremony, with Professor Reshmi Mukherjee.  Bryan Mera at Brown. Gregory Scott at the University of Rochester.  Leticia Quezada at Harvard.  Jane Leung, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

      Law school, medical school, graduate school and the beginnings of careers all figure in the immediate plans of our most recent college graduates, in places that range from Cambridge, Mass., to Beijing.  Here are the details:

     Jane Leung graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing, where she was inducted into the nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau.  She will be studying for her board examinations at home this summer, with the aim of joining the staff of a hospital in New York.  After a few years of work experience, she plans to return to UPenn for a master's degree at the Nursing School's Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner's Program.

     Yuexia Lin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard, where she won the Henry A. Boorse Prize for a graduating senior "whose record in physics shows promise of distinction in a scientific career."  She will attend Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  But first, she will work for a year developing her media and research skills.

     Bryan Mera graduated from Brown with a major in Biology.  His next stop is Harvard Extension School for pre-med classes.

     Janagan Naahanathan graduated from Stony Brook University, where he was one of seven winners of the Ward Melville Valedictorian Award for the most outstanding academic record in his class of 3,800 students and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.  He is currently applying to medical school.

     Leticia Quezada graduated from Harvard, majoring in Government with a minor in Ethnicity, Migration and Human Rights.  She will be attending New York University's Law School on a full tuition scholarship as part of the school's AnBryce Scholarship Program.  

     Gregory Scott graduated from the University of Rochester as an International Relations major.  He will be interning this summer at the Paul, Weiss law firm.  In the fall he is planning to attend Beijing University for a year on a Chinese Government scholarship.  After that he intends to apply for a joint law school and business school program.