Standing Room Only At the Greene Space To Welcome the 7^th Class

     The seven 2016 Scholarship Plus winners were introduced at a ceremony on June 7 at New York Public Radio's Jerome L. Greene Space. The standing-room-only audience included families and friends, supporters of Scholarship Plus and present and former scholarship recipients. Among the latter were members of the Class of 2012,  now freshly minted college graduates.  Three of them – Raquel Beckford, of Trinity College, Hartford; Elira Duro of N.Y.U. and Sino Esthappan of Vassar – took part in the ceremony, introducing the new scholars and helping welcome them to the program. 

    The ceremony also honored seven Teachers Who Make a Difference, each of them chosen by one of the new scholars. For one of the teachers, Marius Cosma, it was the second time he had won the award. Another mentor honored, Anna Umanskaya, had been, a decade ago, the recipient of a New York Times Scholarship.  She spoke movingly of the difference it had made for her, and of her pleasure in helping a student join Scholarship Plus, which continues the approach of the Times program.

                                         Photographs by SKYLER REID

Soma Golden Behr, Executive Director of Scholarship Plus, at left, and Laura R. Walker, President and CEO of New York Public Radio, third from right, with this year's scholarship winners.  From left: Vasiki Konneh, Isaiah White, Emmanuel Jr. Amoateng, Sumitra G.C., Muhammad Gondal, Shuofei Sun and Kadijat Sylla.

Onstage at the Jerome L. Greene Space, with scholarship winners in front row and the teachers they honored. From left in second row: Anna Umanskaya, Senior Advocate Counselor, NYC Mission Society at Emma Lazarus High School; Andrew Drenth, Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences; Marius Cosma, Grover Cleveland High School; Angelica Vazquez, Brooklyn Technical High School; Robert J. Schimenz, Queens Vocational and Technical High School and Sharon Washington, Mentor, The Fierce Leadership for Youth Program at The Fly Academy, A. Philip Randolph Campus High School.

Sharon Washington, with the help of her daughter, makes a point to the scholarship winners.

Front row at the Greene Space, from left: Ellen Marson, Melanie Rosen Brooks and Kate Fenneman Stokes, all of Scholarship Plus.

Laura Walker, President and CEO of New York Public Radio, with Howard Stein, an NYPR board member and longtime supporter of Scholarship Plus.

Marshall Goldberg and Gale Robinson were part of three generations of the Goldberg family in audience. 

Leila Shakkour, a longtime supporter of the program, with Fabien Paul, a member of the 2014 Class who is now in his third year at Brooklyn College.

Steve Shepard and Darlene Ehrenberg, longtime friends of Scholarship Plus.

New York Times reunion: From left, Daphne Lundi, an urban planner who is a former Times Scholarship winner with degrees from Wellesley and the University of Texas, with veteran Times writers and editors Paul Winfield, Erica Goode and Laurie Mifflin.

Bryan Mera, a member of the second Scholarship Plus class and graduate of Brown University, now taking premed courses at Harvard, with Soma Golden Behr.

Summer 2016:  Internships, Plus

     For scholarship winners, the summer internships at New York Public Radio are only the beginning.  During the six weeks of the internships, they take part in New York City's cultural life, learning from theater artists, painters and sculptors.  They also visit the Battery, learning about its history and brilliant recreation in recent years, then board ship for a visit to the Statue of Liberty.    Also on the program:  Informal class sessions with practical advice on getting the most out of the academic and social sides of college.

A Visit to the Whitney With an Expert

Becomes a Two-Way Learning Experience

     After leaving work on Wednesday of their first week at New York Public Radio the scholars went further downtown to the Whitney Museum.  There Kristin Roeder of the museum's education staff showed them around the new building, with special focus on the exhibition 'Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney's Collection.'  'During our introductions,' Ms. Roeder recalled, 'students shared such a diverse variety of academic and personal interests  - I found it very engaging to experience the depth that each student's ideas and insights brought to our discussions.'

Kristin Roeder discussing Njideka Akunyili Crosby's 2016 work "Portals." 

Discussing Gary Simmons's, 1993 work "Lineup."  The provocative arrangement of gold-plated sneakers against a police lineup background led to a discussion of race, money and assumptions at the boundaries between law enforcement and the rest of society.   

On a Whitney terrace, from left:  Shuofei Sun, Ibrahim Cisse, Emmanuel Jr. Amoateng, Desiree Sim, Isaiah White and Muhammad Gondal.  Two of the group, sophomores Ibrahim Cisse of Rochester Institute of Technology and Desiree Sim of Skidmore, are in last year's class but doing internship this year.

After the museum, an evening picnic on the High Line.

The Battery and Liberty Island

By Ship and by Sea Horse

     The second week in July included one of the summer's highlights for the students, a visit to the Battery and the Statue of Liberty.  Warrie Price, founder and president of the Battery Conservancy, gave them an overview of the dramatic changes in the park in the last two decades. Then it was through the park and onto a ship that took them to the Statue of Liberty.  On their return to the mainland there was one more stop in the park, to enjoy the magic of the recently opened Sea Glass carousel.

Arriving on Liberty Island, from left: Vasiki Konneh, Emmanuel Jr. Amoateng, Isaiah White, Kate Fenneman Stokes, Desiree Sim, Fran Lester, Ibrahim Cisse, Muhammad Gondal and Sumitra G.C.

A beautiful day for sightseeing … 

… as well as for a bit of clowning around.

Searching for the perfect photograph.

Back at the Battery, Muhammad Gondal waits to board one of the bobbing, whirling, spinning seahorses of the Sea Glass carousel, designed to evoke the illusion of being underwater.

For Sumita, Desiree, Muhammad and Isaiah, it's a happy voyage. 

Greeks, Trojans and Scholars

Gather in Central Park

     Current scholars and some recent graduates sat before the walls of Troy in July for the Public Theater's presentation of 'Troilus and Cressida' on the stage of the Delacorte Theater. The play's appearance was updated – soldiers checked laptop computers and bursts of machine-gun fire crackled – but Shakespeare's words were declaimed by some of New York's best actors. 

Outside the Delacorte Theater: Shofei Sun, Emmanuel Jr. Amoateng, Ibrahim Cisse, who is going into his second year at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Fabien Paul, a junior at Brooklyn College.

Two alumnae flank Sumitra G.C. of the latest class.  Left, Elira Duro, a June graduate of N.Y.U. and now an analyst at JPMorgan; right, Jane Leung, a 2014 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, now on the staff of Mount Sinai Hospital.

In the Delacorte stands, waiting for the play to begin.

From Campus Life

To 'The Color Purple'

     As matriculation dates drew nearer, scholars – some completing their internships, others with college semesters behind them – gathered in a City University classroom for an afternoon of frank talk about navigating campus life. Among the topics covered: freedom, roommates, money, syllabi, time management and goal setting. That evening we walked up Broadway and, joined by more scholars from earlier classes, enjoyed a memorable performance of 'The Color Purple.'

Marilee Jones, a consultant and author who worked for decades in college admissions, listens as Vasiki Konneh poses a question.

Kate Fenneman Stokes goes through a list of things to bear in mind.  One of them: "You were NOT let in by mistake." At right are Shaunpaul Jones, an Amherst senior, and Ambar Paredes, a Syracuse sophomore.  "Never forget," Ambar said, "that the teachers are there to help you."

In Times Square, left to right: Emmanuel Jr. Amoateng, Muhammed Gondal, Sumitra G.C., Shuofei Sun, Desiree Sim, Vasiki Konneh and Ambar Paredes.

Waiting to enter the theater for "The Color Purple": Fabien Paul, Brooklyn College junior; Raquel Beckford, a new graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, now teaching elementary school in the Bronx and Elira Duro, N.Y.U. Class of 2016, an analyst at JPMorgan.