Jurcic graduates from RIT

Sam Jurcic of greater Riverdale graduated this spring from Rochester Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in management information systems.

Founded in 1829, this university enrolls about 20,000 students in more than 200 career-oriented and professional programs.

Students earned a total of about 4,300 degrees in the school’s 137th graduation ceremony in May. The university featured keynote speaker Kimberly Bryant, founder of the nonprofit organization: Black Girls CODE.

The organization builds pathways for young women of color by introducing them to skills in computer programming and technology. Its goal is to bring radical change if they want to close the opportunity gap for Black women and girls and show the world Black girls can code.

Swahili scholarship granted

Manhattan College student Paris Lecleir, Class of ’24, received a critical language scholarship to study Swahili for this summer in Tanzania, Africa. Lecleir is the first Manhattan College student to ever receive the scholarship.

Lecleir majors in global business and economics with a minor in international studies. Prior to Manhattan College, she took a gap year and volunteered in Tanzania as an English teacher.

The scholarship is for local college students who want to learn Swahili, Tanzania’s main language.

Mount Saint Vincent
scholars dinner

Gesselle Sanchez and Diamond Martin  — both Class of ‘22 — took the stage and stole the show with a standing ovation at the College of Mount Saint Vincent’s Annual Scholarship Tribute Dinner May 2 at Cipriani 25 Broadway in Manhattan.

Both students shared powerful and inspiring words that expressed why they both chose the Mount and highlighted their experiences along the way.

Sanchez graduated cum laude with a double major in psychology and Spanish. She also double majored in general science and international studies.

Martin, a sociology major, described her troubled upbringing and her journey to transfer to the Mount after overcoming many personal demons at another college.

The Mount raised nearly $700,000 in support of student scholarships. Its dinner was celebrated having been postponed not once, but twice as a result to the pandemic.