MC trio chooses post-grad service

Following commencement, there are many paths a newly minted college grad can take. Maybe they’ll go onto grad or professional school. Maybe they’ll enter the workforce.

But three graduates from Manhattan College’s Class of 2021 opted instead for a year of volunteering.

Meggie Black, an English and art history double major, will work with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest at a L’Arche community in Tacoma, Washington. L’Arche is an international organization focused on helping people with intellectual disabilities.

Both Kerianne Costello and Darby Zelaskowski’s years of service will take place with AmeriCorps, although they’ll be doing different jobs in different locations.

Costello’s volunteer work will take her to Vicksburg, Mississippi. The sociology major will travel throughout the southern United States, spearheading several service projects with the organization’s National Civilian Community Corps.

Zelaskowski, however, will join AmeriCorps’ City Year program. The peace studies and conflict resolution major’s service will focus on helping students and schools in the program succeed.

Lehman student wins honors

Sadaf Sofia Latif, a social work major at Lehman College, has received both a Boren Award and a Critical Language scholarship. Latif is the second student to receive either award, according to Lehman, but the first to receive both.

The Boren Award is a National Security Education Program initiative, which funds language and cultural studies in areas relevant to American interests. 

Meanwhile, the Critical Language scholarship is a State Department program that promotes intensive study of select languages.