BMCC Announces Fall 2016 Guttman Scholars

July 12, 2016

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) is proud to announce the Fall 2016 Guttman Transfer Scholarship winners.

“BMCC has the largest number of Fall 2016 scholars among all CUNY colleges,” said Alana Hankey-Thomas, Associate Director of the BMCC Academic Advisement and Transfer Center, and co-coordinator of the BMCC Guttman Scholarship Program.

Guttman Transfer Scholarships offer generous financial benefits to outstanding CUNY community college students who transfer to an eligible CUNY senior college. 

BMCC’s Fall 2016 Guttman Transfer Scholarship winners are: Emily Ally, Abd-Manaaf Bakare, Hrvoje Budimir Bekkan, Arlette Butcher, Znobia Dixon, Christina Escobar, Renata Gumkowska, JianMing Kang, Crystal Leonard, Mansha Liu, Benjamin Margulies, Ariel Mazor, Desiree Mendez, Sultan Mirzhalilov, Gina Mitchell, Joel Picon, Sara Singh, Chris Tejada and Lin Yank.

Sussie Gyamfi, Scholarship and Special Services Coordinator in the Office of Student Affairs says Guttman Scholars receive up to $4,000 over two years to attend Brooklyn, City, Hunter, Lehman or Queens College. They must be recent graduates of a CUNY community college, and have at least a 3.5 GPA. Priority is given to applicants who are eligible for financial aid, as evidenced by their FAFSA filing. The Guttman scholarship program was founded in 2013 through a generous endowment from the Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation.

Hankey-Thomas says, “This is a highly competitive program that reaches out to ensure the success of our most high-achieving, income-eligible students. These are students who have proven their academic tenacity as well as their sense of career goals and intention to contribute to their fields of choice in a positive way. They have been active and supportive members of the BMCC community, and we are certain they will continue to excel as they pursue their bachelor’s degree in a four-year CUNY college.”

Lucy Coodley was a Spring 2016 Guttman Scholar who earned an Associate in Arts degree in Liberal Arts at BMCC. “Now I am majoring in Economics at Hunter College,” says Coodley. “I just finished a semester focusing on microeconomics, studying the economic situations of individuals, and now we are moving into macroeconomics, which looks at how individuals connect to each other, economically.”

Coodley describes herself as “an older student, with a home language of Chinese, so reading takes me longer than the others in my class. When native speakers spend one-hour studying, I need to spend five hours. The Guttman Scholarship helps with expenses that my financial aid doesn’t cover, and it makes it possible for me not to work, so I can spend more time studying and reading. It has made a big difference for me.”

Since 2014, when the first scholarships were awarded, BMCC has nurtured students through the application process, with numerous students going on to win the prestigious award. 

Spring 2016 winners included: Yuleisy Oeballos, Lucy Coodley, Edel Kelly, Nina Lopez-Ortiz, Jessica Martinez, Shaquille Maynard, Rosmery Nunez, Gabriel San Emeterio,

The Fall 2015 winners included; Noah Abitbol, Alcida Adam, Farzana Akhtar, Christian Badaracco, Awnon Bhowmik, Irene Djene, Tsering Dorjee, Hend Elsayed, Mohammad Hossain, Abdoul Kone, Ruby Labaran, Tanisha Lewis, Dylan Mandel, Marta Pabon and Yang Zhang.

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