EAST FLATBUSH RESIDENT NAMED PEARSON SCHOLAR
(New York, NY) Nneka Ezekwesili of the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn has been named a Pearson scholar at Borough of Manhattan Community College. As a Pearson scholar, Ezekwesili, who is a nursing major, receives a scholarship award for $1250 per semester, the cost for full-time, in-state tuition, for up to three semesters. She is also eligible to receive up to $500 for summer study.
from left to right:
Will Ethridge (left), president of the Higher Education Division of Pearson Education, and Antonio Perez (right) president of Borough of Manhattan Community College, gave Nneka Ezekwesili (center) her Pearson Scholarship award on May 13 at BMCC. Geoffrey Akst (far left, a BMCC mathematics professor whose books have been published by Pearson Education, looks on.
Ezekwesili is one of six Pearson scholars who were recognized at a special presentation on Monday, May 13, at BMCC. She received an award for her spring semester scholarship on Monday. Of being named a Pearson scholar, she said, “It’s a great honor. I feel my confidence boosted. It’s as though the world is telling me to move ahead.”
Pearson Education gave BMCC $200,000 for scholarships for students in the health sciences. Pearson Education created the scholarship fund in memory of six BMCC students who were killed in the World Trade Center disaster and in honor of the medical rescue workers at Ground Zero. Pearson executives and some parents of the BMCC students who died in the World Trade Center attended the scholarship award reception on May 13.
To be eligible for the distinguished award, students must be enrolled in a degree program in nursing, respiratory therapy, health information technology, or paramedics. Borough of Manhattan Community College offers she only respiratory therapy and paramedic program in New York City. A BMCC scholarship committee selected students for the awards based on their academic achievement and an essay describing why they want to pursue a career in the health sciences.
Ezekwesili, 30, chose BMCC because of its highly-rated nursing department. “My dream is to work closely with patients in the health care field, and the profession where you find the closest relationship to patients is nursing,” she said.
Eventually, she would like “to represent the U.S. to other nations in the health care field,” said Ezekwesili, who was born in the U.S., but raised in Nigeria.
Ezekwesili expects to graduate from BMCC in June 2003.
