Eight BMCC Graduates Win Scholarships to NYU, Through GUIDE and POISE Pipeline Programs

“Start Here, Go Anywhere” isn’t just a logo at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY). Programs that prepare students to apply for transfer scholarships abound at the college, enabling BMCC graduates to continue their higher educations at CUNY and other colleges, including New York University (NYU).

Now celebrating its sixth cohort, the Gallatin Undergraduate Initiative for Discovery in Education, or GUIDE program represents a partnership between NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and BMCC. It serves as a bridge for BMCC graduates to Gallatin’s rigorous liberal arts, bachelor of arts degree program.

Graduating its tenth cohort, the Pipeline Opportunities for Inter-Collegiate Stem Education, or POISE Program is a collaboration between BMCC and the College of Arts and Science (CAS) at NYU. POISE scholars pursue STEM disciplines; specifically, science, computer science and math.

Both the POISE and GUIDE programs provide a select group of BMCC students with a supportive community while they familiarize themselves with the NYU campus and connect with the NYU academic support system, including mentors. Students from both POISE and GUIDE can then apply for NYU scholarships during their final semester at BMCC.

Set to attend NYU in Fall 2023 are BMCC’s GUIDE scholars Renzo Esposito, Carlene Hunte-Nelson, Marisabel Rosario, Chioma Ukatu and Jessica (Jaime) Quinones.

BMCC’s POISE scholars set to start NYU in the fall are Emad Benchekroun, Shaunce (Shay) Butler and Zavier Andrianarivo.

Through childhood education, computer science, film, politics and more, POISE and GUIDE scholars intend to change the world.

BMCC Computer Science graduate and POISE scholar Shaunce Butler will major in computer science at NYU.

“I was on the train heading to work when I read the email telling me I had won the scholarship,” she says. “I couldn’t stop crying.”

Her goal is to pursue a career as a software developer.

Small Business Entrepreneurship graduate and GUIDE scholar Carlene Hunte-Nelson says her concentration at NYU Gallatin will be an area of study titled, “‘Conceiving a Neo-Caribbean Society: Politics, Policy and the Caribbean.’”

She explains that she will focus on societal issues that permeate Caribbean social, economic, educational and political systems.

“This includes the legacy of colonialism, or self-perpetuating stereotypes, racial stigmatization and miseducation, the underpinnings of ongoing Caribbean poverty and the growing Western-style consumption and waste mentality,” she says.

Ultimately, she wants to create a research institute and progressive Caribbean-based political movement.

BMCC Video Arts & Technology graduate, award-winning filmmaker and GUIDE scholar Renzo Esposito plans to complete his bachelor’s degree at NYU with a concentration in filmmaking and social justice.

“My focus will be on the power of collective action as a means of bringing positive change,” he says. “I intend to examine the experience of the unrepresented and the art of being a storyteller, and in doing so, became a film director with the responsibility of combatting centuries-old inequality.”

He says that “as an immigrant, ​Latino and gay, I want to use my skills, experience, and voice to challenge the status quo through visual arts.”

BMCC Childhood Education graduate and GUIDE scholar Jessica (Jaime) Quinones says her proposed concentration at NYU will be Education and Critical Race Theory.

When she heard she had won the scholarship to NYU, “I cried, honestly,” she says. “The first thing I did was call my mom and she was so happy.”

Ms. Quinones describes herself as a non-traditional student. “When you spend years telling yourself you messed up for not finishing college, then you come back more than 10 years later and become a GUIDE scholar, it is overwhelming,” she says.

Her ultimate career goal is to open up a school. “I hope one day to find myself in a position to make changes in the world of academia as we know it,” she says. “Some crucial elements are missing to prepare our children for the future. If we work hard together, we can make a difference. I can’t wait to see where this road takes me in pursuit of change.”

POISE scholar and Computer Science major Zavier Andrianarivo says of his experience as a BMCC student exploring the NYU campus, “I had the chance to experience life at a four-year university, and it was a fun experience — from seeing all of the students so committed to their academics and studies, to students having fun within the campus itself.”

His ultimate career goal is something he’s still considering. “Part of me wants to go into software engineering,” he says, but he is also interested in graph theory. As for industry context for these skills, “Im very much into fashion,” he says. “If there were ways to incorporate computer science into fashion, I would not be opposed to doing something along those line, as well!”

“Out of high school, I did not think that a school that carries the prestige that NYU does, was even possible,” he adds. “However, fast-forward six years after graduating high school and we’re NYU bound! It’s such a rewarding feeling, being able to see all of the hard work, sleepless nights and working long hours coming together like this. I could not be more excited than I already am, about the future.”