Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program Provides Alternative Path to the College Experience

On June 2 in a conference room at Fiterman Hall, the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) community celebrated four students who completed the Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program (MRHEP) at BMCC.

The celebration was sponsored by the BMCC Office of Student Affairs, Office of Accessibility and Office of Academic Affairs, in collaboration with AHRC New York City.

MRHEP participants Nicolas Castro, Stephanie Garcia, Luis Jacome and Catherine Madden took one class a semester at BMCC for up to three years, to complete the program.

They also participated in special events including a student art exhibition at BMCC and completed internships offered through the program.

“The Melissa Riggio program at BMCC provides an alternative path to the college experience. It’s a great opportunity,” says BMCC Dean of Students Michael Hutmaker. “Matriculating BMCC students serve as mentors and help guide the Melissa Riggio students in their time at the College. If they choose to do so, the Melissa Riggio students are welcome to join clubs and take part in internships and other facets of campus life, as well.”

BMCC joined the Melissa Riggio Higher Education Program in 2015. Coordinated by Nicole Leach, Assistant Director of the BMCC Office of Accessibility, the program brings together BMCC professors with Melissa Riggio students who audit their classes with the assistance of a student mentor.

According to Jessica Giorgio, Director of the Melissa Riggio Program, it is also offered by CUNY schools including the College of Staten Island, Kingsborough Community College, Hostos Community College and Queensborough Community College.

“The MRHEP provides students with intellectual and developmental disabilities an opportunity to attend college courses alongside matriculating students, and to participate in student life,” says Director Giorgio.

She adds that being part of the BMCC community enables students in the Melissa Riggio program to become more independent.

“The program also provides students with internship opportunities to support them to have competitive and meaningful employment,” she says.

For example, in this most recent cohort, Nicolas Castro interned at the Center for the Arts in New York City. Stephanie Garcia’s internship placed her as a consultant with a research project at the CUNY School of Public Health. Catherine Madden interned in the library of a New York City Public School in Manhattan, and Luis Jacome interned on the front desk of an AHRC office.

BMCC Art Professor Thaddeus Raddell reflects on having had three of the four Melissa Riggio students from this cohort, in his classes. One of these was Nicolas Castro, whose painting created in a Painting IV class was included in the Spring 2023 BMCC Student Art Show this past April, and sold as part of that exhibition.

“Nicolas was a very intuitive art student,” says Professor Raddell. “He has an excellence visual memory and tremendous color sense. The artwork he made in class sparked with life. He painted big genre scenes, like a painting in which he shows himself and his father playing basketball. In class, Nicolas was super positive and a hard worker. When we did our weekly group critiques of student work, Nicolas always had something thoughtful to say. The other students loved him and he brought up the energy of the class with his excitement to be there. He was a great person to have in class.”

For more information on the Melissa Riggio program at BMCC, contact the BMCC Office of Accessibility at (212) 220-8180.