2018 Student Awards: Money matters, but scholarships also boost confidence and remember loved ones

Every year, a group of older women attends the Broome Community College Foundation’s Student Awards Recognition Reception, bearing armfuls of flowers.

Before the ceremony begins, they meet up with the students they are helping, women whose education has been interrupted by the vicissitudes of life — women like Becky Hopper, a single mom who is pursuing her degree in Human Services while holding down a job.

“We want to reach out to women who have had difficulties with pursuing their education,” explained Eileen Cooley, who with Helene Manning and Elizabeth Sabo represented the American Association of University Women (AAUW). And they do, with both flowers and deeply appreciated scholarships.

The AAUW scholarship is one of more than 200 merit-based awards presented to nearly 300 students May 3. The Foundation also supports more than 1,200 students with need-based grants-in-aid, awarded to students through Financial Aid. In addition to seniors and continuing students, merit-based awards are given to freshmen in separate ceremonies at their local high schools.

All told, the Foundation expects to award more than $1 million in support this year.

The May 3 event was the largest award recognition ceremony in the college’s history, said SUNY Broome President Kevin E. Drumm.

“I want to congratulate everyone who is receiving an award this evening for the hard work it took to get here,” Dr. Drumm said.

A confidence-booster

The seeds for AAUW scholarship were planted nearly 50 years ago, with an all-women stock club. Women were encouraged to learn more about investing, which they did – along with raising funds through book sales. IBM, where many of their husbands worked, also provided crucial support.

And thus the AAUW scholarship was born. Over the past two decades, it has provided needed support to women seeking to earn a sought-after degree.

Money matters, but scholarships are also a boost of confidence to students and a way to demonstrate their caliber.

“It means a lot to me personally,” said Hopper, who enrolled in her first college course at the age of 44. “Being awarded these scholarships, it’s in the face of every person who didn’t believe in me and who thought I couldn’t succeed. What I’ve overcome… It means a lot to me and I’m very proud of myself.”

Teril Boldiis, a Business Administration major, deeply appreciated the scholarship he received from GHS Federal Credit Union. The scholarship goes to a student interested in banking, with a GPA of at least 3.5.Boldiis, who is transferring to the University at Buffalo, is leaning toward a career in project management, although banking is also an interest.

“This scholarship will pay for the summer class I have to take,” he explained. “And once schools see you have multiple scholarships, they see what kind of student you are.”

The campus community may know Summer DeLisle as the secretary for the Engineering Technologies Department, but she is also a part-time student and a scholarship recipient. DeLisle, who received the Second Chance and Ourania Brennan Memorial Scholarship, is a Human Services major. Her long-term goal is to become a social worker and work with hospice.

Her choice is inspired by her father, who passed away after an illness. Some people, as they face the end of their lives, don’t have family and friends around them, she said.

Scholarships give significant relief to students, who face expenses beyond tuition costs. “It helps me afford books,” said DeLisle, who takes courses both on campus and online. “It’s a privilege.”

Remembering loved ones

Scholarships also represent a way for donors to remember their loved ones and make a difference for future generations. New this year is the Joe T. Zikuski III Memorial Scholarship for Chemical Dependency Counseling students, established in memory of a local police chief’s son who succumbed to drug addiction. This year’s award went to students Britney Austin and Michelle Payne.

Local veterinarian Dr. Thomas Nytch established the Ada West Nytch Nursing Scholarship in memory of his mother, a nurse out of the Binghamton City Hospital program who ran the emergency room until she left the profession to raise her children.

“The science of nursing changes so fast, but the art never changes and that art is patient care, and she always believed in that,” Dr. Nytch said of his mother. “That’s the spirit of this award: It’s honoring patient care rather than technology.”

This year’s award went to Katelyn Eaton.

Awarded for the first time was the Wesley Warren Memorial Scholarship, established in memory of a popular Criminal Justice professor who died in 2014. Warren’s sister, Wendy Harris, flew up to award the scholarship and was accompanied by SUNY Broome alumna Rae Palmer-Jones.

“I felt it was important and special to be here,” said Harris, noting that Warren had a small family.

“He was my favorite professor. He was amazing and had a magnetic personality,” Palmer-Jones said.

The award was given to student Rachael Klug.

Cheryl Kurosky, a 1976 graduate and vice president of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, hopes that students remember the generosity they received, and join the event in future years as proud alumni.

“What an evening! This is what it’s all about: quality education,” said Executive Vice President, Chief Academic Officer and proud alumnus Francis Battisti.