The 2018 Presidential Honors Scholarship recipients and the donors who made the scholarship possible.
Abigail Mancini was shocked when she discovered that she had landed the Presidential Honors Scholarship at SUNY Broome. Logan Linkroum was delighted, and Gloria Stracquadanio felt a weight slide off her shoulders.
“This is a really big deal,” SUNY Broome President Kevin E. Drumm said of the scholarship program, which covers students’ full tuition for two years.
To qualify, area high school seniors need to be the best of the best – and not only in the classroom, where they must be in the top 10 percent of their graduating class. They must also participate in extracurricular activities, such as clubs, sports, jobs or service projects; in short, they’re leaders who have worked hard during their high school years.
The scholarship began in the fall of 2007, funded initially by the Conrad and Virginia Klee Foundation and an anonymous donor, and developed by former SUNY Broome President Lawrence Spraggs and former BCC Foundation executive director Judy Siggins. Overall, the scholarship’s founders hope that recipients will remain in Broome County and shape its future.
“I think it’s great to be recognized for hard work, and it’s very generous that they pay for our tuition,” said Kelly Perry, a Nursing major who graduated from Whitney Point High School.
Recipients have a wide range of majors and career goals. Abigail, a Union-Endicott graduate, hopes to transfer to SUNY Oneonta once she finishes her Education degree at SUNY Broome. Her goal: Become a high school English teacher and softball coach.
Her own instructors have turned out to be great role models for a career in education. “All my professors are great. I’m having a really great time here,” she said.
Logan, who graduated from Harpursville, has been a hard worker inside and outside of the classroom since elementary school, his family said. Without the scholarship, his family likely wouldn’t have been able to cover tuition.
“I think it’s a great opportunity. It gives me a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t have otherwise, such as being a Student Ambassador. That helps me with career readiness and other skills,” explained Logan, a Visual Communication Arts major who is exploring a future career in fine arts, illustration or graphic design, as well as transfer opportunities to Binghamton University and SUNY Oswego.
Classes have been challenging for Gloria, a Greene High School graduate majoring in Nursing, but that’s a good thing in the long run. They will prepare her well for eventual transfer to BU and a career as a nurse practitioner. In addition to a medical career, she is looking at another possibility: following the path of her professors and eventually teaching the next generation of nurses.
“I really recommend SUNY Broome to anyone. The opportunities on campus are endless,” she said.
The 2018 recipients are: High School
Natalie Braman Owego Free Academy
Lilliana Ivasyuk Johnson City High School
Elisa Faughnan Seton Catholic Central High School
Hannah Grunder Chenango Valley High School
Haley Jensen Binghamton High School
Catherine Kilmer Maine Endwell High School
Logan Linkroum Harpursville High School
Abigail Mancini Union Endicott High School
Matthew Pecha Chenango Valley High School
Kelly Perry Whitney Point High School
Morgan Richards Whitney Point High School
Anastasia Rusnak Chenango Forks High School
Gloria Stracquadanio Greene High School
Bogdan Yurkiv Vestal High School
