STUDENTS OF NOTE
Nationally Recognized Alumnus Selected as Commencement Speaker
Febin Bellamy ’14 is set
to graduate May 20 from
the McDonough School
of Business at Georgetown
University with a bachelor’s
in Business Management. The
next day, he will return to RCC
to serve as speaker at RCC’s
Commencement.
Bellamy has a passion for
social entrepreneurship and
aspires to leave a positive
impact on the world through
his non-profit organization,
Unsung Heroes (unsung-hero.
org), which promotes awareness
and appreciation for workers on
college campuses whom we often
fail to recognize, such as cafeteria
workers and janitors. Unsung
Heroes highlights the workers
Febin Bellamy at his RCC Commencement in 2014
by sharing their stories on social
media and establishes projects
to help the workers achieve their
dreams through fundraising, acts
of kindness, and by promoting
others to get involved with the
cause.
Unsung Heroes has been
featured on prominent news
media including the front page
of the Washington Post, NBC
Nightly News with Lester Holt,
CNN’s Headline News, BBC
News, FOX5, ABC7 and Forbes,
among many other major news
outlets. Through this initiative,
Bellamy and his team seek to
break down barriers that exist
between students and workers and
unite campus communities.
What began as a class project
at Georgetown has evolved into
a movement active at a dozen
universities nationwide. Bellamy
was recently selected as one of six
finalists for the United Nations
Outstanding Youth Delegate
Award from a pool of more than
1,000 social entrepreneurs, young
leaders and change-makers from
more than 95 countries.
Becoming a Leader on Campus
When Derron Payne enrolled at RCC, he never imagined how
exc iting the next two years would be. He never dreamed that
he would travel to England to participate in RCC’s Cambridge
University Summer Study Abroad, or serve as an inspiring speaker
at Black Achievement awards ceremonies for local children and
their parents. Nor did he imagine that he would now be waiting
for acceptance letters from top-tier four-year institutions where he
hopes to transfer after graduating in May.
The first person in his family to attend college, Derron wanted
to be a role model for his younger sister, but nothing in high school
had excited him academically. Initially attracted to RCC to play as a
point guard for Hawks basketball, he had not yet found his groove
outside the court until he took Principles of Finance with George
Repic, Instructor/Chair of Business, which taught him about the
power gained through financial literacy. Derron earned membership
in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and became president
of the Rockland chapter of the national collegiate business honor
society, Alpha Beta Gamma.
Derron credits mentoring as the most significant factor in his
success at RCC, offering special recognition to Dr. Katie Lynch, Sam
Draper Honors program director, George Repic and Joanna Lackey,
the English instructor who encouraged him to apply to RCC’s
Honors program.
In the recommendation letter accompanying Derron’s college
Derron Payne during his summer studies in Cambridge
applications, Dr. Lynch wrote, “Derron inspires me daily. His deep
commitment to his studies and to applying his intellect in the
service of social justice will make him an invaluable contributor to
your student body…he is an unstoppable force for good in a world
that desperately needs him.”
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