STUDENTS OF NOTE
Students Elect New Officers
R
CC’s student leaders
for 2017-18 are aiming
to make college life
a little less stressful. Fatima
Farooq was elected as Board of
Trustees student representative
by her fellow students, and
Mahira Kauser was voted in
as president of the Student
Government Association.
Farooq says, “I interact with
almost every group on campus,”
and intends to publicize her
email address for students to
share their concerns, which she
will discuss with the Board. An
Early Admit student, she spent
her senior year of high school
at RCC and graduated from
Clarkstown South HS in June.
An alumna of Suffern High
School, Kauser is also eager to
have a dialogue about student
concerns, saying with a smile,
“I love to talk.” She grows more
serious when discussing the
stress that RCC students feel,
and hopes to find ways to help.
The newly-elected officers of the Student Government Association (l. to r.): Shennel Grizzle, treasurer; Mondi Mulya, vice-president; Mahira Kauser,
president; Kyle Dunnigan, secretary; Fatima Farooq, student trustee; and Emmanuel Gaston, chair of the Student Activities Board.
Kauser cites a recent ice cream
social sponsored by the Student
Activities Board as an ideal
stress-relief event. Farooq also
wants to see more cause-oriented
activities such as the SGA’s
highly-successful blood drive.
Both women would like to
convince larger numbers of
students to view RCC as more
than a place to take classes and
make them aware of RCC’s
many resources.
Kauser, a student in the
Sam Draper Honors Program
seeking a degree in Liberal
Arts: Math & Science, was
the chair of SAB and event
coordinator for the Muslim
Students Association, while
also volunteering for the RCC
Food Cupboard, SOAR and
off-campus organizations.
After graduating in Spring
2018, Kauser intends to attend
a four-year college with a goal
of becoming a neonata l nurse
practitioner.
Farooq has held leadership
roles within SAB, Muslim
Students Association and
Lunar Society. She also started
a nonprofit organization that
raises funds to help people in
war-torn areas and also aids
the less fortunate in Rockland
County. On track to graduate
from RCC in Spring 2018,
Farooq plans to seek a double
major at a four-year college
in emergency medicine and
nonprofit management, and
hopes to work with Doctors
Without Borders and to
expand her own nonprofit.
RCC Students Receive More than $200K in Scholarships
S
cholarships totaling $210,000
were presented by the Rockland
Community College Foundation to
165 continuing and transferring students at
a May ceremony.
The largest award, a two-year, full-tuition
Jane Cohen Memorial Scholarship to Pace
Roevely Rancell, winner of a two-year full tuition
scholarship from Pace University, with Pace
representative Justin Santore
University, was granted to Roevely Rancell,
a Performing Arts major.
Honors student Travis Peterson received
the Joseph H. Smith Jr. Scholarship, worth
$10,000, for a student transferring to
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Daniel Greeley, a military veteran
RCC Professor of Mathematics Peter Arvanites
with student Travis Peterson, winner of a
scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
studying Nursing, one of several students
winning multiple awards, took home five
scholarships, worth a total of $5,000.
The RCC Foundation offers more than
$350,000 in student scholarships each year,
and has awarded more than $4 million since
its inception.
Student veteran Daniel Greeley, winner of multiple scholarships, with his wife and
daughters after the awards ceremony
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