June 2nd, 2008 | Bronx Community College
Bronx Community College (BCC) valedictorian Kojo Wallace’s struggle to pay for his education just got easier. Wallace has won a $30,000 Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship and has been accepted at Cornell University where he plans to study biochemistry. Wallace will be honored as valedictorian during BCC’s commencement on Friday, June 6 at 10 a.m. Wallace is one of three valedictorians. The other two valedictorians are Maria Vasquez, a busines administration major and Oluwayemi Omotoso, a liberal arts and sciences major with a biology option.
Wallace, a liberal arts/sciences major from Ghana, West Africa, has aspirations of one day becoming a neurosurgeon and working with Doctors Without Borders to help victims of war and disaster in developing countries.
“I am very proud,” says Wallace. “So many of my opportunities have come through Bronx Community College. Almost every faculty member I have met has encouraged and mentored me and informed me of opportunities available for students. BCC has been like a family to me.”
Wallace arrived in the U.S. in February 2006 and enrolled in BCC, paying out-of-pocket tuition costs and expenses with the help of his father who is a taxi driver.
“My circumstances at that time made BCC the logical choice. I did not want to spend most of the day commuting. BCC was the closest college to where I live — 20 minutes by foot,” shares Wallace.
“I was no longer just a student back in Ghana earning excellent grades,” adds Wallace. “When I came here, I had to learn to work, be a full-time student and earn excellent grades. I worked from 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. as a security guard.” He has a 4.0 grade point average and states that he is enthusiastic about learning: “I don’t really have a favorite course. I like physics, math, chemistry and biology.” He is also taking French and hopes to find time in the future to study Spanish and American Sign Language.
The topic about which he is most enthusiastic is his biology research to protect land and water from pollution. “I am studying the use of rice (oryza sativa) cultivars to remove toxic-heavy metals from contaminated bodies of water and plots of land; this process is scientifically referred to as phytoremediation,” explains Wallace.
“Such research is very vital,” he adds, “because as the number of mining activities and rubbish dumps increase, more of our water and land gets contaminated; especially with heavy metals such as arsenic, a deadly carcinogen.
“I have personally witnessed how catastrophic these heavy metals can be in Ghana’s western region where I was reared. There are a lot of mining activities. In some of the mining areas, there are generational health problems that are often reported. This is true for other mining and non-mining areas around the world where soil and water have been contaminated with heavy metals,” he adds.
Last month, Wallace was awarded one of the highest honors bestowed on a community college student. He was named a 2008 All-USA First Academic Team Member by the International Honor Society of Two-Year Colleges (Phi Theta Kappa) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).
Each of the 20 students selected to the First Team received a stipend of $2,500 and their colleges received national recognition through coverage in USA TODAY (April 7, 2008 – Section D).
Wallace also received The Marie Nesbitt Promise Prize, an award given by BCC alumna Vikki L. Pryor, president and chief executive officer of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company, Inc. The prize was announced at BCC’s 50th Anniversary Gala Awards Dinner at the New York Botanical Garden.
For the past three semesters, Wallace has received a National Science Foundation Scholarship through the BCC Mathematics Department (the scholarship began at $1,500 and now is $3,000).
Wallace learned about his latest scholarship from Acting Associate Dean of Student Services Dr. Jennifer Misick. “I kept saying wow and could not stop smiling,” says Wallace.
Dr. Misick explains that, “BCC’s success with Wallace represents teamwork by Counselor/Lecturer and Phi Theta Kappa Coordinator Eldiane Elmeus in Student Support Services and Veronie Lawrence-Wright, Acting Director of BCC’s Scholarship Center. They, as well as faculty, help students identify scholarships and then guide them as they collect and provide detailed information requested by scholarship funders,” Misick says.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program were established by the late Jack Kent Cooke, a sports promoter and once owner of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and the Washington Redskins football team. In his career, he learned that despite their high levels of ability and financial need, there are few funds available to help top-performing community college graduates transfer to four-year institutions.
Cooke began his business career selling encyclopedias door-to-door and was always enamored of the importance of a college education. The Depression forced him to drop out of high school so that he could support his family. Cooke set up his foundation to identify and support “young people of exceptional promise, application, deportment, and character who have financial need and demonstrated excellence in academic endeavors and extracurricular activities.”
The amount and duration of the scholarships vary for each student, according to the cost of attendance at the school, the length of the program, and other grants and scholarships received.
Wallace is the second Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship winner from Bronx Community College. In 2002, BCC Graduate Cynthia Talbert, from Dominica, received a $30,000 Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship that she used to pay for her education as a business major at Baruch College of The City University of New York.
As Wallace looks to his future beyond graduation, he offers this advice to students who want to be a success at BCC. Develop a good relationship with faculty early. Seek help from faculty on problems you may encounter or information about the College! Be disciplined! Figure out what you want from college! Seek help! You can get an A+ in any class! It depends on the effort you put into going after your goal!”
Press, Radio, TV
Please call: Bryant Mason
Media Relations Specialist
(718) 289-5208
bryant.mason@bcc.cuny.edu
Bronx Community College (BCC) of The City University of New York enters its 51st anniversary of service to students in New York City in 2007. Over the past five years, enrollment has increased 20 per cent to 9,000 students, reflecting the reliance of the surrounding communities on it as a pathway to a better life. BCC President Carolyn G. Williams is in her 11th year of leadership service to the College, which is located on a 44-acre campus at West 181st Street & University Avenue, formerly New York University’s uptown campus until 1973.
BCC students from over 109 nations receive an excellent preparation to go on to four-year colleges or to advance into successful vocational careers. Programs offered at BCC include Digital Arts, Computer Information Systems, Education Associate, Nursing, Nuclear Medicine Technology, RadiologicTechnology, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology, Electronic Engineering Technology, Liberal Arts, Marketing, Accounting, Human Services, Media Technology and Paralegal Studies.
The College is home to initiatives not commonly associated with two-year institutions, such as the Center for Sustainable Energy, which promotes the use of renewable and efficient energy technologies in urban communities. The National Center for Educational Alliances (NCEA) is currently collaborating with South African Further Education and Training Colleges and universities to create linkages between these institutions. NCEA also coordinates the College’s international initiatives and the annual International Education Week.
The Center has also facilitated a campus wide effort to create BCC’s Center for Tolerance and Understanding. The Center for Teaching Excellence offers faculty development to promote student achievement and to stimulate discussions to keep the teaching and learning process vital and dynamic.
Take a look at BCC’s website at www.bcc.cuny.edu