Education student receives $20,000 scholarship

Elcilia Taveras, a firstyear student at SUNY New Paltz, has been awarded the Rafael Pineda Teacher's Excellence Award, a $20,000 Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Hispanic American Commitment to Educational Resources (HACER) scholarship for a student pursing a degree in education.

A graduate of Walton High School in the Bronx, Taveras was president of her senior class, as well as president of her school's national honor society, a member of the yearbook committee and prom queen.

In addition to her extracurricular involvement, Taveras, an elementary education major at New Paltz, was awarded the scholarship because of her application essay, in which she wrote that she has wanted to become a teacher since the age of 5.

"I want to be an elementary school teacher because of the kind of teachers that I had," said Taveras. "I feel like this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I'm proud of myself."

In her first semester at New Paltz, Taveras is already president of her dorm, in the Scholars Mentorship Program, involved in developing Latino Week and planning to work with AmeriCorps.

The scholarship program is an educational initiative that offers Hispanic students financial scholarships toward their scholastic endeavors. The program awarded a total of $300,000 this year in scholarship funds to local college-bound Hispanic high school seniors from the tri-state area. The scholarship eligibility criteria focus on academic achievement, financial need and community involvement.

NOVEMBER 8, 2004
Volume 2, Issue 20

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