Twenty-two Earn Coveted DCC Foundation Scholarship
Award Covers Tuition for Top High School Graduates
October 9, 2018 – Twenty-two Dutchess Community College freshmen were formally awarded the 2018 Charles E. and Mabel E. Conklin Scholarship for Academic Excellence Oct. 8, joining family members and DCC staff for a luncheon on campus.
The Conklin Scholarship, administered by the DCC Foundation, covers up to two years of full tuition for any Dutchess County high school student who graduates in the top 10% of his or her class.
The 22 students from the 2018 cohort bring the total number who have benefited from the scholarship over the past 15 years to 520. Many local valedictorians and salutatorians have attended the College tuition-free since the scholarship was created. When combined with the Conklin scholars who began at DCC last fall, 42 students currently are benefiting from the initiative.
Pleasant Valley residents Charles and Mabel (Betty) Conklin established the scholarship in 2003; an additional gift made by Charles in 2015 in honor of his late wife brought the endowment to $2 million. In 2016, Charles Conklin was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by SUNY for the profound impact he has made on students’ lives. He died in January 2018.
Conklin Scholarship applications will soon be accepted for next fall. For more information call (845) 431-8015.
Those interested in supporting the scholarship program should call DCC Foundation Director Diana Pollard at (845) 431-8403.
Names of this fall’s Conklin Scholars and the high schools from which they graduated follow.
Hannah Apuzzo (Roosevelt), Nicole Blanding (Beacon), Natalie Boucher (Roosevelt), Marielle Daeumer (Ketcham), Carlos Gonzalez (Poughkeepsie), Vivianna Gonzalez (Poughkeepsie), Alexis Green (Roosevelt), Olivia Groenewegen (Dover), John Hafner (Stissing Mountain), Russell Hecker (Beacon), Carina Jimenez (Millbrook), Jason Keene (John Jay), Matthew Kiviniemi (Ketcham), Belvin Nedumthakady (Arlington), Emma Paszkiewicz (Poughkeepsie), Christopher Pillsbury (Poughkeepsie), Kayla Rivera (Beacon), Kalina Seda (Our Lady of Lourdes), Angelina Sohmers (John Jay), Joan Stein (John Jay), MaKayla Variano (Roosevelt) and Cassidy Watt (Webutuck).
The DCC Foundation awards approximately $400,000 in scholarships to more than 230 DCC students annually.
Caption:
Twenty-two DCC freshmen were awarded the 2018 Charles E. and Mabel E. Conklin Scholarship for Academic Excellence. Seated in the front are Ellen Conklin, daughter of Charles and Mabel Conklin, and her husband, Keith Kodat.
