Maria De Abreu Pineda and Anna Parra Vera.
PARAMUS, N.J. – The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation received more than 3,700 applications from students attending 737 community colleges for its 2014 undergraduate transfer scholarship program. Only 85 students earned the award – up to $30,000 each year for three years – that ranks as the largest private scholarship for community college students in the U.S.
Two attend Bergen Community College: Maria De Abreu Pineda, of Hackensack, and Anna Parra Vera, of Nanuet, N.Y.
“When you consider that 85 students out of 3,705 received the award – and two of them are from Bergen Community College – it’s remarkable,” Bergen President B. Kaye Walter, Ph.D. said. “It not only speaks to the immeasurable ability of these two young women, but the caliber of student that graduates from Bergen.”
Two students from the same college ranking among the honorees may defy the odds – but the connection between them remains uncannily deeper.
Both De Abreu Pineda and Parra Vera emigrated to the U.S. from Caracas, Venezuela -separately, and with no knowledge of each other. Both, after settling in the U.S., chose to attend Bergen, where both have earned 4.0 GPAs.
While at Bergen, both took classes in the Judith K. Winn School of Honors, tutored other students, participated in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student union and held leadership positions in the College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa – the honor society of two-year schools. It comes as no surprise they became friends while advancing through their studies.
Although bound by similarities, the pair will soon travel divergent paths: De Abreu Pineda plans to attend Columbia University and study engineering; Parra Vera, Stevens Institute of Technology and software development. Both will participate in the College’s annual commencement Thursday, May 22 at the Izod Center in East Rutherford.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a private, independent foundation that supports high achieving students with financial need, has awarded $120 million in scholarships and $76 million in grants since 2000. The average GPA of this year’s scholarship recipients is 3.98.
“The scholarship is a miracle,” De Abreu Pineda said. “When something like this comes together, it shows that hard work pays off.”
“It is a first step to something big,” Parra Vera said.
Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu) based in Paramus is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling nearly 17,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields.
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