2021 aspira of NJ scholarship AWARD recipients
ASPIRA Inc., of New Jersey, honored eight (8) scholarship award recipients from four high schools from the Essex and Passaic Counties. (Barringer High School, Belleville High School, Eastside High School, and Science High School.) Despite the rigors and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, both personal and broadly speaking, these students overcame the obstacles to boast impressive GPAs yielding them thousands of dollars in scholarship awards and recognition.
Each student received a $1000 scholarship that can be applied to any costs associated with their collegiate experience. All of the students were extremely gracious and thanked ASPIRA's Academic Advisors Leticia (Leti) Minaya and Christian Martinez-Gonzalez.
Most of the students are first-generation students, meaning that they are the first in their families to attend an institute of higher learning. Winning the award wasn't just a way to pay for college, but a means to change the trajectory of their family's future generations.
This year, ASPIRA is proud to announce that we had not one, but TWO
Aspirantés was given the distinction of Class Valedictorian for their respective high schools. Odalis Hernandez (Eastside High School) and Aryaman Rayvash (Barringer High School).
Below are their speeches on what it meant to them to receive the scholarship, along with some brief words from each scholarship winner. Just click on the videos below.
Once an Aspiranté, always an Aspiranté.
2021 ASPIRA of NJ Scholarship Award Recipients
Diorfelly Gomes
East Side High School
American University
Major: Psychology
Brandon Mejia
Science Park High School
Rutgers University
Major: Music
Maria Perez
East Side High School
Passaic County Community College
Major: Biology
Brandon Ramirez
Belleville High School
University of New Haven
Major: Engineering
Alberto Torres
East Side High School
St. Elizabeth University
Major: Nursing
Sarah Zaldumbide
Science High School
Lehigh University
Major: Undeclared
2021 Class Valedictorians
Odalis Hernandez
East Side High School
Ramapo College of New Jersey
Major: Psychology
Aryaman Rayvash
Barringer High School
Rutgers- New Brunswick
Major: Aerospace Engineering
ASPIRA Academic Advisors
Christian Martinez-Gonzalez
(Barringer High School)
Leticia (Leti) Minaya
(Eastside High School)