Class of 2020 students receive Sydney and Helen Jacoff Scholarships

Four students from The City College of New York’s Class of 2020 are recipients of Sydney and Helen Jacoff Scholarships from the Division of Humanities and the Arts. The $10,000 award, from alumnus Sydney Jacoff, helps CCNY students in their pursuit of master’s and doctoral degrees in humanities and arts.

The CCNY recipients and their master’s or doctoral degrees are:

• Sean Apparicio, a philosophy major, will pursue an M.A. Program in Philosophy at The Graduate Center, CUNY. After completing his master’s degree, he will pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy and become a professor and activist scholar whose mission is to improve people of color’s access as well as representation in academia by increasing the number of full-time faculty at universities nation-wide.
• Naajidah Correll, an English and Black Studies major, will pursue a M.A./Ph.D. in English at Michigan State University. She credits programs such as the Kaye Scholars Program, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and the CUNY Pipeline Program for providing her with dedicated faculty mentorship, research and peer-learning opportunities.
• Josias Agustin-Mendez, a history and architecture major, will pursue the Doctoral Program in History at Columbia University. He is interested in spatial relationships, trends and consequences in history; the scholarship will help with access to industry standard digital mapping tools, which is important for the methodology. His experience with modern cartography software will transfer over to a future career as an educator and researcher.
• Cassie Nordgren, a theatre major, will pursue an M.F.A. in Directing at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She will continue exploring her artistry as both a director and choreographer. The scholarship will make it possible for her to rent an apartment, get a car, and purchase other living essentials for her new home in rural Texas.

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.