By Eric Gendron Ossining Daily Voice
Berkeley College Provost Marianne Vakalis, presents Tiana Wilkins of Ossining with the 2013 Massari Scholarship.Photo Credit: Contributed
OSSINING, N.Y. — Berkeley College recently honored Tiana Wilkins of Ossining with the Patricia Cimaroli Massari Scholarship during a special ceremony held at Berkeley College in White Plains.
The Patricia Cimaroli Massari Scholarship was established in memory of a Berkeley alumna who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The scholarship is awarded to a deserving Berkeley College student entering his or her third year of study toward a bachelor’s degree. Cimaroli Massari was one of 14 Berkeley College students and alumni who perished in the World Trade Center.
Four months prior to her death, the 4.0 graduate, who had returned to Berkeley College to complete her bachelor’s degree, had been named the College’s Alumna of the Year.
The scholarship was established at the request of the Cimaroli and Massari families to honor Patricia’s belief that education is the path to success.
“Patricia’s family chose to remember her with hope for the future, through the creation of a scholarship in her name,” Berkeley College Provost Marianne Vakalis said in a prepared statement. “I congratulate this year’s recipient, Tiana Wilkins. By accepting this scholarship, she accepts the challenge to carry on Patricia’s legacy at Berkeley College. I know that Tiana will work hard to succeed while helping her fellow students and others, much the same way as Patricia did.”
The ceremony was attended by Wilkins’ family and friends, and representatives of Berkeley College.
The scholarship is awarded to a Berkeley College student who is entering his or her third year in a bachelor’s degree program at a Berkeley College location in New York. The scholarship has an annual value of $1,200 and is renewable for the recipient’s fourth and final year in the program, providing the student maintains a GPA of at least 3.0.
Additionally, a scholarship committee reviews each candidate’s GPA and financial need, and the applicant must submit an essay that describes a turning point in his or her life.
In her essay, Wilkins described being separated from her mother when she was 10 years old.
