Cranford college sees six students vie for scholarship

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Thomas Memorial Award, which is awarded to a student from the graduating class who has at least a 3.25 GPA, has participated in college life through service in college activities and/or sports, and has completed community service. Guerra currently attends Kean University, where she studies management and business analytics. Her career goals are to obtain a master’s degree in business analytics and earn a doctorate in data analysis and use those skills working for a business or an organization.

Junaid Ilyas has a 3.89 GPA and is studying engineering. He is a Kaplan Scholar, member of the American Honors Program, and a tutor in Union’s ALC. Ilyas is also the senator for Union College of Union County’s Engineering Society and part of Project Achievement, UCUC’s student success initiative for

Black male students. Regarding Ilyas’ future, he plans to further his education by pursuing a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering, with a career goal of being a vehicle engineer, specifically, being part of the innovation side of vehicle design, creating ideas that he believes “other gear-heads would go crazy over.”

Yeicob Martinez has a 3.65 GPA and is studying business. He currently serves as president of Union College of Union County’s Iota Xi chapter of PTK and is a member of the American Honors Program. When he isn’t hitting the books, Martinez is spiking balls as co-captain of the men’s volleyball team at UCUC. Martinez plans to continue his education at a four-year institution and then a master’s, studying business administration and finance. As for career goals, Martinez wants to enter a private equity or be an employee at AMD, a company he has always admired.

Carine Medellus has a 4.0 and is studying biology. Medellus is the committee leader of Scholarship in PTK, vice president of the Research Club, an American Honors Program student and an ALC tutor. Medellus was also selected as one of only 20 students nationwide to be a member of the 2023 All-USA Academic Team which is sponsored by Cengage with additional support provided by the American Association of Community Colleges and PTK. Medellus plans to transfer to a four-year university and study biochemistry, and her career goal is to focus on scientific research.

“What an accomplishment for these six scholars to be selected as semifinalists for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Their hard work, the focus on their academic studies, as well as their involvement at Union has paid off with this great recognition,” said Union President Margaret M. McMenamin. “We are grateful to our previous JKCF transfer scholarship recipients, McDaniel Jeantus (UCUC ’16) and Mark Farag (UCUC ’22) for coming back to help our next scholars. This is a transformative opportunity for students to receive funding and support for their education, and we wish each of our six semifinalists the best of luck.”

Recipients of the JKCF Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship are expected to be announced in April. Union College of Union County is a public, comprehensive community college that provides quality, affordable, accessible educational programs to the greater Union County region. It is the first of New Jersey’s 18 two-year colleges, serving both career-minded and transfer-oriented students since 1933.