UPCOMING
VIRTUAL INFORMATION
SESSIONS AT MCNY
Graduate Student
Information Session
Thursday, October 7, 2021
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Our faculty will make a difference in
your personal and professional growth.
Learn how while getting advice on
starting and completing the admissions
process to be ready to enroll.
International Student
Information Session
Saturday, October 16, 2021
9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. (ET)
Learn the benefits of studying at
MCNY as an international student. Our
admission and academic advisors will
discuss the application process, transcript
evaluations, scholarships, and how to
succeed as a student.
THE BRONX
463 East 149th Street
Bronx, NY 10455
(718) 665-7787
MANHATTAN
60 West Street
New York, NY 10006
(212) 343-1234
BRONX TIMES R 20 EPORTER, OCT. 1-7, 2021 BTR
Bronx student receives
$10K scholarship
BY JASON COHEN
Bronx resident Ashfah Alam went
to high school in Manhattan where
her classmates had access to a wealth
of co-curricular activities that offered
opportunities to explore their passions
and build self-confi dence. Those options,
Alam realized, were largely out
of reach for low-income communities
like her own in the Bronx. So to change
that, she co-founded The REACH Project
in 2019, offering creative writing
workshops for elementary school students
that helped middle schoolers fi nd
their voices and document their lives,
writing about everything from video
games to mental health. As a result,
she’s now being rewarded for those efforts
with a prestigious scholarship.
During the pandemic, Alam and
her volunteers provided online writing
and STEM workshops and created
new curriculum development
and marketing teams to build a foundation
for the future. The REACH
Project received a Community Service
Award from the Mujumder Foundation
for its contributions to local
youth. And her dedication to helping
those in her Westchester Square community
led Alam to be selected as one
of six students from New York Cityarea
schools who received a $10,000
college scholarship as a 2021 Milken
Scholars program recipient.
“I was pretty surprised because I
didn’t expect to get (the award) at all,”
she told the Bronx Times. “I’m surprised
at how far I’ve come. I think of
myself in the ninth grade and how unconfi
dent I was.”
Beyond the fi nancial aspect of receiving
a Milken Scholarship, the
recipients receive a lifelong mentor/
support system that includes ongoing
career-related counseling, assistance
in securing internships, opportunities
for community service and a fund
to assist their pursuit of any post-undergraduate
career goals.
Alam, 18, is currently a freshman
at Columbia University where she is
studying political science and international
relations, and plans a career
as a human rights lawyer.
However, her path to this prestigious
school did not happen overnight.
Since fourth grade, Alam had been
going to school in Manhattan where
she was surrounded by kids whose
privileges and opportunities far exceeded
those of kids in the Bronx.
But that did not deter her.
She wrote about social justice for
her high school’s student newspaper
and served as co-president for Asian
Affi nity, leading workshops celebrating
Asian cultures. She coordinated
curriculum development and volunteer
training as chief executive of the
New York Mock Trial League, which
introduced students to the legal fi eld,
and spent a summer at the St. Alban’s
Ashfah Alam, of Westchester Square, received
a prestigous schoalrship for Columbia
University. Photo Courtesy Ashfah Alam
School of Public Service in Washington,
D.C., where she engaged in public
policy discourse and congressional
debate.
As a classroom aide at Little Sisters
of the Assumption Family Health
Service, which serves low-income
immigrant families in East Harlem,
Alam helped young students with unstable
home lives — an experience
that cemented her belief in the link
between public assistance, community
support from local organizations,
and successful educational outcomes.
Then after many years of seeing
the disparities in her travels
from Manhattan to the Bronx, she
launched The REACH Project at a
learning center in Castle Hill. She advertised
it on social media and about
20 middle school kids showed up the
fi rst day.
She held a six-week summer program
in 2019, and since then it has become
quite popular in the Westchester
Square, Castle Hill and Parkchester
communities.
“When I worked on this and I
didn’t really know what I was doing,
I was thinking about how I felt when I
was younger,” Alam said.
Alam told the Bronx Times that
the initial challenges were getting
fi nancial support to pay for the website,
advertising and persuading parents
to let their kids participate. She
said many of the students come from
immigrant families and often, their
parents think school is enough.
Her goal is to continue the program
and turn it into a nonprofi t.
“I feel like we’ve gotten to a place
where we have a great group of volunteers
who are very passionate,” she
said. “I really just like helping kids to
fi nd things their inspired about.”
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Founded by Audrey Cohen in 1964, MCNY is a non-profit,
Purpose-Centered college committed to social justice.
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