WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 29, 2017 15
KIDS & EDUCATION
Maspeth student to continue helping others at Columbia University
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
A student from Maspeth is
headed to one of the country’s
most prestigious Ivy
League schools this fall: Columbia
University.
Bryanna Geiger, who lives in Maspeth
with her mother, father and two
younger brothers, will be traveling
to Manhattan every day beginning
this September as she was accepted to
Columbia University earlier this year.
This will be nothing new for Geiger,
who attended Loyola School — which
is also located in Manhattan — and
graduated with honors.
During her time at Loyola School,
Geiger completed the high school’s
most demanding curriculum, which
includes taking at least fi ve honors
classes and six advanced placement
(AP) courses.
“I was an honor student for four
years,” she explained. “It was challenging,
but I thought it prepared me better
for when AP courses were off ered.”
Geiger also participated in Blue
Stamp Engineering, a summer program
where she received her fi rst real
hands-on experience with robotics,
coding and 3-D design.
Aside from her outstanding academics,
Geiger has worked to make
her community a better place.
She volunteered her Saturday
mornings with Loyola School’s
“Brownbaggers” group, a charity that
distributes sandwiches to the homeless
in Tompkins Square Park. For all
of her hard work bettering the community,
Geiger received the Magis Award,
one of the most distinguished awards
a student at Loyola can receive. The
award is given to students who have
made Loyola School a better place by
their example and charity.
Geiger credits her love of charity
work to the Maspeth community,
which inspired her to work for others.
“The Maspeth community is really
close, and that really guided my path
and my desire to help others and impact
my community,” she said. “Like
during snowstorms the community
really makes sure everyone is okay.”
Geiger will now need to take all the
smarts she has gained from Loyola
School and bring them with her to
Columbia University because she is
interested in studying engineering at
the Ivy League school.
“I am planning on studying engineering,
specifically leaning mechanical
engineering,” she said. “I’ve always been
interested in math and science, and this
will help me branch into other fi elds and
help solve real-world problems. I’m not
sure what exactly what I want to do with
engineering, but this gives me the opportunity
to branch into other fi elds like
medicine or helping in natural disasters.”
Photo courtesy of Bryanna Geiger
Bryanna Geiger will be attending Columbia University this fall.
Local funeral home donates defi brillator to Glendale academy
The George Werst Funeral
Home recently
donated a portable
heart defibrillator to
Sacred Heart Catholic
Academy of Glendale. This
potentially life-saving
device will be kept in the
Academy nurse's office
where it will be easily accessible
if necessary.
The defibrillator was
presented to Academy
Principal Joanne Gangi
and Academy nurse
Michelle Peets by James
Sturges, Manager of the
funeral home, and David
Fitzgerald, a funeral director
with George Werst.
Sacred Heart Catholic
Academy is truly grateful
to the management of the
George Werst Funeral
Home for their generosity
and continued support. Photo courtesy of Sacred Heart Catholic Academy of Glendale.
