RBWN 2011 Scholarship Winners

All of the RBWN 20011 Scholarship winners display intellectual ability, leadership, and a passion for community service.  After a very competitive process three individuals stood out and were selected to be the scholarship recipients for this year. 

Christina Reyes is a RBWN scholarship winner from North Rockland High School.  While taking challenging AP and Honors level courses, Christina was among the top 20 seniors at NRHS.  She was on on the Principal’s Roll for all four years and  won the AP Scholar Award with Honors and the National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar Award. She was in NRHS’s National Honor Society as well as the Math, Social Studies, Science and World Language Honor Societies.  She tutored other students, wrote for the school paper, performed in the school drama productions and played violin in the school orchestra.

For the past four years Christina has participated in the Rockland Youth Dance Ensemble, is a non-profit organization that creates opportunities for students through education and performance.  Christina performed and served as a volunteer student teacher for dance classes. Christina will attend Fordham University, Gazelle School of Business.

The RBWN scholarship recipient from Suffern High School is Jana Soares.  Jana has also earned a 4.0 GPA while taking AP and Honors level courses.  She also participated in the New York State Math and Science Olympiads since seventh grade.  She ran Varsity Cross Country for Suffern for the past four years.  Jana is on the Suffern Library Teen Advisory Council and is in the Sacred Heart Teen Youth Group.  She spent over 200 hours working for the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps assisting the EMTs and paramedics.  In addition, Jana and her brother founded the Suffern High School Charity of the Month Club.  Since December 2009, she and her fellow students held monthly fund raisers that have raised money, collected food and shoes, and sent packages for soldiers in Afghanistan. They have also raised money for a high school student undergoing chemotherapy and for an organization which brings safe drinking water to people in developing countries. This past April, they ran a Dance Dance Revolution Tournament to benefit the Rockland Family Shelter. Jana will attend St. Edward’s University in Texas.          

The RBWN scholarship recipient from Nyack High School is Brooke Hefele.  Brooke took AP and Honors classes throughout her high school.  She is a member of the National Honor Society as well as the Art, English and Science Honor Societies.  Brooke was the editor of the school yearbook for the past two years and served as Student Council VP.  She spent four years on the Decorating Committee, was a member of the varsity cheerleading squad and a four year member of a traveling cheerleading/gymnastics team.

Brooke participated in many volunteer activities for St. Francis of Assisi Church.  Brooke is also a volunteer on the Alzheimer’s Disease Research team at Columbia University. Brooke would like to become a physician/researcher and will attend Loyola University, Maryland.