Second Effort

Cathlen Poulard, a junior who is double majoring in biology and French, wants to go to medical school and become a doctor. Senior Theodore Adams, a social welfare major, hopes to earn a master’s degree and open his own practice as a chemical dependency counselor. Anuola Hercules, who graduated last May, dreams of opening several low-cost day-care centers in Brooklyn for teenage mothers who want to continue school.

With the help of Second Chance Scholarships at the University at Albany, all three are now closer to their goals.

Since it was instituted in 1997, the Second Chance Scholarship program has distributed more than $30,000 to 30 students, according to Carson Carr Jr., assistant vice president for academic affairs and director of Albany’s Educational Opportunities Program, who oversees the program. The awards, which range from $500 to $1,500, help disadvantaged students who are identified as having the potential and desire to continue their formal education, but do not have the financial resources. The University is the latest addition to the program, which was established by the Joseph J. Mastrangelo & Ralph Arnold Foundation in Schenectady and got its start at Hudson Valley Community College in 1995. More than 100 members of the faculty and staff contribute donations for the program to help the campus meet the Foundation’s requirement for matching funds.

“When we tell students that they have received these scholarships, they are elated that someone is giving them some attention and support,” Carr said. To qualify, students complete an application, which includes a personal essay. Recipients are informed in the spring, but are told that the amount will depend on the grades they earn.

Without their Second Chance Scholarships, many recipients would have to drop out of school, get extra jobs, or take out more loans.

“This program really helps people like me who do not get enough financial aid to pay for essentials like tuition and books without having to work so many hours that our grades suffer. It takes away some of the stress,” said Poulard, whose goal is to become a physician and return to her native Haiti, which has a scarcity of doctors.

Adams, who has already earned an associate’s degree in chemical dependency counseling with the help of the Second Chance Scholarship from Hudson Valley, said his Albany scholarship has given him peace of mind about his finances as he completes his degree. “The Second Chance Scholarship has also acted as a motivator for me academically when I was struggling with school work, since I realized that the harder I worked, the bigger the scholarship I would get,” he said. As someone who has received help with his own chemical addiction, he hopes to earn his master’s degree in social welfare from the University and establish his own practice to help others.

Hercules, who is a native of Guyana, is now enrolled in the M.B.A. program at Albany. “If not for the scholarship, I would have had to take out another unsubsidized loan, which has to be paid back before graduation,” she said

Another May graduate, Robin Mills, is now working on her master’s degree in rehabilitative counseling in the Educational Psychology Department. She has an associate’s degree in chemical dependency counseling from Hudson Valley Community College, but says she wanted to do more.

“I believe that when people have a problem, it affects the whole family, so I want to be able to help the whole family, not just the individual with the problem,” said Mills, who is from Brooklyn and has five children and a grandchild. The scholarship, she said, allowed her to go to school full time and graduate.

For Latoya Taitt, the scholarship “revived my faith in myself.” When she received it, she was living in an apartment with her mother, sister, and 3-year-old son, and was responsible for paying a majority of the bills. With a new apartment, she now has her own space and time in which to study. “The scholarship is true to its name. Just knowing that I got it encouraged me to stick it out,” she said.

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