News & Events
New York City Technical College Selects First Presidential Scholars
-- Two students, one from Haiti and one from China, chosen
for top honor --
New York City Technical College (City Tech) freshmen
Ismael Poteau and Wai Mark have been tapped as the campus' first
Presidential Scholars, President Fred W. Beaufait recently announced.
"We have established this full scholarship to encourage two
budding scholars each year to enroll in our baccalaureate programs,"
he said. "The students we chose this year were among the top
in their high school class. We are pleased to be able to give them
the support they need to attend City Tech."
Poteau excelled at Long Island City High School with a grade point
average of 91.7 and a cumulative SAT score of 1,180. He and his
family left Les Cayes in the southern part of Haiti in 1998 to settle
in Long Island City. His father now works in housekeeping at a Manhattan
hospital to support him and his younger sister.
"This scholarship is a great thing for me," Poteau said.
"It shows that I am appreciated as a person. The world is a
tough place these days and it's nice to know people at City Tech
care."
Poteau came to City Tech because it was the only City University
of New York college that offers a bachelor's degree in telecommunications
technology, which he sees as an expanding field with good income
potential.
Mark, the other Presidential Scholar, is a Sunset Park resident
who is originally from the Guangdong Province in the south of China.
When he was 11 years old, his family moved to the island of Belize,
where his parents opened a Chinese restaurant. The 20-year-old came
to the U.S. for the first time this past July to enroll at City
Tech, which he had heard about from a friend who is a student here.
An electrical engineering technology major, Mark is fascinated with
computer networks and plans to go on to a computer-related career
in electrical engineering.
The Presidential Scholarships, funded with unrestricted charitable
donations to the New York City Technical College Foundation, provide
full tuition and fees to a maximum of $3,500 annually per recipient.
Incoming freshmen with high school average of 90 or higher, ranked
in the top 20 percent of their class and with a 1080 or higher SAT
score, are eligible to apply. The grants are renewable for three
additional years provided the recipients maintain a cumulative grade
point average of 3.5 or higher.
