2022 HOF Student Stories

NewAlliance Foundation Nursing Fellowship recipient; majoring in Nursing. Next Steps: 2024 graduation; working as R.N., perhaps in a drug and alcohol treatment facility; pursuing a bachelor’s degree.  ‘Becoming a nurse means I can help people like me.’  For Mary Smith, now 35, college was a “three-times-a-charm” experience. Mary ‘‘came out” at 16, but her family…

Prof. Donald Walker Scholarship & Malakah Williams Scholarship recipient;   Majoring in Accounting.  Next Steps:  2023 graduation; becoming an accounting manager  ‘What’s important isn’t how fast I go, but that I finish the race.’  “Life started early for me,” recalls West Haven resident Patricia Hall.   After high school, Patricia, now 58, began working in the insurance…

Technology (Laptop) Scholarship;   Majoring in Early Childhood Education.  Next Steps: Pursing a master’s degree and opening her own childcare/learning center   ‘I feel at home at Gateway. It was meant to be that I came here.’  Neiha Nasruddin Nathani came to the U.S. from her native India on a student visa in early 2021 to pursue…

Access to Success Scholarship  Majoring in Liberal Arts and Sciences  Next Steps: Transfer to Uconn for Pre-Veterinary Bachelor’s Degree ‘Coming to Gateway was the best decision I ever made.’ Growing up, Analise DeLeon loved animals. Now 21, she recalls always having household pets, mostly dogs and cats, as well as bringing home a variety of…

‘Knowing someone believes in me makes me try harder to succeed.’  Adam Junkins’ path to higher education was a somewhat winding road. Adam, now 28, was born in Connecticut, but his parents moved to Michigan when he was young. After his high school graduation and parents’ divorce, he and his Mom, Pam, moved back to…