STEAM Senior procures over $50,000 in college scholarships

Jasmine Damian is a senior at the Mount Vernon STEAM Academy who balances extracurricular activities with a keen focus on academics and her education. With a little over a month left before completing four years of high school, Jasmine is ready to celebrate all of her accomplishments and walk across the graduation stage!

Jasmine has a cumulative grade point average of 94, the result of staying focused and present in the classroom. She has taken several advanced placement (AP) classes at STEAM, including AP Literature, AP Biology and AP Psychology, which she finds most interesting. These AP classes give students the opportunity to engage with college-level courses and earn credits towards their college transcripts. 

One of the biggest accomplishments Jasmine highlights from her time at STEAM is passing the AP Chemistry exam. To prepare for this exam, Jasmine studied past AP Chemistry exams throughout the year and created study groups with classmates.  These study groups were extremely helpful in keeping each other motivated and sharp for the class. 

Jasmine believes that STEAM’s best classes are great because of the teachers who teach them. She highlights the literature classes she took over the four years and AP World History with her teacher, David Bendlin, as her favorite classes during high school. 

Over the past four years, Jasmine has grown tremendously, focusing on getting out of her comfort zone and creating valuable connections that would last a lifetime. 

Jasmine is an active member of the National Honor Society (NHS), the Faith in Friends Club, and the Badminton Club.  As a member of the NHS since her sophomore year, she gained valuable leadership experience and planned volunteer activities for others. 

Jasmine has taken part in planning a food drive and garbage pick up, which she organized amongst her friend group to clean up around schools and help out in her community. 

“ It was really fun,” said Jasmine. “Especially when you’re doing it with your friends, doing good things for the community can be really fun.” 

Jasmine also takes part in the Architecture, Construction, and Engineering Mentor Program (ACE) through STEAM, where students get the opportunity to meet with mentors in the engineering and architecture fields. Through this, she gains great professional insight and knowledge. 

Jasmine is looking forward to entering an exceptional nursing program in college to become a registered nurse. She plans to work towards achieving a bachelor's degree in the science of nursing before going on to get her master's to become a midwife. 

“My sister is a nurse, so that is the biggest inspiration for me,” said Jasmine.  “I’d like to be able to take care of babies and pregnant women.”

Jasmine has applied to several colleges, including New York University, Purchase College, Manhattanville College, and PACE University. She has been accepted into Mercy University and Adelphi University, and she was accepted into PACE University with a scholarship of $36,000 and Dominican University with a scholarship of $16,000.

Now that Jasmine has completed her college applications, she is looking forward to making memories with all of the friends she’s made at STEAM and all of the end-of-year activities she gets to partake in as a senior.