Chamber names their scholarship winners

For most Glen Cove families looking at colleges, the price tag of admission can seem overwhelming. According to Education Data Initiative’s 2023 findings, the average cost of college in the United States is $36,436 per student per year, including books, supplies, and daily living expenses. After adjusting for inflation, college tuition has increased roughly 748 percent since 1963.

To help offset some of these costs, the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce awarded two graduating seniors from the Glen Cove City School District with the chamber’s annual Dr. Glenn Howard Jr. Scholarship. The recipients, Anastasia Edwards, and Caralena Genova were awarded a combined total of $1,750 for their essays detailing the impact Glen Cove businesses had on their personal and academic growth.

“I was eager to find a job and explore different careers,” Edwards said.  “After coming out of Covid-19, it was hard to find anything,” 

In her essay titled “The Secret to Success,” Edwards wrote about her experience working for Dr. Maxine Mayeris in her junior year. When Edwards stepped into the “warm and welcoming office” she knew she wanted to be part of a world that helped people improve their well-being.

“Little did I know how much this job would change me,” Edwards said. “Before working for Dr. Max, I was quiet and kept to myself. I was so used to getting my work done and being isolated like Covid taught me.”

Edwards said she used to avoid public speaking “like the plague,” but Dr. Mayeris encouraged her to not view patients as strangers, and to speak with confidence, which helped her to be active in the school’s Distributive Education Clubs of America program. 

“Confidence became part of my everyday life,” Edwards said. “Once I had the confidence down, I realized how much I loved getting to talk to our patients and learning about their lives.”

Genova said working at the View Grill provided her with her most positive work experience yet, especially in an “unforgiving” industry. She’s proud to have had the opportunity to cater parties, especially those at her school. 

“Because of Jeanine DiMenna’s amazing heart and kindness, we are able to host such amazing events for the community and the reward is the happiness on everyone’s faces,” Genova said. “It is extremely difficult, from a planning perspective, to find a venue to host such large parties with amazing dedication and service.”

Genova became friends with co-workers of various ages and backgrounds while developing a strong sense of community with her colleagues. The strong friendships she forged also helped to support her after the death of her grandparents.  

“Working as a busser, I learned so many extremely valuable interpersonal skills and made some amazing connections with people in my community,” Genova said. “As I continue my journey into adulthood, I will never forget the value of my experience at the View, and I will always be grateful for the amazing people who made it so.”

Although Mayeris was not part of the committee that decided the final winners of the scholarship, she was thoroughly impressed by both winners. She said she’s impressed by Edwards’s growth into a confident young woman and is also impressed by Genova’s deepened interpersonal skills. 

The Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce has been awarding scholarships to college-bound Glen Cove High School seniors for over 30 years. They renamed their annual award after the late Dr. Glenn Howard Jr. an advocate of higher education, and a retired principal scientist of Pall Corp.

The commerce’s website states that education was very important to Howard, which inspired him to became especially involved in administering the annual chamber scholarship. He enjoyed reading the creative essays submitted by the city’s high school seniors and having a voice in judging those essays. The chamber feels that the Dr. Howard, Jr. Scholarship is a fitting way to perpetuate the legacy of Howard while honoring students and helping them financially. Their site also states that Howard “possessed extreme intellect, wit and wisdom that we welcomed and came to rely upon.”