His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester, royal patron of The St. George’s Society of New York, made a day-long visit to Lehman College on December 9, 2010, where he met with more than two dozen students who have received scholarships funded by St. George's Society and presented Shireen Frederick, a Lehman alumna and native of Antigua, with a $10,000 scholarship from the Mountbatten Institute for postgraduate studies in London. More...
In 2008, St. George’s Society launched a scholarship program to assist deserving British and Commonwealth Students enrolled at Lehman College, part of CUNY, in the Bronx with university expenses. In the first year, thanks to Mark C. Pigott, OBE, a member of the Society’s Advisory Council, we were able to provide full tuition scholarships for 24 seniors who otherwise would have run out of funds and been unable to complete their degree work.
Thus far we have awarded 63 scholarships to outstanding students enabling them to complete their final year of college education and launch their careers. Our goal is to be able to provide scholarships to a new group of students every year.
Lehman College is part of City University of New York and has over 11,000 students, of which approximately 10% are from the Commonwealth. Our scholarship recipients are originally from such diverse places as Bangladesh, Barbados, Ghana, Jamaica, Nigeria, Pakistan and Trinidad & Tobago and you can read the stories of three of the scholars below.
Michael S. was granted political asylum in the United States on November 7, 2003. He was born in India, in the southern state of Kerala. In 1998 following the electoral victory of Bharatiya Janata Party, attacks by the right-wing organization Sangh Parivar against Christians and other minorities increased dramatically. Michael’s parents were accused of collaborating with the local church to try and convert lower caste Hindus to Christianity. His parents refused to submit to the charges brought against them and weren’t allowed to file a police report claiming harassment by the local authorities and politicians. The authorities resorted to violence and ransacked the family’s home before burning it to the ground. Death threats were issued against Michael’s family and they had to flee and go into hiding. Six years later, Michael is now pursuing a degree in Public Health in the hopes that he can give back to the community that provided his family with a new life.
Ashton S. was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, to a long line of military men both in England and Scotland. His family moved to Canada when he was a young child and then to Nashville, TN in 1985. Ashton did not have the financial means to go to college right away so he joined the United States Navy and served during the first Gulf War. After returning from the war, Ashton moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music while working for a historic preservation consulting firm. Five years later, he moved to New York City and continued his music career while working for a nonprofit arts organization that aims to make the arts accessible to young children in the New York area by offering them $5 tickets to city-wide events. It was during this time that Ashton decided to apply to Lehman College as a music major with the dream of one day becoming a music teacher at a public school in New York City.
Chidinma E. spent her childhood and teen years in Nigeria where her father was a medical doctor at a hospital. When she was very young, her father was occasionally called into emergency surgery when there was no one to babysit her brother and her. During these times her father had to take her and her brother to the hospital with him while he performed these surgeries. It was at this young age that Chidinma developed an interest in medicine and a desire to follow in her father’s footsteps. She came to the United States in 2003 and was admitted into Los Angeles City College in 2004. Chidinma transferred to Lehman College where she is pursuing a major in Chemistry with a specialization in biochemistry. She plans to enroll in medical school in the fall of 2011.
