Teachers Union Awards 10 Scholarships

Hillhouse senior Alex Lewis began high school feeling isolated and insecure amidst online-only classes during the pandemic. All that changed when he joined the school’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), which gave him the confidence he needed to feel like he too could go to college.

With the help of his sergeant and the local teachers union, Lewis received a $500 boost to chase that post-high school educational dream.

Lewis was one of ten students to receive a $500 scholarship award Monday during a ceremony hosted by the New Haven Federation of Teachers. Nearly 50 people attended at the teachers union headquarters at 267 Chapel St. to celebrate the graduating high schoolers and their next academic steps.

While the union has distributed scholarship funds before, this is the first year it’s held a ceremony to celebrate with the student awardees and their families. 

“You are the motivated students who want to take advantage of every opportunity and we want to see more and more students get to this level where they’re taking advantage of those opportunities,” said teachers union President Leslie Blatteau, ​“and that means we need to invest in them from the start.” 

She stressed the importance of the union supporting all educators, parents, students, and caregivers, and said that a portion of union members’ dues goes towards investing in students’ and their families’ futures.

This year the union received 30 applications for its $500 scholarships, a record high.

The union hall meeting room was decorated on Monday with gold and black balloons and banners congratulating the graduating students. 

The student award recipients included New Haven Academy’s Julianna Santana, Co-op’s Andrew Johnson and Tamia Robinson, Career’s Samia Jimenez, Hillhouse’s Alex Lewis, High School in the Community’s Adelina Barreira, Wilbur Cross’ Molly Pellino and Harmony Cruz-Bustamante, and Metro’s John Carlos Bustillo and Maritza Trejo Torres. 

The students’ successes during their time in New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) ranged from being in the national honors society and being champions of local community service to being talented in dance, organizing, visual arts, and cheerleading. 

Hillhouse senior Alex Lewis joined the school’s JROTC program his sophomore year after struggling to connect with his school due to spending his freshman year remote because of Covid. He moved to New Haven from Jamaica in 2018. He’s since risen to the top three cadets in the program and racked up over 70 hours of community service. He plans to head to Norwich University to pursue a career in the FBI. 

“This feels good. Hard work really does pay off,” he said. ​“I wouldn’t have made it here without this [the JROTC]. It really built my confidence up.” 

Lewis received his award from Sergeant First Class Lisa Rodriguez, who has helped lead Hillhouse’s JROTC program for the past 19 years. 

Pellino, who received her award from Cross English teacher Akimi Nelken, was described as exemplifying Cross pride. She plans to head to Sacred Heart University to pursue a nursing degree to become a neonatal nurse practitioner. She discovered this passion while participating is a summer symposium hosted by Southern Connecticut State University. She shadowed a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse and decided on her career pathway to help people. 

She has always had an interest in serving others thanks to spending her entire life watching her mother, who is a special education teacher at Cross and has been teaching for 27 years. She added that the cultural diversity of Cross also inspired her to want to help others. ​“It [Cross] really opened my eyes to the real world,” she said. 

She celebrated almost reaching high school graduation and recalled the past four years being full of lost motivation due to the pandemic, mental health struggles, and stress. It’s also been a four-year journey of ample opportunities to get support and learning to ask for help. 

While Pellino has spent her entire life attending New Haven’s public schools, she has not always lived in the city and therefore didn’t qualify to receive New Haven Promise scholarship dollars. She said she appreciates ​“every little bit of help” so she can have a career that allows her to give back to her community.