Alexander Billups (Fine Arts Education)

Alexander is a husband and father of two daughters and an adoptive father to his twelve year old brother. Alexander is also an ordained minister at Heavenly Temple Holiness Church in Newark, New Jersey. He is working towards a degree in Fine Arts Education and ultimately seeks to become a professor of fine arts, as well as continue the work of his ministery. Alexander will be the first in his family of eight siblings to obtain a college degree. He is determined to raise the bar of education for future generations. He says, "I know that change will not come unless I reach for it. I also understand that education is a direct link to freedom. Freedom in the intellectual world and in the material world."

Marcel Castor (Chemistry and Molecular Biology)

Marcel has always had a passion for science, puzzles and models. As a child going to the library, his preference for books was mostly in the sciences. He would complete a one thousand piece puzzle in three days, built models in hours and solved a Rubix Cube in one and a half weeks. He intends to pursue a career in biomedical science as a researcher and physician. He has worked with doctors at Cornell University and traveled to the Venezuelan Amazon through the Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training Program to assist with ethnopharmacognosy research. As a researcher, he intends to "improve the overall quality of life" through new medications, treatments or scientific breakthroughs. As a physician, he intends to join Doctors Without Borders in providing medical care for underdeveloped nations.

Mame Kani Diop (Family and Child Studies)

Kani is a native of Senegal, West Africa who emigrated to the U.S.several years ago in an effort to find a better living. She is a survivor of domestic violence and a divorced single mother of two children. She is a full-time student in Family and Child Studies. Kani is the author of "Eye on Africa," a children's book about diversity. She travels to different schools and libraries to talk about diversity and to encourage children. She also volunteers with the MSU S.C.E.E.P program, which is dedicated to helping inner city low-income children improve their academic achievements by tutoring and mentoring them. Kani says, "My life revolves around helping children succeed in many ways. High education is the key for my future social success and acceptance. High education means everything to a single mother." **Recipient of the Ellen Kerns Nunn Scholarship Award**

Jazmin Floyd (Biology)

Since she wore braces at the ageof ten, Jazmin has aspired to be a dentist.In high school she was a peer leader and mentor and developed small group workshops that encouraged career goals and built confidence among incoming freshman. She applied to Montclair State University as a transfer student within the Health Careers Program (HCP), which prepares highly motivated and academically capable students, from disadvantaged backgrounds. She currently majors in Biology with a minor in Chemistry.

Shauna Foster (Communications & English Education)

Shauna is an African American female from Newark, New Jersey. This is her fifth and final year with a double major in Communications and English Education at Montclair State University. She feels blessed to have made it this far in her education and aspires to be a teacher in the Newark Public Schools. Her main objective in life is to support her single mother and to serve as a role model for her three younger sisters by working part-time as a student teaching assistant at MSU. Shauna will be the first person in her family to obtain a Bachelor’s degree in her family.

Stephanie Garcia (Justice Studies)

Stephanie is a native of Bronx, New York where she currently resides. She describes herself as "a proud Latina, Puerto Rican to be specific." She is a Justice Studies and Child Advocacy major in her fourth year at Montclair State University. She is employed at the MSU Women’s Center and plans to attend law school in New York and eventually open a center for abused women and children. She says, "I have always wanted to be a lawyer but recently I have decided to also go into activism, and speak out against violence, rape, and abuse." She is also an actress at heart and loves to express herself through the arts.Her motto in life comes from Dr. Seuss: "There is no one alive who is youer than you!". She also lives by the anonymous quote, "when one door closes another door opens, even though it may be hell in the hallway."