Amanda Legoskey

Amanda Legoskey of Voorhees, NJ is a Literature major. On campus, Amanda is active with the Women’s Center. Before transferring to Ramapo from a community college, Amanda was a note taker and mentor for students with disabilities. She has worked at a local supermarket since 2006. Amanda, who has a 3.09 grade point average, plans to earn a Ph.D. so that she may become a Literature professor.

Awarded Scholarships

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2013

Wojciechowski-Dembia Scholarship

Sofia Wojciechowski was born in 1917, the oldest of four children of Polish immigrants. Sofia grew up in Mahwah, NJ and in 1945 married Edward Dembia, a purchasing agent for Maxwell House Coffee. Together they built a home in Mahwah.

Sofia worked as a legal secretary, then obtained NJ real estate and insurance licenses. She was the owner and operator of Ramsey Interstate Realty and Insurance for many years. Sofia was notoriously frugal and a hard worker. “She took pride in recounting that her initial salary as a legal secretary was $5 per week,” according to a July, 2010 article in the Villadom Times. “She promptly opened a Christmas Club account and tried to save $1 per week for the 50 weeks of the Club. She recalled that in that first year she had saved ‘only’ $48.”

Sofia and Ed were active in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, where they maintained ties with Poland and worked to keep Polish traditions alive in the parish. They traveled to Poland often and hosted Polish relatives when they visited the United States. The Dembias routinely sent packages of hard-to-find goods to relatives in Poland during the years of communist rule.

Edward Dembia died in 1988 and Sofia died in 2010 at the age of 93. In her will, Sofia created scholarship funds at Don Bosco High School, Felician College and Ramapo College. The Wojciechowski-Dembia Scholarship at Ramapo is a permanently endowed fund for students to “pursue any course of study.” Whenever possible, Sofia desired that the scholarship “be given to students of Polish descent or students demonstrating a continuing interest in Polish culture.”

Hirschman, Cara Mychelle Memorial Scholarship

In the Spring of 1996, Ramapo College student Cara Mychelle Hirschman was ecstatic to learn that she had been named to the Dean’s List. The transcript for that semester hung proudly on her mom’s refrigerator and demonstrated a huge accomplishment for Cara, who had a learning disability. She spoke openly about the academic struggles she faced and the compensatory strategies she employed.

Though she was declined enrollment at other colleges, Ramapo recognized the potential in this caring, intelligent, dynamic and hard-working young woman. Cara worked closely with her counselor in the Office of Specialized Services, Ramona Kopacz, and succeeded in her studies while becoming an active member of the campus community. Cara was an officer in the Marketing Club and a tutor for the Office of Specialized Services. She volunteered for the Special Olympics and held a coop position at Trucolor Lab as a customer service representative and product advisor.

Tragically, only months after receiving her Dean’s List honors, Cara was killed in a car accident at age 21. The Eleanor B. Reiner Foundation, where Cara’s mother was a board member, provided annual scholarship gifts in Cara’s memory, and in 1997 made a substantial gift to permanently endow these awards.

Hirschman Scholarships are awarded to students of good academic standing who have a documented learning disability and, like Cara, are involved on campus and in the community.