Anastasia Caulfield

Anastasia Caulfield of Cranford N.J. is an International Studies major. On campus, Anastasia has participated in Leaders in Service. She has been elected twice to the SGA, serving as Senator-at-Large liaison to the Women’s Center and Office of Student Conduct.

Anastasia serves as student representative to Ramapo’s Schedule Change Committee. She has worked on Ramapo’s “It’s On Us” campaign to stop violence against women.  She has also represented Ramapo at the National Student Leadership Diversity Conference and looks forward to helping to further diversity, sensitivity and respect on campus.

Off-campus, Anastasia’s involvement has included Girl Scouts and recreational programs for children.

Awarded Scholarships

---

2016

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. 

NDK Perseverance Scholarship Endowment

Nancy and Robert Kossowsky created the NDK Perseverance Scholarship in honor of their daughter, Nicole, and her success in meeting her own learning challenges. Nicole received a master’s degree in art education from Manhattanville College. She is currently a special education art  teacher in the Bronx.  The family’s intent in creating this scholarship is to “provide a scholarship for students who have demonstrated integrity and perseverance in overcoming adversity.”
“Ordinary students often ask whether there are any scholarships available when they do not have an A average,” wrote Nicole. “Although this scholarship does not require a high GPA, it does require excellence in character, and that students be extraordinary and amazing in other ways. Candidates need to have a diagnosed learning difference and have learned how to self-advocate as well as embrace their differences. They need to be able to see their differences as a gift rather than a disability. Most importantly, the recipient should be someone who wants to continue to learn and knows the steps needed to reach their standard of academic excellence.