Anthony Chirdo

Anthony Chirdo lives in Elmwood Park, New Jersey and is a graduate of Paramus Catholic High School and Bergen Community College. He is a senior majoring in history, and his grade point average is 3.26. Anthony is a busy volunteer fire fighter, Eagle Scout, member of the Elmwood Park Planning Board, an usher at St. Leo’s Roman Catholic Church, and director of Camp Turrell operated by the Boy Scouts of America. He is proud of the twenty-page paper he researched and wrote for his senior history seminar on Wall Street and political corruption in the early days of America.

Awarded Scholarships

2009

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.