Margaret Szydlik

Margaret Szydlik of Midland Park, NJ is a History major. She is a member of FOCUS, the History Club, Rock Climbing Team, Dumbledore’s Army and the Disney Club. Her future plans include working at a museum as a researcher on Mesoamerica. “Receiving the scholarship means that I can live on campus and participate more fully in campus life without worrying about the financial cost,” she said. Margaret has a 3.60 grade point average.

Awarded Scholarships

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2014

Alumni Association Scholarship

When they think of giving back, many Ramapo students — past and present — think of their alma mater.  Each year the Alumni Association provides a scholarship for one freshman in each of the College’s five schools: the Anisfield School of Business, the School of Humanities and Global Studies, the School of Contemporary Arts, the School of Social Sciences and Human Services and the School of Theoretical and Applied Science.  In order to make these awards permanent, the Alumni Association Board of Directors endowed the Alumni Scholarships in the late 1990s.  Created with gifts from hundreds of former Ramapo students and the success of alumni fundraisers, the endowment continues to grow, thanks to the dedication and support of alumni led by Board President Carolyn Merkel ’78, Ph.D.

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.”