Silver Spring College Students Recognized For Academic Achievements

SILVER SPRING, MD — To shine a light on the academic achievements of college students from the Silver Spring area, Patch shares information provided by the students' families and Merit News.

Eliana Lebson of Silver Spring was named to the dean's list for spring 2022 at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Judah Abrams of Silver Spring recently received the Ruth Doorly Scholarship from Lifeworks, a nonprofit human services provider that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Entering his junior year at Lesley University, Abrams is pursing a bachelor’s degree in special education. While attending Montgomery College in Maryland, Judah ran the childcare program at a local synagogue.

Alison Margison of Silver Spring was named to the spring 2022 dean's list at The University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida. Margison was a sophomore majoring in political science and pursuing a BA. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.75 or higher to be eligible for the dean's list.

Amelia Brown of Silver Spring was named to the spring 2022 dean's list at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Brown, a rising senior at HCU, is a graduate of Bethesda Chevy Chase High School. To be named to the HCU dean's list, a student must have carried throughout the semester a course load of four or more graded credits with an average of 3.5 or above.

Eliana Lebson of Silver Spring was named to the dean's list for spring 2022 at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Renee Panic from Silver Spring earned a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater as part of the 2022 spring commencement. More than 1,530 students crossed the stage to receive their degrees at this semester's ceremonies held May 14 on the Whitewater campus, and May 17 on the Rock County campus. Panic graduated with an MBA in Business Administration.

Alexandra Polon of Silver Spring earned a spot on the dean's list during the spring 2022 semester at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Polon earned the status while pursuing a bachelor of arts in biology/pre-physical therapy and bachelor of arts in Spanish, both from the College of Arts & Sciences. The dean's list recognizes full-time students who earned a grade point average of 3.50 and above for the semester.

Donna Mbulaiteye of Silver Spring made the dean's list for the spring 2022 semester at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. This designation is awarded to undergraduate students who have earned a 3.0 or higher academic average for the semester.

Matthew Ober, a native of Silver Spring, is now serving as the president of the University of Maryland, College Park Circle (chapter) of Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society.

Austin Patterson of Silver Spring is a graduate of Albert Einstein Sr. High School majoring in theatre acting and directing Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. He is participating in a collaborative program between the school's nursing and theater and dance departments. Student actors portray patients in various medical scenarios to give nursing students a chance to practice nurse-patient communication techniques in a controlled learning environment.

Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York conferred more than 4,300 degrees at all of its campuses in the 2021-2022 academic year. The following local residents received degrees:

• Juliana Apfel of Silver Spring received an MS in health care interpretation.
• Afnan Abdella of Silver Spring received an MS in human-computer interaction.
• Maurice Braxton of Silver Spring received an AOS in precision manufacturing technology.
• Valerie Lidiak of Silver Spring received a BS in computing and information technologies

Yohannes Lema of Silver Spring graduated with a bachelor's degree in software engineering from Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana during the May 21 commencement exercises. Lema was among more than 260 students who received degrees.

At the 160th commencement ceremonies at Frostburg State University in May, the following area residents were among the nearly 700 candidates for degrees.

• Nebyu Alemu of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in information technology.
• Ana Alvarez de la Cruz of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in engineering.
• Tatiana Brizuela of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in nursing.
• Seny Dore of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in international studies.
• Sahr Ebba of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
• Douglas Flores of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in secure computing and information assurance.
• Jeffrey Marquez of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
• Chris Mayaka of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in secure computing and information assurance.
• Kaden Mbangala Bennett of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in business administration.
• Samuel Olawuyi of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in law and society.
• Katherine Reyes of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in social work and sociology.
• Sydney Sackett of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in English.
• Essence Turner of Silver Spring received a bachelor of science degree in liberal studies.
• Julia Demarais of Silver Spring received a master of science degree in recreation, parks and sport management.
• Zubia Khan of Silver Spring received a master of medical science degree in physician assistant studies.
• Amina Manguera of Silver Spring received a master of science degree in recreation, parks and sport management.

Shenandoah University's Carlos Arias of Silver Spring was named Academic All-ODAC in selections announced by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Arias was one of a school-record 291 Shenandoah student-athletes to earn the honor. To be named named Academic All-ODAC, student-athletes must earn at least a 3.25 GPA for the 2021-22 academic year. All 21 eligible intercollegiate athletic programs at SU had at least one student-athlete selected to the squad.

Isabel Fenton of Silver Spring was named to the dean's list for the winter semester ending in April 2022 at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. This is a distinction earned by students whose grade point average is 3.92 or higher. Fenton, the daughter of Debra A. Liang-Fenton, is a 2018 graduate of Montgomery Blair High School. She is a senior at Bates majoring in politics and minoring in rhetoric, film, and screen studies.

Maria Lee of Silver Spring has been named to the dean's list for the spring 2022 semester at Purchase College in Purchase, New York. Lee is studying creative writing. To be eligible for the dean's list, Purchase students must carry a semester GPA of 3.5 for bachelor of arts and bachelor of science programs and 3.75 for bachelor of fine arts and bachelor of music performance programs. They must take a minimum of 12 credits.

The following students graduated after the spring 2022 from Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont:

• Jessica D'Amico of Silver Spring earned a master of science in digital forensic science.
• Brendan Mckenna of Silver Spring earned a bachelor of science in computer and digital forensics. McKenna was also named to the dean's list for the spiring 2022 semester by achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

Moshe Polonsky of Silver Spring made the dean's list for the spiring 2022 semester by achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

Noah Chopra-Khan of Silver Spring graduated with a bachelor of science in computer science on May 22 from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.

Binyamin Feldman of Silver Spring, a student at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan Campus, located in Teaneck, New Jersey, has graduated with a MS in ACTG7 as of May 2022.

Malissa Perez of Silver Spring was recently initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Perez was initiated at National Intelligence University.

Don't see your award-winning scholar among those appearing in this academic honors list? Send the details to Patch editor Michael O'Connell at [email protected] and Patch will include them in a future post.