New Scholarship Program Opens Smith’s Doors to More Community College Students

When Connie Stano was thinking about transferring from Holyoke Community College to a four-year college in 2013, she didn’t view Smith as an option.

“I’m not even close to a traditional age student—I have three grown children,” Stano said. “Smith just wasn’t on my radar.”

But after an adviser encouraged her to visit Smith, Stano became convinced it was the place for her. She was accepted as an Ada Comstock Scholar in 2013 and has been pursuing her interests in psychology and education—and discovering some new ones, such as African-American history.

After she graduates, Stano hopes to go on for a master’s degree and a career “helping children overcome the difficulties we normally associate with growing up poor or in a challenging environment,” she said. “My hope is to help children understand that they are each brilliant in their own way.”

A new scholarship program Smith unveiled last month will open the college doors to more students like Stano. The program, launched in partnership with Holyoke Community College (HCC) and Greenfield Community College (GCC), will award four full-tuition Smith scholarships annually to students who complete a minimum of 32 credits at those two colleges. The first Community College Scholarship students will be admitted to Smith in the fall.

The program doubles the number of scholarships Smith now guarantees each year to students from area schools. The college awards four full-time scholarships annually to students who graduate from Holyoke and Springfield public schools.

Among local educational institutions, HCC and GCC have sent the largest number of students to Smith—more than 200 since 2002, according to the latest figures available from the admission office.

President McCartney noted that students who have come to Smith through those partnerships have played an important role.

“They have become vital, engaged members of the community, helping to transform our classrooms during their student years, and bringing vision, energy and commitment to the world after graduation,” McCartney said.

The new scholarship program builds on Smith’s ongoing efforts to provide students of diverse backgrounds access to a top-notch education, said Sidonia Dalby, associate director of admission and adviser to the college’s 40-year-old Ada Comstock Scholars Program for non-traditional students. The majority of Comstock Scholars began their studies at community colleges.

Dalby noted that community colleges—which now enroll close to half of all students in higher education in the United States—attract students of varied ages, races and academic interests.

“Women everywhere take different paths on their education journeys and in order to continue to attract the best and brightest to Smith, we recruit at community colleges which serve as springboards for a wide range of talented students,” she said. “These students bring a tremendous hunger for learning and an energy to realize their ambitions. Their dreams can really come true here.”

In addition to financial aid, the new scholarship program will provide other support to students making the transition from community college to Smith, including enhanced academic advising, peer mentoring and close faculty monitoring during their first two semesters—the time of greatest stress for new students.

Calvin McFadden, dean of the Ada Comstock Scholars and the sophomore class, noted that scholarship students can also take advantage of help available to all Smithies through the Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching and Learning and the Lazarus Center for Career Development.

“Those are programs that help prepare women for their lives at Smith and beyond,” said McFadden, a former administrator at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Mass. “These new scholarships speak volumes about Smith’s commitment to bettering the lives of women.”

Suzanne Stillinger, who graduated from GCC in 2008 and is a first-year Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith, said she was worried at first about being able to handle Smith courses. But encouragement from her professors, classmates and fellow Adas smoothed her transition.

“I got A’s this first semester,” said Stillinger, who lives in Amherst with her partner, Daniel, and 11-month old daughter, Helena. “I do better when I’m challenged and I’m really loving being here.”

Alumna Patricia Woods ’00 also remembers feeling anxious when she first entered Smith after attending HCC in the late 1990s. “Even though HCC and Smith are only a few miles apart, it felt like a different planet,” said Woods, who is now assistant director in the Lazarus Center.

Smith’s house-based residence system, “where everyone was treated equally” helped Woods feel like less of an outsider, she said. Connections she made with faculty and classmates helped sustain her during her years at the college—and after graduation, as she pursued a master’s degree and a vocation in career development.

In addition to helping individual students, Woods said the new scholarship program will benefit the campus community by drawing “smart, ambitious women here who otherwise wouldn’t have this opportunity.”

“These are women who will give 100 percent,” she added. “They bring work and family experiences and a diversity of thought to the table. They’re not going to let anyone down.”

First-year Smithie Raven Gomez said attending community college helped her get “back on track” after she was diagnosed with a chronic illness in high school and fell behind academically.

Gomez, who transferred to Smith from LaGuardia Community College in New York City, said advisers there encouraged her to take honors classes and apply to Smith—a choice she had never considered and is now glad she made.

“There was something about the faculty and the academics at Smith that was amazing,” said Gomez. “I could see myself being more independent here.”

She hopes Smith will continue reaching out to applicants from community colleges and creating support networks for new transfer students. “It’s important to connect transfer students with other transfer students to create a sense of community,” said Gomez.

Amy Moscaritolo AC ‘05, who attended GCC in the 1980s, said the new Community College Scholarship program offers a bridge to more students who have what it takes to thrive at Smith.

“It fits the college’s mission about educating women of promise,” said Moscaritolo, who is assistant director of alumnae engagement at Smith and also serves as trustee at GCC. “There are a lot of promising women in the Pioneer Valley who wouldn’t have Smith on their radar if not for this program.”

Susan Williams (center left) and Connie Stano, Ada Comstock Scholars at Smith who attended Holyoke Community College, pose for a promotional photo about HCC students who transfer to selective colleges.