Students earn scholarships for inspiring business ideas
For many families, the cost of college can seem overwhelming. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of college in the United States is $38,270 per student annually. Even for in-state students attending public four-year colleges and living on campus, the annual cost is $27,146, with tuition alone averaging $9,750, while out-of-state tuition is significantly higher, at $27,457.
To help offset those costs, the Glen Cove Chamber of Commerce awards two local graduating seniors the organization’s annual Dr. Glenn Howard Jr. Scholarship. This year’s recipients, Shannon Whitehead, who attended Kellenberg Memorial High School, and Jaida Ciampi, of Glen Cove High School, won a combined $2,000 for their essays detailing their vision for the businesses they would like to see in Glen Cove.
In her essay, Whitehead proposed an entertainment facility called City Theater to host concerts, plays and shows, similar to the Paramount in Huntington. This would create jobs and boost local businesses, Whitehead theorized, also suggesting a recreational facility with go-karting, bowling and pool tables, akin to Dave and Buster’s or RPM Raceway.
“As a person who has spent her entire life here, this city has the perfect balance, whether you like the rush of downtown or the peace and quiet of strolling around Morgan Park or any waterfront gem,” Whitehead’s essay reads. “While there is a good balance of everything in this town, there is always something to improve on.”
The nearest entertainment facility is the Tilles Center in Old Brookville, and Whitehead said that her family typically ventures outside Glen Cove for concerts.
Ciampi proposed a business called Harmonic Healing, a music therapy practice that would address residents’ health and stress. The clinic would enhance traditional medical treatments by incorporating music-based wellness programs, such as group drum circles and curated playlists for relaxation to promote physical, emotional, cognitive and social well-being.
“Through activating various centers of the brain, music therapy is critical towards working with patients, especially those who have faced neurological damage or have suffered from strokes,” Ciampi wrote. “Music therapy additionally can use deep physical reactions like goosebumps to help people with mental health conditions, critical towards ensuring the mental and physical health of various demographic groups in our community.”
Ciampi’s interest in medicine was sparked in eighth grade, after she was injured in a motorcycle accident that led her to an inspiring orthopedic surgeon, Dr. John Paul DiMauro, of Northwell Hospital. Shadowing him — and even observing an innovative surgical procedure on a cadaver — fed Ciampi’s desire to pursue a medical career. She has also taken part in Hofstra University’s summer Medical Pipeline Program, which focuses on medical ethics and health policy.
“I hope sometime in the future, we do get an establishment like this in Glen Cove, because it can do so much good,” Ciampi said. “If people have an outlet where they can make music and go through rehabilitation in a way that’s not just demanding or physical therapy it’s fun and uplifting.”
Ciampi will attend Duke University in the fall.
The chamber has been awarding scholarships to college-bound Glen Cove school seniors for over 30 years. The group renamed its annual honor after the late Dr. Glenn Howard Jr., an advocate of higher education and a retired principal scientist at Pall Corporation who died in 2021.
Chamber President Dr. Maxine Cappel Mayreis said that education mattered to Howard, who helped administer the scholarship.
“He was so full of wisdom, and you don’t come across someone like him too often,” Mayreis said. “It was his job to read the essays and figure out the questions. He was a walking encyclopedia. He never was judgmental or critical of the kids who wrote in. He always gave a very fair evaluation to every essay submission.”
The scholarship is funded by the chamber as well as private donations. This year, Stuart Richner, chief executive of Richner Communications, which publishes the Heralds, contributed $400 to the scholarship fund.
