Five MCAS Students accepted into the RIT Honors Program | April 2018

We are excited to announce that five students from the Multicultural Center for Academic Success (MCAS) have been accepted into the RIT Honors Program through the Late Entry selection process. This marks the highest number of accepted MCAS students to date into this highly competitive process in a single academic year. 

During the 2017 Fall semester, MCAS refreshed their approach to engage and strengthen their partnership with the RIT Honors Program. Through thoughtful leadership, effective strategies were implemented to communicate with eligible MCAS students bringing about awareness of the requirements, benefits, and unique support provided by the Honors Program. MCAS staff identified 13 prospects and seven MCAS students decided to complete the Late Entry application process.

“We are building their awareness and offering them an opportunity to be recognized for their academic excellence, and we’re glad they are taking advantage of it early on in their academic careers.” said Jonathan Ntheketha, Senior Assistant Director for First Year Initiative and Summer Bridge Program on the MCAS team. “We are creating a pipeline that supports these students as they accomplish their goals at the highest level. We know our students will excel.”

This academic year, 8% of late entry students accepted into the Honors Program were MCAS scholars, and 70% of MCAS scholars who applied were accepted into the Honors Program. This is a reflection of their high academic achievement and is a strong indication of their significant contributions to the campus community.

We would like to congratulate our students for this tremendous accomplishment:

• Chino Barcelona, a first-year student majoring in Game Design Development from Rochester, NY, a ’17 MCAS Summer Bridge graduate and a Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholar

• Estrella Carcamo, a first-year student majoring in computer science from Alexandria, VA, a ‘17 MCAS Summer Bridge graduate, and MCAS Scholar

• Nik Delgado, a first-year student majoring in new media design from Wayne, PA, a ‘17 MCAS Summer Bridge graduate, and MCAS Scholar

• Diamond Guy, a first-year student majoring in Biomedical Science from Rochester, NY, a ’17 MCAS Summer Bridge graduate, a Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholar and MCAS Scholar

• Larry Williams, a second-year student majoring in Marketing Business Administration from Rochester, NY, a ’16 MCAS Summer Bridge graduate, a Destler/Johnson Rochester City Scholar and MCAS Scholar

These promising students came to RIT through the pre-collegiate MCAS Summer Bridge program, where each of them performed exceptionally well. As their first year progressed, these students actively participated in MCAS Coaching and continued to engage in the broader RIT community.

MCAS staff are feeling encouraged and will continue offering this opportunity to other MCAS students who consistently excel academically and serve the community through volunteering or extracurricular activities.

Dr. Danielle Smith, Director of the Honors Program, notes that “The Honors community has always been committed to recruiting talented students and students of diverse cultural and academic backgrounds. As such, we have maintained a strong partnership with MCAS over the years. MCAS students have demonstrated excellence in their academic, leadership and civic engagements, and have been recognized for these important contributions to the university.  We will continue to work with MCAS leadership to identify and recruit the brightest and best students into the Honors Program.”

To learn more about each program, please visit: MCAS and the Honors Program.