LIRTC Honors Veteran Student

May 15, 2015

St. Joseph’s College (SJC) is pleased to announce that for the fourth year in a row, an SJC student will receive the Long Island Recreational Trails Conservancy’s (LIRTC) annual scholarship. This year, Nadine Navarro ’17 was selected by the organization for her military service and commitment to education. The annual ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 17. 

A native of New York, Navarro is studying criminal justice on SJC’s Long Island Campus. She joined the United States Army after high school and was deployed to Iraq in 2008. In 2013, Navarro was promoted to E5–Sergeant, in charge of developing and mentoring privates and specialists while teaching them the drive and resiliency that define U.S. Army officers. In addition, she works as a federal technician in Ronkonkoma and resides in Bay Shore with her daughter, Nya.

“We are honored to have Nadine as a student at SJC and we congratulate her on receiving the LIRTC scholarship,” said Shannon O’Neill, assistant dean of military and veterans services at SJC. “As a student and active member of the Army National Guard, Nadine has displayed integrity, honor and sacrifice. She brings great experience to the classroom and has been an example to her fellow students.” 

A military-friendly school, SJC offers online, on- and off-site class schedules for its military and veteran students, including class offerings at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island, New York. In addition, SJC is an active participant in the Post-9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program, offering veteran students financial support, a monthly housing allowance and an annual stipend for books and school supplies. For more information about military offerings at SJC, visit sjcny.edu/military.   

“I am so grateful to LIRTC for this scholarship and will continue to work hard to keep everything in my life afloat,” said Navarro. “My life is chaotic, but keeping up with schoolwork and my daughter is an amazing adventure that I live every single day. My army family, my family and the staff at SJC help me to achieve all of my goals.”

LIRTC is a not-for-profit organization that supports local causes and awards scholarships and grants to those in need. It serves as an educational facility to teach safe and responsible ATV use, with a goal of expanding open space rehabilitation to provide long-term active recreational and educational opportunities to members of the public not served by traditional municipal land use policies. For more information, visit lirtc.org. 

ABOUT ST. JOSEPH’S COLLEGE
St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service. With campuses located in the Clinton Hill area of Brooklyn and in Patchogue, Long Island, the College offers degrees in more than 35 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs.