Two Students Receive Honor Garden Scholarship

Dec. 15, 2020 – Two Massasoit honors students – Tatiana Dos Santos and Cindy Mack – were recently awarded with $500 Honor Garden Scholarships for their exceptional grades and winning application essays. The Scholarship was established in 2013 to recognize outstanding academic achievement in the Commonwealth Honors Program at Massasoit, and in the years since, more than 30 students have been recipients.

Tatiana Dos Santos is a Liberal Arts Transfer major and plans on attending a four-year college next fall. She intends to study and pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing to achieve her goal of becoming a registered nurse. At Massasoit, Tatiana is a member of Phi Theta Kappa, which is the world’s largest and most prestigious honor society for two-year college students. Originally from Cape Verde, she started her college journey by taking English as a Second Language courses and completed Massasoit’s Latch Program in her first year.

While Tatiana was hesitant at first to enroll in the Commonwealth Honors Program, Professor Elizabeth Marconi recommended that she try the English Composition II honors course. Looking back, Tatiana said the class was “one of the most incredible experiences,” and she was encouraged by progress she made in writing and speaking English. Tatiana has also enjoyed the research assignments in the Honors Seminar: Ethical Dilemmas and Other Special Topics. Entering her last semester, Tatiana feels confident in her abilities to succeed academically and credits the excellent professors she has had along the way.

Cindy Mack is in his second year at Massasoit and is completing both the Criminal Justice and Human & Social Services associate degree programs. Upon graduating from Massasoit in the spring, Cindy will be transferring to a four-year college, and he hopes to enter politics someday in order to help local communities. Cindy has made an impact at Massasoit and in Brockton through his involvement in the Student Senate, by serving as the Student Trustee for two consecutive years, and by representing students across the state on the Board of the Students Advisory Council and the Open Educational Resources Executive Committee.

Most recently, Cindy has led the effort to change state law so that part-time students at community colleges can serve as their college’s student trustee, which would extend the opportunity to thousands of students. Cindy is also passionate about helping individuals who were incarcerated re-enter society and connecting others with social services and resources.

In addition to the scholarship winners, dozens of Massasoit Commonwealth Honors students will presented their project abstracts during the Commonwealth Honors Conference on December 18 at 12 p.m.