Brookdale Student Earns National Community College Honor

MIDDLETOWN, NJ -- A Brookdale Community College student from Howell has been named New Jersey’s top achieving community college student in the All-USA Community College Academic Team competition, according to a news release from the college.

Sameerah Wahab, 19, has been named a 2016 New Century Scholar, joining 51 top scorers from across the U.S. and internationally, according to officials at the Middletown-based community college.

Since enrolling at Brookdale, Wahab has supported a campaign to build a water well for a village in Rwanda and completed a community service project in support of Dottie’s House, a support center for domestic violence victims in Brick. She works as a certified nurse assistant at a pediatric care facility in Toms River and is pursuing a career in medicine, Brookdale officials said.

“I am extremely honored and humbled to receive this recognition,” Wahab said. “I truly enjoy the work I do with Phi Theta Kappa and my colleagues at Brookdale, but I never imagined it would lead to something like this. I’m just ecstatic.”

She will receive a $2,000 scholarship sponsored by the Coca-Cola Foundation, Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, the American Association of Community Colleges and Phi Theta Kappa international honor society, officials said.

Wahab will also be recognized alongside her fellow New Century Scholars during the American Association of Community Colleges national convention in Chicago on April 12, they said.

The competition, which included more than 1,900 nominees from more than 1,000 community colleges, evaluated students on grades, leadership, activities and their contributions outside of the classroom. Wahab, a biology major, was nominated for her work as a Phi Theta Kappa officer, a peer mentor in the Brookdale honors program and a member of the college’s Students for Global Citizenship club, officials said.

The All-USA Program is sponsored by Follett Higher Education Group and presented by USA Today and Phi Theta Kappa.