THREE BICsters win The LAGRANT Foundation Scholarship

5/06/2020 Unknown 0 Comments


News flash: an amazing THREE BICsters have won the prestigious The LAGRANT Foundation (TLF) scholarship: Paul Bernabe, Dimandja Utshudi, and Ayush Kumar.  In a powerhouse showing, they are among just 26 graduate students nationwide to receive a TLF scholarship whose winners share the foundation's mission of increasing ethnic diversity in the advertising, marketing and public relations industries. Paul, Ayush, and Dimandja will each receive $3,750 and join an impressive list of students from institutions such as Rice University, Georgetown, UCLA, Northwestern, and New York University.

Prior to enrolling in BIC, Paul Bernabe receive a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California-Irvine in 2012 where he was a member of Pilipino-Americans in Social Studies. He’s proficient in Tagalog. Originally from India, Ayush Kumar received a BS/BA in Journalism and Psychology in 2016 from Boston University. Born in Rwanda, Dimandja Utshudi received his BBA from Lehman College. 


Celebrating its 22nd year, TLF has generously awarded nearly $80,000 in scholarships to graduate students from the BIC program at The City College of New York — more than any other single college.  BICsters have been recipients of a TLF scholarship every year since our launch in 2013. Past BIC scholarship winners are: Fred Garcia and Amber Jackson, BIC '15, Donna Dei-Baning, BIC '16, Dalisbeth Galvez, Melissa Julien, and Priscilla Parra, BIC '17, Charisse Holder, Erica Lopez, and Sean Feol-Baugh, BIC’ 18, Jennifer Cuffari, LaToya Heron, Amera Lulu, Kelvin Morales, and Rebecca Rivera, BIC ’19, and Mohamed Amribet, John Holliday-Stewart, Carlos Matias, Carmen Quang, Raymond Sein, and Kamattie Singh, BIC ’20.

The LAGRANT Foundation (TLF) has provided 643 scholarships and $2.7 million since its inception in 1998. Founded by Kim L. Hunter, its mission to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the fields of advertising, marketing and public relations is generously supported by its major donors and supporters. TLF provides students with career & professional development workshops, scholarships, internships, entry-level positions and mentors to African American/Black, Alaska Native/Native American, Asian American/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino undergraduate and graduate students.

This year, its usual networking and professional development events have been cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 health pandemic. As a result, TLF increased the number of total scholarship recipients in 2020 which includes 41 undergraduate scholarships of $2,500.

A BIG BIC Bravo to Paul, Ayush, and Dimandja!!