ATLANTIC CITY — Four Atlantic City residents attending Stockton University will have their tuition, housing, meals, fees, books and other expenses covered for the next three years as members of the newest class of Engelberg Leadership Scholars.
Sophomores Muaaz Tajim, Reanna Marie Lawan, Andrew Nunez and Rabia Naz make up the eighth cohort of Stockton's Engelberg Leadership Scholarship Program.
All four grew up in Atlantic City and graduated from Atlantic City High School. Beyond paying their college expenses, the program is designed to prepare them to become future leaders in their hometown.
“This year’s cohort shares a deep commitment to making an impact in Atlantic City and is eager to get to work in growing their leadership skills through hands-on learning and service,” said Susan Davenport, associate professor of Business Administration and faculty liaison for the program.
The scholarship program was established in 2019 through a $1 million commitment to the Stockton University Foundation from Alfred Engelberg, a 1956 Atlantic City High School graduate who went on to become an attorney.
Engelberg himself benefited from a scholarship provided by the Avoda organization.
The newest group brings the number of current Engelberg Leadership Scholars at Stockton to 12.
Growing up three blocks from Stockton Atlantic City
For Lawan, Stockton's Atlantic City campus is particularly personal.
She grew up just three blocks away and remembers touring the campus as a fifth grader.
“This area was almost dead. There was almost nothing here, but it’s such a wonderful spot to put a campus,” Lawan said. “It inspired me to go to Stockton.”
“With the campus here, I feel a lot more people from Atlantic City are going to go to Stockton,” she added. “It’s given people a second chance at higher education.”
Lawan is studying Health Sciences in Stockton's Pre-Physician Assistant Program.
A former daycare teacher, she said she would eventually like to develop a project benefiting Atlantic City's young people or homeless population.
“I was granted a lot of resources that helped me get to Stockton, and I would love to do the same thing for other youth because there are so many talented kids,” Lawan said.
“As someone who’s lived here my whole life, I’ve seen the beauty and I’ve also seen the changes,” she added. “I look forward to helping the people that are here.”
From Bangladesh to Atlantic City
Tajim, an Accounting major, moved to the United States with his family from Bangladesh in 2019.
Atlantic City, he said, quickly became home.
“I grew up with the city. It’s like my own birthplace in a sense,” Tajim said. “I have pride in the city, so I wish for greater things for the city.”
Tajim hopes to use his accounting education to improve financial literacy, particularly among Atlantic City's Bangladeshi and Hispanic communities.
“Hopefully, I can be a part of that in the future and help it to be better,” he said.
Future nurse already giving back
Naz is majoring in Nursing after being influenced by the care her grandfather received while hospitalized with cancer.
“They would help him with whatever he needed,” Naz said. “I like the patient-nurse relationship, and I want to help the sick.”
She has already spent several years tutoring elementary school students at Atlantic City's Texas Avenue School.
Naz said the community-service component of the Engelberg program appealed to her.
“I see that this program does a lot of community work and giving back, and that’s what I want to do,” she said. “I want to help the people of the community.”
From police work to law school ambitions
Nunez, 23, took a different path to Stockton.
The Political Science major with a Pre-Law concentration originally planned to become a police officer and worked for several years as a seasonal Class I officer in Ventnor.
Eventually, he decided he wanted to pursue change through the legal system instead.
“I realized that as much as I admired the profession, I would rather make change in the courtroom,” Nunez said. “It took a lot of trial and error to realize that policing wasn’t for me, so I decided to go back to school.”
His long-term goal is to open a law practice and serve people in the Atlantic City area.
“I’m unsure if I want to be a public defender or focus on housing law, but my goal is definitely public service oriented,” Nunez said.
“I would love to stay in the neighborhood and help underserved communities and people who have been overlooked.”
Scholars must develop project to help Atlantic City
The Engelberg program involves considerably more than financial assistance.
Each group of scholars is charged with developing a capstone project benefiting Atlantic City.
Previous projects have focused on food access, literacy, health outcomes and early career development.
The scholars also participate in professional development seminars, meet local business and community leaders, complete summer internships and take part in other experiential learning opportunities.
This year's four students are already considering projects involving financial literacy, health care, young people and public-interest law.
For Lawan, the scholarship brings her college experience full circle — from a fifth grader watching a university campus take shape three blocks from her house to a Stockton student preparing to use her education to help the city where she grew up.
