Area students lauded for achievements

Vinal Technical High School

WASHINGTON — Fifteen elementary, middle, and high school students from across Connecticut were selected as winners of the third annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Essay Challenge, according to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy’s office.

Lily DeJardins of Middletown, who attends Vinal Technical High School, was among those honored.

This year, Murphy received over 1,000 essays submitted from students in Connecticut reflecting on Dr. King’s dream and their own aspirations, according to a press release. The winning essays are on display in Murphy’s Hartford office.

Florida Atlantic University

BOCA RATON, Florida — Morgan Resnisky was admitted to Florida Atlantic University in the fall of 2018, and accepted into the bachelor of science in nursing program, Freshman Direct Admit track, Oct. 6 at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing.

The admit track allows students to be directly admitted into the College of Nursing and begin taking nursing courses the first semester of freshman year, as well as each semester of the four-year program. The BSN program is very rigorous, limited-access and highly competitive.

College of St. Scholastica

DULUTH, Minn — Elizabeth Dillard of Middletown has completed a certificate program in computer science/information systems at The College of St. Scholastica Dec. 15.

Wentworth Institute of Technology

BOSTON — Allison Marie Fortunato of Cromwell and Gregory George Lagana of Portland made the dean’s list at Wentworth Institute of Technology for the fall 2018 semester.

Southern New Hampshire University

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Gyanna Russell of East Hampton was named to Southern New Hampshire University’s fall 2018 dean’s list. Eligibility requires a student to accumulate an academic grade-point average of 3.5 to 3.699 and earn 12 credits for the semester.

Quinnipiac University

HAMDEN — The following area students were named to the dean’s list for the fall 2018 semester at Quinnipiac University:

Chester: Megan Winslow; Cromwell, Katie Dansereau, Peter Dewey, Ryan McDermott and Matthew Wilson

Durham: James Cournoyer, Karen DeFilippo, Michelle Defilippo, Kyle DeGennaro, Tyler DeGennaro, Conor Doyle, Nathan Ferrer, Jack French, Joshua Gorero, Tyler Hall, MacKenzie Scotto, Christopher Solomon and Eric Solomon.

East Haddam: Cooper Filhaber

East Hampton: Samantha D’Anna, Sean Geisman, Keith Griswold, Brittany Kearney, Randy Noack and Emily Salisbury

Killingworth: Bradley Rakowski and Brooke Vaughn

Middlefield: Janelle

Berry

Middletown: Marc Angiollo, Alexia Antogiovanni, Kiana Arevalo, Brandon Bingha, Taylor Brashear, Kaitlyn Charton, Kitrina Diguidig, Lubna Farooqui, Savannah Giammarco, Eva Hallstead-Williams, Gregory Hardman, Vanessa Harris, James Lagace, Benjamin Lanza, Giordano Liseo, Rene Mellows, Mariah Monroe and Nicole Rodriguez

Portland: Rachel Bernard and Emily Disalvo

To qualify, students must earn a grade-point average of at least 3.5 with no grade lower than C. Full-time students must complete at least 14 credits in a semester, with at least 12 credits graded on a letter-grade basis to be eligible. Part-time students must complete at least six credits during a semester.

University of New Hampshire

DURHAM, N.H. — The following students were named to the dean’s list at the University of New Hampshire for the fall 2018 semester:

High honors

Darcy LaFrance of Clinton, Sydney White of Cromwell, Kathryn Goldner of Cromwell, Kaila Donadio of Cromwell, Jessica Kasper of Killingworth, Emily Roth of Killingworth, Maura Dooley of Killingworth, James Peters of Durham, Alexis Giacco of Durham, Victoria Slight of Durham, Justin Fiala of East Haddam, Ryan Brownell of East Haddam, Taylor Luke of East Hampton, Veronica Chrzanowski of Haddam, Darren Chon of Higganum, Meghan Gamache of Higganum, Garrett Puchalski of Middlefield, Madison Cusick-Howat of Moodus, Nicholas Husted of Old Saybrook, Ning Hui Comey of Old Saybrook, Ryan Saputo of Westbrook

Highest honors

Karen Kelly of Portland, Rachael DiMare of Portland, Christine Banks of Westbrook