Rutgers’ Four Gates Scholarship Winners Honored in Trenton

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers’ four Gates Cambridge Scholarship winners were honored on the Senate floor with a gubernatorial proclamation, legislative resolution and several hearty rounds of applause from friends, family, members of the university community and lawmakers during yesterday’s Rutgers Day in Trenton activities at the State House.

Michael Hayoun of Margate, N.J.; Suzanne Pilaar of Haledon, N.J.; Ronn Friedlander of Cranford, N.J.; and Brian Spatocco of Sewell, N.J. (left to right); were praised by Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick; Gov. Jon S. Corzine; and state Sens. Tom Kean Jr., Fred Madden, Ray Lesniak and Christopher “Kip” Bateman, who made the presentations before about 100 guests in the Senate chambers.

With the announcement earlier in the week that Friedlander had joined his three classmates as a Gates Scholar, Rutgers and Harvard now stand as the only American universities with four of the prestigious award winners in 2008.

Forty-six graduating seniors nationwide earned the highly competitive scholarships from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pursue studies at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The scholarships, established in 2000, cover all fees and living expenses for a student’s full-time master’s or doctoral studies at Cambridge, one of the oldest and most esteemed universities in the English-speaking world. Depending on the student’s program of study, a scholarship’s value could exceed $50,000 annually for one to four years.