|
Class of 05: Gina
Torres
Class of 06: Rashay
Cooper
Class of 07: Zulmarie
Bosques
Class of 08: Emelyann
Javier
Class of 09: Walkiria
Gonzalez
Class of 10: Esmir Javier
Class of 11: Romina Fuentes
At age 21,
Dante Benson traces his success and deep involvement in the community
back to his roots in his hometown, Camden, New Jersey. Born on August
31st, 1988, Dante saw early on that the way to make a positive impact
on his city, country and world was through education, hard work,
and perseverance. Dante graduated from Camden Academy Charter High
School in the top ten percent of his graduating class, Class of 2006,
where he was a member of the National Honor Society.
While at Camden Academy, Dante became involved in many extracurricular
activities including mentoring at Urban Promise Ministries Inc. and
running track for Camden High School’s Track and Field Team. For
his commitment and ability to perform at the highest level in and
out of the classroom, Dante was awarded the prestigious Questbridge
Scholarship to attend Pomona College in Claremont, California, one
of America’s most esteemed Liberal Arts Colleges.
At Pomona College, Dante continued his extracurricular involvement
by joining the Pomona and Pitzer Colleges’ track team, working numerous
work-study jobs, being selected as a Resident Advisor, as well as
serving as one of the founding members of Building Leaders on Campus
(BLOC), an organization devoted to serving the community of greater
Los Angeles through tutoring high school children.
While pursuing lofty goals on the track
and the communities of inner city Los Angeles, Dante strove to
pursue equally ambitious academic goals by studying Chinese Language
and History. During the latter half of 2008, Dante traveled to
Beijing, China, to study Mandarin Chinese. The intensive study
of Mandarin helped Dante to become near-fluent in Chinese. After
studying in China, Dante decided he would devote his life to the
study of Chinese.
Dante graduated from Pomona College with a Bachelor
of Arts in Asian Studies with a concentration in Chinese History.
Seeming to mirror his senior year at CACHS, Dante was awarded the
Fulbright Scholarship, a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of
State to promote cultural exchange between the U.S. and other nations.
As such, Dante traveled to Taiwan on May 29th to teach English to
Taiwanese middle school students while concurrently furthering his
studies in Mandarin Chinese. With his family, high school, college
and city constantly to thank for his success, Dante’s life journey
and future success are dedicated to these people and places.
|
