Astoria resident wins prestigious Beinecke Scholarship
Astoria resident Alessa Farinella, a junior at Queens College, has been awarded the prestigious Beinecke Brothers Memorial Scholarship for graduate study.
The highly-competitive award provides a scholarship to a student “of exceptional promise and motivation.” Each awardee receives $4,000 prior to entering graduate school and $30,000 while attending grad school.
Farinella plans to complete her PhD in linguistics, with a focus on the social implications of language.
According to Queens College, her initial fascination with language came from her interactions with her Italian-speaking grandparents, which helped her appreciate the connection between language, culture and heritage.
Farinella has extensive research and experience to go along with a 4.0 GPA.
She is one of just 18 Beinecke Scholars for this year, and the fourth to be selected from Queens College since the program began in 1975.