Meet The Two Columbia Dyckman Scholars From Upper Manhattan

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — A total of 26 undergraduate students currently at Columbia University are from Washington Heights and Inwood, including a selection of those part of the Dyckman Institute Fund Scholarship program.

The program provides financial aid specifically for students that grew up in Upper Manhattan and attend the Engineering and Applied Sciences schools.

Columbia, along with Community Board 12, recently featured two of those students at a meeting earlier this month, Richi Barua and Shaheed Ashraf Thabit.

Thabit, who is majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior, said his favorite spot in Washington Heights is St. Nicholas Avenue.

"You go there, you hear the music and people dancing in the street, enjoying life in a simple way," Thabit wrote.

The uptown resident named his mother as his greatest inspiration, who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in the 1980s.

Barua, who is concentrating on sociology with a particular interest in public health, said her favorite area in Upper Manhattan was Dyckman Street.

"There are tons of restaurants, street food, and ice cream carts," Barua wrote. "There are a lot of people, music, and familiar faces. I loved hanging out there with friends after school in high school, and we would often go to Fort Tryon Park or La Marina afterwards."

Last year, students from Washington Heights/Inwood received $1.1 million in need-based scholarships from Columbia College and Columbia Engineering.

You can find out more about Thabit and Barua on Columbia's website.