QCC Student Recognized by Governor Baker as One of Top 29 in State

On May 4, at the Massachusetts State House, Quinsigamond Community College student Kyle Mondino was recognized by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education as one of the “29 Who Shine,” a Commonwealth awards program in its seventh year.

The annual awards program honors 29 outstanding student graduates from the state’s higher education system. The 2018 award winners were nominated by a faculty, staff member, or by a university awards committee and were honored by Governor Charlie Baker, House and Senate leaders, Secretary of Education Jim Peyser and Commissioner of Higher Education Jeff Riley at the event.

Mr. Mondino has not only been chosen for “29 Who Shine,” he was also chosen as a member of the 2018 All-USA Academic Team (one of only 20 chosen nationally), the All-Massachusetts Academic Team  and as the 2018 New Century Pathway Scholar from Massachusetts.

“Kyle is a natural leader at Quinsigamond Community College,” said Bonnie Coleman, QCC’s Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society Advisor. “He is a dedicated student who has made a significant change to our college community and community as a whole.”

Mr. Mondino has played a vital role in the college’s Alpha Zeta Theta Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (PTK), taking on the role of Executive Vice President of Scholarship and leading monthly scholarship workshops. He also took on the role of project manager for the PTK Live & Learn Greenhouse project, which grows produce that is donated to students with food insecurities.  He put together teams that included: research botany, crop harvest and distribution, embedded engineering and data analytics full stack specialists, as well as writing grants to keep the greenhouse running.

The information will be used to create models that will give accurate data on how many people the greenhouse can feed, with the ability to scale it smaller or larger.

In addition, while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average, he spent countless hours tutoring other students in the college’s General Academic Tutoring Center, increasing other students' self-efficacy.

“I'm proud of what Kyle has accomplished, and how he represents QCC locally and nationally,” said QCC President Dr. Luis Pedraja. “He is a shining light who will have a positive impact as he continues his educational pursuits.”

Mr. Mondino graduated from QCC with an Associate Degree in Business Administration on May 18 and plans to attend Bentley University this fall.