Published:
Central Connecticut State University (Central) recently announced the winners of the 2023 Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award. They are: Emily Cardinale of Trumbull, Tara Hightower of Middletown, Nicholas Knight of Torrington, and Yuliya Polichshuk of Middletown.
The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Foundation confers the award on 12 seniors from Connecticut’s four state universities each spring. Nominated by their respective universities and presidents, students must have a minimum 3.7 GPA and a record of significant community service to be considered for the award. The selection process requires students to submit a personal essay, letters of recommendation, and other materials.
“This year’s Barnard recipients have diverse talents and academic interests, and they’ve made outstanding contributions to our university and to communities well beyond campus,” said Central President Zulma R. Toro.
Emily Cardinale, who will receive a B.S. in Nursing, has a passion for promoting maternal health. Enrolled in the Central Honors Program, she completed a thesis titled “Maternal Mortality in Rural American Society,” which she presented at Hartford Healthcare’s 26th annual Evidence-Based Practice Conference last year. She also coordinated a blood drive for Maternal Health Awareness Day in January and this spring worked with the nonprofit Lucinda’s House to coordinate a baby shower designed to connect pregnant women of color in New Britain with community and health care resources. Cardinale completed an internship at the Bridgeport Hospital Labor and Delivery Unit last summer.
Cardinale’s service to Central includes assisting in two COVID-19 education and testing events for new students. She has also worked as a certified College Life Coach at Success Central, a peer mentoring program that helps students transition from high school to college. She co-authored and published a paper about that program, presenting it at the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange Conference in San Diego, Calif., last fall. Cardinale also has been inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honors Society of Nursing.
Cardinale will seek a nursing position after graduation, with the long-term goal of becoming a nurse practitioner.
Tara Hightower, a Theatre major with specialization in Technology, Design, and Production, has served as stage manager for numerous campus productions and has been a student worker in the Theatre Department. The recipient of the Thaddeus Torp Scholarship for Outstanding Departmental Contribution, Hightower has been an officer of Central’s chapter of the U.S. Institute of Theatre Technology and a member of two other student theatre groups. Described by her teachers as detail-oriented and capable of handling tremendous responsibility, Hightower served as a stage management intern for the Shelton-based Valley Shakespeare Festival in a 2022 production of "A Winter’s Tale." At the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (Region 1) this year, her prompt-book submission garnered an Honorable Mention, and she was recognized with two merit awards for stage management and one for prop design.
On behalf of Central’s Theatre Department, Hightower has made presentations at multiple public schools in Connecticut. In her hometown of Middletown, she has dedicated numerous volunteer hours to mentoring students and assisting with their productions.
In what will be her second professional engagement, Hightower will be the stage manager for two productions at the Lanes Coven Theatre Company in Gloucester, Mass., this summer.
Music Education major Nicholas Knight is described by his teachers as being “an ideal music student” who demonstrates both natural talent and a dedication to improving. The recipient of the Thomasina L. Arena Scholarship Award for students pursuing teaching certification, as well as the Margaret and John Paskavitch Award for Music students, he has gone well beyond the Music Education program’s extensive requirements for music courses and participation in ensembles. Knight has been the vice president of the Central chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, is a member of the Master Singers of Worcester (Manchester, Conn. Chapter), and is a piano instructor at the Guitar Center in Manchester.
Through the NextGen Educators program, a partnership between the Connecticut Department of Education and Central, Knight has served as a teacher assistant, tutor, and substitute in public schools in Waterbury and Newington over the past few years.
Currently a long-term substitute music teacher at Latimer Lane Elementary School in Simsbury, Knight says his goal is to become the kind of educator that younger teachers can learn from.
Yuliya Polichshuk was born in Ukraine and grew up in Kazakhstan, where she worked as a journalist and advertising writer before immigrating to the United States and enrolling at Central as a Psychological Science major. Working with a peer tutor early on led her to become an award-winning peer tutor herself. The recipient of a Rich Royster and Brittany Mariani Endowed Scholarship in the Department of Psychological Science, Polichshuk has a 3.96 GPA. Polichshuk is a member of the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology and the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and received the Shanette Washington Distinguished Service Award in the Department of Psychological Science in 2021.
Beyond the Central campus, Polichshuk fulfilled an internship with the Connecticut Department of Developmental Services in 2022, working under the direct supervision of psychologists and behavioral/developmental specialists. She currently works for Community Mental Health Affiliates, where she is a residential monitor, who provides assistance to clients who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and other mental disorders.
The Henry Barnard Distinguished Student Award is named for Henry Barnard, who was Connecticut’s first superintendent of schools and served as principal of what later became Central Connecticut State University. Barnard was named the first U.S. commissioner of education in 1867.