Dominican citizen excel in STEM

Prevalent in academia and society is the notion that women are not prepared and perhaps not capable of succeeding in the academic rigors of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, a group of disciplines known by the acronym (STEM).

Leanne Tavernier defied the odds and shattered these beliefs when she graduated Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelor's degree in Information System Management (ISM) and a minor in mathematics from York College, The City University of New York. Along the way to her exceptional college career, she was on the Dean's List every year and at graduation she received academic distinction in her major—Information Systems Management.

To put Leanne's academic success in perspective a review of the "graduating with honors requirements" is necessary. To graduate with a Magna Cum Laude honor, a student must obtain a grade point average (GPA) of 3.8 to 3.9 on a 4.0 scale. Simply put, that student must get A's sprinkled with a relatively few B's, no more than three B's, in all of the completed coursework.

To achieve this goal one must complete some of the most demanding coursework that any university has to offer: a core concentration in Computer Science—Computer Science I &II, Algorithms & Data Structures, Principles of Programming Languages, Assembly Language Programming, Object-Oriented Programming, Operating Systems, Analytic Geometry, Calculus I and II, Discrete Mathematical Structures, Database Systems ,Theory of Numbers and Linear Algebra. These computer courses must be taken with courses in Accounting, Business, English, Writing, Marketing, Economics, and at least one year of a foreign language.

What makes Leanne's achievement most remarkable is that she obtained her goal while working at least 20 hours a week as a tutor at the Academic Achievement Center. Besides helping students, she assisted in managing the Academic Achievement Center—the college-wide tutoring center-- to ensure that each student received appropriate tutoring.

Tavernier, however, found time to be a member of the York College Chapter of the National Society of Leadership and Success, President of the Strategic Management Club, and she received a Certificate of Recognition for scholarly contribution and participation in the 5th Annual Undergraduate Research Day. She also represented York College at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Conference in Washington D.C.

The road to academic success at York College for Leanne began at the Soufriere Government School where, after sitting the Common Entrance Examination, she received a scholarship to Convent High School. After completing high school, she enrolled at Dominica State College and received an Associate Degree in Business Management.

Leanne plans to continue graduate school with the intention of studying Medical Informatics and she is now actively preparing applications and studying for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE—a nationally normed test that will serve as the springboard to her admission to a doctorate programme).

Leanne is the daughter of Cecil and Catherine Tavernier of Soufriere.