Nyree Oliver, a junior finance major in the Rutgers School of Business–Camden, is celebrating a first: She is the inaugural Rutgers student to receive the Ivory Bridges Foundation Fellowship.
Ivory Bridges seeks to address employment gaps first-generation students may face after graduation with a $5,000 minimum financial scholarship. The program also includes coaching sessions that focus on professional development, financial health, and wellness.
The foundation’s emphasis on serving first-generation students encouraged Oliver to apply. “It's hard to break generational curses,” Oliver said. “A lot of people in my family did not go to college. For somebody to want to take a chance on me is really big.”
As the inaugural representative of Rutgers–Camden and all Rutgers campuses, Oliver will join fellow students from Yale, the University of California–Berkeley, and Washington University in St. Louis. Oliver said she is looking forward to meeting her cohort at a retreat in Denver this year.
Oliver discovered the Ivory Bridges Fellowship through TRiO Student Services and approached The Office of Scholarship Development and Fellowship Advising (OSDFA) for assistance with her application.
“Nyree actually got this award on her own and presented it to us, which is excellent,” said Laura Collins, director of OSDFA. “It speaks to her drive, self-determination, and motivation.”
The finance major, who is also enrolled in the accelerated MBA program, hopes to one day own her own multidisciplinary coding firm. Until then, she actively encourages other students to take their own scholarly first steps.
“I opened the door, and I’d like to see more people apply and actually get this fellowship so we can represent Rutgers–Camden,” Oliver said. “You could be the first to do something, too. Even if it's small, it doesn't go unnoticed. It's okay to just hit submit."
