Back to news
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Mail
 Karla Barzola Holding scholarship award by National Hispanic Business Group

Caldwell, N.J., Aug. 11, 2016 – Caldwell University student Karla Barzola was awarded a scholarship from the National Hispanic Business Group at its annual gala on Wall Street in Manhattan July 21.

Barzola, a senior and an accounting major with a minor in finance and mathematics, says receiving the scholarship was amazing and attending the gala provided a wonderful opportunity to network with other professionals, given the many businesses that support the organization. “I’m very grateful to the NHBG for the scholarship which is helping me finance my education so I can graduate.” She enjoyed meeting the other students who received the scholarships. “We set up a group chat afterwards.”

Barzola, a senior and a native of Jersey City, is the first generation in her family (along with her sister) to attend college. She spent the summer interning with Concepts Office Furnishings Inc. in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. With an aptitude for math and working with numbers, she has particularly enjoyed seeing how the accounting department operates and wants to work with budgets in the future, perhaps as a budget analyst. “This is very valuable. You need to have experience when you are first applying for jobs. This is a good start for my career.”

Aida DeSoto, president of Concepts Office Furnishings, has been delighted to have Barzola on staff this summer. DeSoto was a co-founder of the National Hispanic Business Group, which is made up of prominent Hispanic entrepreneurs looking to develop opportunities for Hispanic businesses. In the early ’90s they decided to start a scholarship program to help high-achieving Hispanic students complete their college educations. DeSoto says they saw that students were dropping out after two years due to financial circumstances. Instead of finishing their educations they began to work. “We wanted to help them finish their studies with this scholarship.”

Barzola has had a positive experience studying in the Business Division and is grateful to the faculty and other Caldwell University staff for their support and direction. Professor Ann Marie Callahan is “an amazing advisor to consult with and talk to about the business world. She has helped me a lot in my major and the business world as well,” said Barzola. She is also thankful to Assistant to the President for Special Projects Dr. Nancy Becker and University Registrar and Director of Institutional Research Ian White for helping her with the scholarship process and to DeSoto for giving her the internship opportunity.

Most of all Barzola has found it rewarding to show her parents what she can achieve. “I’m glad that they are able to say they are proud of me.”