For Immediate Release
June 22, 2022

Honors Student Noah Fields Awarded Episcopal Diocese of Long Island Scholarship in Celebration of Juneteenth

Noah Fields

Suffolk County Community College honors student Noah Fields, 19 of Holtsville has been awarded a $10,000 scholarship by the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.  Fields was awarded the academic scholarship by the Diocese as part of an inaugural eight-member class of students who are descendants of African slaves as part of the celebration of Juneteenth.

“Suffolk has far exceeded my expectations,” Fields, who is entering his second year at Suffolk this fall, said. Fields said he plans on attending Stony Brook University when he graduates, but also has dreams of studying at New York University where he’d like to major in business.

"The professors and staff at Suffolk were the ones that pushed me to apply for this scholarship and supported me the entire way through,” Fields said. “The network of amazing individuals at Suffolk always try to guide students to their fullest potential and I cannot thank them enough. I am proud to call Suffolk County Community College my school."

“Noah is an outstanding student and a class leader.  He consistently demands the best of himself, and, in his commitment to his education, he inspires those around him as well.  The Diocese could not have made a better choice for this award,” said Academic Chair and English Professor Douglas Howard, Ph.D.

Honors Program Counselor and Associate Professor Matthew J. Zisel, Ph.D. wrote in his scholarship reference letter: “Noah was elected as our Honors Club vice-president and was instrumental in building a community of students who worked together on charity, volunteer, and fundraising events. As fate would have it, Noah came along when our program most needed a leader; without him, I am not sure that we would have built the community of students we did coming off the virtual year.”

The Barbara C. Harris Scholars Program’s goal is to promote equity in education by providing financial assistance to Blacks, African Americans and Caribbean-Americans, who are African Descendants of Slavery in the United States. At the 155th Convention of the Diocese of Long Island, the Reparations Committee announced that the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island will officially celebrate Juneteenth at the Cathedral of the Incarnation on June 19, 2022.

This scholarship program is named in honor of the life, legacy, and ordained ministry of the Right Reverend Barbara C. Harris, the first woman of African-American descent to be consecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Communion.