Palm Beach Gardens Native Wins NCAA Scholarship;
Recent Wellesley College Graduate to Enter Law School in Fall

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Palm Beach Gardens native and recent Wellesley College graduate, Monique Abrishami, has been awarded a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Abrishami, a scholar-athlete who rowed crew at Wellesley, graduated with a degree in political science and will enroll in the Harvard Law School this fall.

“Monique did indeed shine this past academic year as she clearly did throughout her tenure at Wellesley College,” commented head crew coach Tessa Spillane. “Monique is one of those amazing student-athletes who comes along once in a very short while, the absolute embodiment of Division III athletics. She has been a dedicated scholar and has become a tremendous athlete and has been extremely dedicated to making significant progress in both areas.”

A political science major at Wellesley, Abrishami worked as a public speaking tutor, helping fellow students sharpen their speaking skills for class participation and formal presentations. Last summer she participated in the Wellesley in Washington internship program, working for Justice Ann Keary of the D.C. Superior Court. Earlier this year, she was a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. She was a two-time winner of the New England Men’s and Women’s Athletic Conference All-Academic Award.

Abrishami graduated from Suncoast Community High School in 2002.

To qualify for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, a student-athlete must have an overall grade-point average of 3.200 (on a 4.000 scale) or its equivalent, and must have performed with distinction as a member of the varsity team in the sport in which the student-athlete was nominated. The student-athlete must have behaved, both on and off the field, in a manner that has brought credit to the student-athlete, the institution and intercollegiate athletics. The student-athlete also must intend to continue academic work beyond the baccalaureate degree as a full-time or part-time graduate student.

Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal-arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states and 68 countries. Wellesley's distinguished alumnae include U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, broadcast journalists Cokie Roberts and Diane Sawyer, and NASA Space Shuttle Commander Pamela Melroy.

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