Two Harrison Graduates Receive $3,000 Scholarships

Louis Nappi was laying in a hospital bed when he came up with the idea to start a scholarship fund, two years later a pair of Harrison graduates will enjoy the benefits.

Nappi, who turned 90 this year, retired from the concrete business in 1988 but never lost his passion for the engineering and applied sciences profession. While recovering in the hospital he saw something on television that caught his eye.

"I saw the world's largest building being built in Dubai and there wasn't a single American engineer on the job," he said. "I got sort of upset about that and said we've got to do something about it."

After recovering from leukemia and pneumonia, Nappi sought the help of local labor unions to get a scholarship fund off the ground. His thought was simple -- if the program can educate and build interest in the math, architecture and engineering fields it can build a better future here in America. 

The unions liked the idea and within a year Nappi started the Louis G. Nappi Construction Labor-Management Scholarship Program. Last year six students were granted a $3,000 scholarship, this year it expanded to ten students including two Harrison graduates.

"He took it upon himself to start thinking in terms of 'we're going to have to start training the youth of tomorrow to be rock-solid engineers' and he created this scholarship program," said George Drapeau, a fundraising and public affairs specialist working with the program. "He wants to make sure the generation to follow has good engineers."

This year an appointed board selected 10 students as scholarship recipients. In order to receive the scholarship students must be from the lower Hudson Valley and be related to employees associated with one of three local labor unions. Like the first year, this year's winners received $3,000 each.

Scholarship winners from Harrison were Jeffrey Arcara, who plans to attend Bucknell University where he will study electrical engineering, and Jessica Bisignano, who attends the University of Connecticut and studies political science.

Looking forward, Nappi's outlook on the scholarship is very positive and he is pleased with his decision to start something that he says will give back long after he is gone.

"This program will continue because the principle is important to our country," he said. "We can get back into the technology field and get back to number one again."