The Jon Carlo Dominguez Award
Jon Carlo Dominguez served as an Academic and Civic Teaching Assistant with Freedom and Citizenship in 2018-2019 and passed away in March, 2023. In his application, he wrote, "I have a deep commitment to educating the next generation of leaders and making sure that communities of color are represented in our political discourse." Jon Carlo lived up to that vision throughout the year. His students knew him as someone who went out of his way to make them feel welcome on Columbia's campus, who worked creatively and persistently to help them overcome their academic "roadblocks," and who guided them carefully and thoughtfully through a civic engagement project on the critical issue of teen mental health.
To honor his memory, we established the Jon Carlo Dominguez Award. Each year, the current F&C cohort nominates one recipient of the scholarship, which they award to a cohort member who best exemplifies values that Jon Carlo held dear: a passion for learning for its own sake; a drive for improving the world through civic engagement; and a commitment to community inclusion.
You can contribute to this or future year's awards by giving to the Freedom and Citizenship Fund in Jon Carlo's memory:
Meet Marlin Xie, Our 2025 Recipient
Marlin Xie was awarded the Jon Carlo Dominguez Award in May. Marlin is the first in his family to attend college and is a freshman at Bowdoin College.
In their nominations, Marlin’s classmates commented on his dedication to creating community and the consistently conscientious approach to others in seminar, during social hours, and during civic meetings. One classmate said that Marlin is, “dedicated nearly every [day] of his life to what he believes and his dreams... Marlin is a man who is outgoing yet quiet, brilliant but not conceited, hard working but never expects anything in return.” Supporting friends and classmates became hallmarks of his reputation at F&C; another classmate came to know Marlin as, “someone who you can really always call for help and…he'll be there for you.”
In his application to F&C, Marlin wrote about his desire to make real change in the communities he is a part of, and made the distinction that true change requires going beyond raising awareness about an issue. Before he joined F&C, Marlin was already aiming to effect long-lasting improvement for his fellow students at Brooklyn Technical, experience he clearly drew on when he developed his Civic Leadership project with his group. During the summer program, Marlin was known for comments that similarly strove to move beyond abstract ideals and towards the real effect that ideas can have on people’s lives. He often worked with others to try to answer the toughest questions raised in his seminar, frequently drew on and responded to others' comments, and seemed to find true satisfaction in these collaborations with his classmates.
For his Civic Leadership project, Marlin worked on college counseling in public schools. Through a series of interviews of high school students and school counselors, his group aimed to provide perspectives from either side of the problem of counselor-to-student ratios in New York City. Marlin was fundamental to making sure his group mates circulated the survey and helped gather and make sense of the information they received. He also single-handedly designed an infographic that made this material approachable to an outside audience and features comparative data from the surveys while highlighting insightful comments from the counselor and student testimonials the group received. Illustrating the frustrations on both sides of the student-counselor relationship, the infographic demonstrates how each group wants similar more realistic ratios so that college counseling relationships can be effective and supportive.
“To know Marlin, is to know what a community stands for,” one classmate wrote. “He embodies the spirit of progress and inclusion...bringing a perspective that shines through our civic project…[and] he's always among the first to volunteer his time and knowledge.” We were delighted to award Marlin the Jon Carlo Dominguez Award this year. Congratulations, Marlin!
Learn About Past Recipients
In 2024, the Jon Carlo Dominguez award was given to Santana Roach, a graduate of Frederick Douglass Academy II. Santana is the first in his family to attend college and attends Hunter College.
Santana was nominated by his peers for exemplifying the ethos of Freedom and Citizenship, which he does through "his eagerness to make sure everybody is included.” In fact, Santana’s warm and inclusive qualities were a theme among the nominations. His peers told us that he “carries an aura of charisma that comforts anyone in the vicinity. He’s radiant and pure, yet still continues to impress me with just how much of a good person he is.” Another said, “Santana is a very welcoming and caring person... When coming to F&C at the start I only knew one person. But Santana welcomed me with open arms which I really admire.”
Santana's drive to build community were apparent even in his application to F&C. In his first essay, he wrote about finding a community of skateboarders during the COVID lockdowns, which helped him to feel connected to his neighbors. Thinking about negative changes occurring in his community, Santana asked, "What can I possibly do to alleviate the pressing issues? And how can we work as a team to create a safer society benefiting lower-income communities and making them more equitable?" For his final project, he worked on equitable access to college counseling, an issue that was close to Jon Carlo's heart as well.
Santana's warm energy was especially needed on cold winter nights, when he trudged up the stairs of Morningside Park to attend his Wednesday civic meetings. Impressively, Santana had perfect attendance at every civic meeting -- that's not easy to do when you're also applying to colleges and other clubs and activities. We're glad he showed up, because his presence made a big difference. One of his civic group members wrote that Santana “has a positive outlook that he brought to summer seminar discussions and civic meetings. He is encouraging of everyone in the group and makes sure everyone has a seat at the table. He has consistently worked to advocate for education in NYC for public school low income students through our civic advocacy project and his podcast.” We were delighted to give him the 2024 award.
The 2023 Jon Carlo Dominguez award was awarded to Shanthal Ramos Bueno, a graduate of University Heights High School. Shanthal is the first in her family to attend college and is studying at the University of Chicago.
Though Shanthal thought of herself as a math and science person without a lot of imagination, she stood out this summer for her authentic spirit of inquiry. When she applied to F&C, the topic she most wanted to work on was mental health. She wrote, “Society has unreachable toxic standards that often influence the way people view and treat themselves. In some Hispanic households, there are stigmas surrounding mental health and there could be reluctance on being able to get help. I want to show others that it's okay to struggle and to have imperfections.”
While Shanthal’s Civic Engagement group chose to work on education access, she still followed through on her goals to support others in her community. In their nominations, several students commented that she’s someone who’s always there for them, checking in on them, asking how they’re doing. One student said “Shanthal is always checked in on how my group and I are doing with our projects, even though we’re in different groups. She has been a big help in this overwhelming process of trying to make change in our communities.” Another student wrote, “she’s been there for me mentally and physically. if it wasn’t for this person I wouldn’t have made it to a couple of meetings.” And another wrote “Shanthal’s always checking in on me especially during the hard times of the college application process, and she celebrates everyone’s success.”
We were delighted to award Shanthal with the Jon Carlo Dominguez award for her passion for learning for its own sake, her drive for improving the world through civic engagement, and her commitment to inclusion and community support.
