The McNair Scholars Program led to Yaa Takyiwaa ’18 becoming a senior analyst at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and she also credits it with her success in the 2023 Miss New York USA competition.
Takyiwaa says the interview drills she and her mentor, former postdoctoral research associate Josh Sammons, conducted before her presentation at the annual McNair conference in 2016 still help her today.
“The number one skill that I had while I was interviewing for this pageant was good communication,” says Takyiwaa, a Miss New York USA finalist who won the top interview award at the competition. “My mentor drilled that [McNair conference] presentation with me for hours. I feel like he could do the presentation right now with how much we practiced. At the time, I was very frustrated, but now I am an amazing presenter and researcher, overall, because of his training.”
Congress brought the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program (known as the McNair Scholars Program) to fruition in 1989; it…
