Ruth Romero was born in the Capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo in May of 1988. She and her two brothers; Alexander and Emmanuel, were raised by her mother and her step-father in a quiet part of the City. Ruth grew up believing that she would become a scientist, because she was passionate about discovering new things. Ruth began her high school experience in a school for Nursing called Politécnico Virgen de la Altagracia. She completed three and a half years at the high school, but because of personal reasons, she and her family had to move to the United States. They settled in New York City in Crotona Park East in the Bronx.
In fall of 2006 Ruth began attending high school in the United States at New World High School in New York City and received her high school diploma in 2009. She started her college career at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, with a desire to study to be a Registered Nurse. Ruth unfortunately had to work and go to school at the same time and the demands of trying to provide for herself and her family, while attending school at the same time became too difficult, so she took a semester off. After reflecting on her experiences at BMCC, she decided that she felt out of place on the campus. She felt as though she were lost in a crowd and that there were too many people around her, so she decided to make a switch to a smaller college, with a more community based atmosphere and she came to Hostos Community College in the fall of 2010. Ruth started her Hostos career as a Liberal Arts and Science major, but after reviewing the programs that Hostos had to offer, she chose to study Science for Forensic Science.
Ruth joined the Hostos Student Leadership Academy’s Emerging Leaders Program in fall 2010 and as her GPA rose, so did Ruth through the ranks of the Academy. She was promoted first to the Student Orientation Services Team in Spring 2011 and then to Hostos Student Ambassador in fall 2011. Over the course of her time as a member of the Academy, Ruth has been an active member and a role model for others. She has participated in the National Model United Nations New York in spring of 2011, where she was one of a group of fourteen who represented Burkina Faso. Ruth sat on the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Committee with Cesar Rojas and made friends with students from Japan, who had just survived the Earthquake. In the fall of 2011, Ruth participated in the National Model United Nations in Washington, D.C. along with seven other Academy members, representing Haiti, where she served on the Commission on the Status of Women. Ruth was also selected to be a part of the 2012 New York State Model Senate Session Project, where she debated on the topic of Hydrolic Fracturing, representing District 5 in New York City.
Ruth has also been a participant at several conferences of note: The 2011 Millennium Campus Conference at Harvard University, The 2011 United States Hispanic Leadership Institute Conference-Northeast in Newark, New Jersey, The 2011 CUNY Emerging Leaders Conference, The 2011 CUNY Women’s Leadership Conference, The Lehman College Leadership Conference, The LaGuardia Community College Leadership Conferences in 2010 and 2011. She has also participated in two Legislative Conferences in Albany: The 2012 Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus Conference and the 2012 Somos El Futuro Conference.
Ruth has committed to community service activities, throughout her time at Hostos and has been active at the following activities: Franz Siegel Park Cleanup, Part of the Solution Soup Kitchen, the 9-11 National Day of Service in 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service in 2011. She has also worked extensively on the campus at registration, giving campus tours, serving at admissions seminars and now working with a group of students to prepare the entire college for the switch to CUNYfirst as a member of the CUNYfirst Champion Marketing Team.
Ruth was one of a group of forty students to participate in the inaugural Hostos Athletic Leaders Organization retreat and will be one of the leaders for the event this year.
Ruth is the winner of the 2012 Bronx Dominican Day Parade Scholarship, a recipient of a Circle of 100 grant, a Bronx CUNY Scholarship Award Winner and has also been selected to do a fellowship with the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) for the summer of 2012. Ruth was also elected to serve as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chair of the Student Senate for the school year 2012-2013.
Ruth has also been selected as one of two students, along with Manuel Mercedes from Hostos for the 2012 CUNY Student Leadership Awards.