Malverne High School Senior Matthew DaCosta Wins ERASE Racism’s 2026 John Wenzel Scholarship for Advancing Racial Equity

The Scholarship is in Memory of Longstanding Champion of ERASE Racism John Wenzel

Elaine Gross, Founder and President Emerita of ERASE Racism, announced today that the 2026 winner of its John Wenzel Scholarship for Advancing Racial Equity is Matthew DaCosta, a senior at Malverne High School in Malverne, NY. The scholarship is awarded annually to a deserving high school senior on Long Island exemplifying ERASE Racism’s commitment to racial justice. The scholarship winner receives a $1500 scholarship, which will be presented at ERASE Racism’s Annual Benefit on June 3rd.

John Wenzel, a resident of Sea Cliff, NY, on Long Island for more than 50 years, was a longstanding champion of ERASE Racism and a long-time Board Member of the Rauch Foundation. He died in late 2023. This is the third year that the John Wenzel Scholarship has been awarded.

Matthew DaCosta was selected for this award due to the dedication and passion he has exhibited in ERASE Racism’s Youth Development for Leadership Initiative.

• As a member of ERASE Racism’s Student Task Force, he led one of its largest-ever regional student conferences, which in 2024 brought together more than 250 students from racially segregated schools on Long Island, both schools with a majority of students of color and schools with a majority of white students, to collectively address structural racism and its impacts.
• He was one of four panelists in a plenary session at the Reimagining Education Summer Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University, providing a youth perspective on educational policy issues to 1,200 educators from around the world.
• As one of eight interns selected for ERASE Racism’s Student Leaders for Equity Internship, he testified at the New York State Foundation Aid Hearings in favor of updating school-funding formulas to better reflect district needs.
• During the summer internship, he also developed a curriculum for Malverne Youth Towards Equity, pitched it to his district’s administration, trained peers in facilitation to assist him with implementation of the curriculum, led monthly sessions educating elementary students about structural racism, and ultimately shared his experience with the rest of the Student Task Force, inspiring them to follow in his footsteps.

“ERASE Racism is pleased to recognize Matthew DaCosta as the 2026 winner of the John Wenzel Scholarship for Advancing Racial Equity,” said ERASE Racism Founder and President Emerita Elaine Gross. “The Scholarship continues John Wenzel’s commitment to racial justice, and this year it recognizes Matthew’s extraordinary record of advancing racial equity. Matthew’s work on racial issues has been disciplined, imaginative, and wide-ranging. He has not let age, locale, politics, or pessimism stand in his way, as he has worked diligently for a racially equitable future. He now continues what is a growing list of Long Island seniors, whose futures will be advanced by this recognition of their commitment to racial justice and their promise of a new generation of leadership.”

Additional information on the Annual Benefit is available at www.eraseracismny.org or by calling 516-921-4863.