El Diario-La Prensa Editor Honored at Model Senate

Since 1997, several dozen CUNY and SUNY students have gathered annually in the spring to take part in the Model New York State Senate Session Project in Albany. The model legislative session, in which students debate and vote on public policy issues of state-wide concern, is scheduled in conjunction with the annual Somos El Futuro (We Are the Future) Conference sponsored by the State Legislature’s Puerto Rican/ Hispanic Task Force.

Editor-in-chief Borrero

The Model Senate initiative, developed by CUNY, involves intensive prior training sessions at the Graduate Center and study of a specially created Training Manual that contains readings on the legislative process and the organization of State government, case studies of the life of specific bills, and essays on media coverage of legislation and party competition. The Latino and Latina students chosen by their college come from a wide range of majors—from forensic psychology to business management, history, and finance. This spring, 26 CUNY students from nine senior colleges participated.

There is a debriefing after the event, and awards are given for essays written about the mock-legislative experience at a special reunion ceremony. The ten winners each garner a $1,000 scholarship awarded by the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.

During a mid-session luncheon in the New York State Assembly Parlor, the University honored Gerson Borrero, editor-in-chief of New York’s oldest Spanish language newspaper, El Diario-La Prensa. A Certificate of Appreciation recognized his “exemplary leadership in journalism and communications and his long-standing support for public higher education.”