CUNY Newswire

BMCC recently held a special recognition luncheon in Richard Harris Terrace to honor the college’s new emergency volunteers, including those who assisted last October during Hurricane Sandy.
“I marvel at the dedication, especially of those who stayed overnight and worked 24/7 to get our campus back up and running,” said BMCC President Antonio Pérez, speaking to the packed room.
Scott Anderson, VP for Administration and Planning, also expressed appreciation for BMCC’s emergency-trained volunteers and staff.

arah Ragasa entered BMCC speaking two languages. Now she speaks five.

Born in the Philippines, Sarah emigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was nine. In seventh grade, she was required to choose a foreign language to study.

“The options were French, Latin and Spanish,” she recalls. “I chose Spanish because it was most similar to Tagalog, the language my parents spoke at home.”

She threw herself into the study of Spanish and kept at for the next five years. “All of a sudden, in high school, I found that I was fluent,” she says. “I was surprised.”

As a child, Jorel Lonesome’s mother gave him a journal, where he sketched, jotted down notes, and gathered coins, articles, and other memorabilia.

“I would draw familiar characters such as Spider-Man, Spawn, and Blade,” he explains, naming pop-culture Superheroes.
Fast forward to life after high school. After performing at poetry and spoken word events throughout Manhattan, Lonesome decided it was time for a creative change.

Mark Collazo, a Registered Respiratory Therapist and Neonatal Pediatric Specialist, literally worked his way up to being Director of Respiratory Care Services at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.

“I was working in the basement, in the kitchen at St. Luke’s as a food service aide, delivering food to the patients and washing dishes,” he says. “Before that, I was working as a bike messenger, and the winters were tough.”

Two dance companies—Ballet International Africans, led by artistic director Amini Hecksall, and Kinetic Afrique, led by choreographer and dancer Damon Foster—presented over an hour of dance and drumming to kick off African American Heritage Month.

What happens when you mix the 16th-century Renaissance splendor of Mantua, Italy, with the splashy 1960s decadence of Las Vegas?

Nearly 75 BMCC students now know the answer to that question—found in The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Rigoletto—thanks to a staffer simply picking up the phone.

Of all the choices incoming freshmen have to make, selecting a lunch option—turkey sandwich, vegetable wrap, tuna, chicken salad or ham—at the all-day Freshman Year Experience event, is one of the easiest.

Modern Languages professor Tom Means recently took his Italian 200 students to Sole di Capri, a neighborhood restaurant where they experienced Italian language and culture all at once.

On Wednesday, January 9, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. BMCC President Dr. Antonio Pérez will ring The Opening Bell of the New York Stock Exchange. He will be accompanied by BMCC Foundation Chair Christine Larsen; Secretary/Treasurer Laura Morrison, Managing Director at NYSE Euronext, and a group of current BMCC students.

New York City continues to remain a hub for jobs in the financial sector—and BMCC itself is located just minutes from Wall Street, which Business majors have stated is a major coupe; and a draw to the campus.

BMCC’s entrepreneurial spirit is in full swing as we ease into 2013 with fireworks, cheers, and, yes, cupcakes.
Desserts bring joy to many people; including three BMCC staffers who are embracing their inner “sweet tooth.”

“Learn all the rules, and then learn how to break them.”
That’s the advice of BMCC Writing & Literature alumni Joseph Quintela, who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English at Sarah Lawrence College.

Fred Calhoun grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and his grandmother, who was raising him, sent him “down South,” he says, from the age of 10 to 13, to live with his aunt and uncle.

“She felt it would be a good change of scenery,” says Calhoun. “I was coming home from school late, getting into fights at school—but it wasn’t affecting my schoolwork.”

Deslyn Andrews and Winnie Feng Xia Hu each look forward to a life of giving back.
Scholarships will help them achieve long-deferred dreams.
COPE provides BMCC students with a wide net of services—from academic support to help finding childcare

When The Women’s Forum— a community where preeminent New York women leaders of diverse achievement come together to make a difference—was granting 2012 education scholarships, Bibechana (Bibi) Basnet decided to apply for one.

Navigating through different personalities—and understanding one’s own—relates to a person’s success in business.

That’s why Senior Career Counselor Kimberly Chu administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, aka personality test, to students accepted into this year’s Goldman Sachs BMCC Leadership Program.

BMCC student Evelin Silva was in art class one morning recently when Lynda Caspe stopped by on an unusual recruiting mission.

A highly regarded artist and sculptor who teaches in the Department of Music and Art, Caspe explains: “I was casting some sculpture at the Modern Art Foundry when I noticed a class there, which surprised me.”

Karen DeSoto is an on-air legal consultant for NBCNews.com, CNN, and The Today Show, but this semester, she was a special guest at BMCC.

DeSoto recently spoke to BMCC students about her transition from shy New Jersey high school student, to in-demand lawyer. Her visit was part of the Latino Voices Forum, an event facilitated by Students in Free Enterprise Club (SIFE) in collaboration with BMCC’s Hispanic Heritage Month Committee.

“I might write 250 or 500 words a day,” says Writer and Literature major Aaron Thorpe, “but when I’m really into it, I’ll finish a story in a day.”

In 2012, Thorpe was a winner of the 8th Annual English Department Faculty Writing Award. Presented by English Professor Page Delano, he closed the award ceremony with a reading from his short story, “Natalie & Bo,” which he describes as having “dark humor,” and tells of a young man who considers an unorthodox solution to his depression.

Just before Thanksgiving, BMCC students dished out mashed potatoes and turkey as volunteers for the Soup Kitchen at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Times Square. For many of them, this was part of a continuum of giving back.