If you think speech class is just a place to hone public speaking skills, think again.

It’s important to note “both the history of the study of public speaking and the importance of showing students they have a voice,” says Professor Brianne Waychoff of the Speech, Communications and Theatre Arts department.

“Public speaking within communication studies dates back to Ancient Greece and the study of rhetoric that became necessary with the establishment of democracy and more people having a ‘voice’,” she explains.

In that sense, she adds, public speaking “is inextricably linked to the concept of citizenship.”

Advocates for stronger communities
Applying those expectations of public speaking to the “persuasive assignment,” Professor Waychoff matched small groups of students with the non-profit organizations Recycle-A-Bicycle; Girls, Inc.; the Urban Justice Center; Career Gear, and the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

“You must act as an advocate for the group you are assigned,” her instructions read, and the students sought to persuade their classmates to support their organization’s efforts to solve a problem in the community.

Todd Guadagno, a Liberal Arts major who is “leaning toward media arts” and worked as a musician and guitar player before entering college, was in a group that focused on Recycle-A-Bicycle.

This non-profit organization fosters environmental education, provides bicycle repair training to teens, donates refurbished bikes to underprivileged children, and conducts other community-based activities.

Sammy Dawoud, a science major who plans to transfer to a pre-med program once he graduates from BMCC, as well as Maya Wilson and Brandon Mifflin, were also in the Recycle-A-Bicycle group.

“They have many programs that could reduce crime in our communities,” Dawoud points out, adding that the organization benefits the health of urban youth.

“They address childhood obesity with bike rides with children ages 10 to 17, throughout New York City,” he says.

Activism through communication
Each student group began by drawing in the audience, establishing common ground and credibility, then presenting the problem and solution their organization addresses.

The Recycle-A-Bicycle group recommended to the audience that they support the organization’s efforts by joining at the level of friend, ally, advocate or ambassador; volunteering with the organization; participating in its sustainability activities, or donating a bicycle.

“My background has always been in social justice and activism,” says Professor Waychoff, who has helped students organize protests and participate in events including the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C.

For students considering a career in communications, her own background shows the multi-disciplinary directions that can lead, for example, to performance and a focus on giving voice to social activism.

Having earned a B.A. in Theater and an M.A. in Women’s Studies, both from the University of Northern Iowa, she then earned a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in Communication Studies, with a focus on Performance Studies and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies.

She has performed and published widely, and serves as Secretary of the National Communication Association Convention’s Performance Studies Division.

Students as citizens—with a voice
In the course of preparing their presentation for class, students in the Recycle-A-Bicycle presentation group attended the organization’s five-borough bike tour. They collected brochures, explained their class project, and were asked to share it with Recycle-A-Bicycle, when it was complete.

Their PowerPoint presentation made an impression on Helen Ho, the organization’s development director, and she reached out to the students in an email, sharing that they “did a better job at this than most reporters or grad school journalism students that come our way. We are honored!”

“I do the assignment regularly and it gets stronger each semester,” says Professor Waychoff.

“It shows students that they have an impact on the world and makes public speaking a real-world skill … I find it is very empowering for most students and when you put faith in their ability to be agents of social change, their own trust in themselves grows. Especially when the assignment is done in groups.”

Adding Coal to the Fire

Chaweon (CHA-wun) Koo, one of the five student winners of this year’s English Department Faculty Writing Awards, admits that when she was growing up, her genre of choice, science fiction, “wasn’t cool like it is now.”

She was reading “both Sweet Valley High, and science fiction for kids,” she says, and was interested in “technology and more comic book-related stuff—and that was kind of unusual for a girl, someone who doesn’t fit the sci-fi geek mold.”

Her award-winning story, “No Strings Attached,” is about a female astronaut pining for her love back on earth, she says, “and part of it is fantasy because she’s thinking back to a childhood story she heard about a little girl who goes to the moon and leaves behind earth, her first love.”

Looking to the future
Koo, who also writes memoir, is working on an e-book, contributes to the online magazines nerve.com, prospect.org, and eventually plans to earn an MFA in writing.

Her fellow award-winner, F. Pierce Skinner, is also considering next steps for his writing, and is looking into the English program at Sarah Lawrence College.

Skinner won the Academic Writing Award for two pieces of writing, one of which is his essay in response to an English class assignment, comparing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to a comparable work of fiction.

“I picked H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau,” he says, “and I used those two works to explore what the literary benefits of science fiction are, and what science fiction can teach us about how we deal with discovery, and looking to the future.”

His other winning submission is the short story, “The Yellowed In-Between.”

“I wouldn’t call it science fiction, according to the strictest definition,” he says. “It has robots, and futuristic technology in it, but really the crux of the story isn’t relying on that technology.”

Where stories come from
Aaron Thorpe’s award-winning story, “Josephine,” is based on “my mom working for an upper-middle class couple that lived in Westchester,” he says, “and they wanted to come to our house to kind of check out my mom … it was their newborn, and they were very mindful and protective … so they came to our house in Queens.”

Back then, says Thorpe, “I was a really avid reader and I’d just finished To Kill a Mockingbird … so I’m there talking about its themes and whatnot, and they’re impressed, and they gave my mom the job.”

Derek Brown was inspired to write “The Colombian,” his award-winning story, after reading Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

“I didn’t necessarily love it but it spawned an idea to do something in a contemporary setting,” he says, adding that his main character “is going to be a salsa singer in seventies New York.”

It’s also based on Brown’s experiences living in Florida and working as a musician; singing, playing guitar and writing lyrics for ten years.

“There’s a professor in there who was a sort of a role model for me when I was younger,” he says, “and the manner in which the main character leaves Bogota was the same way I left Florida, sort of abruptly, in the middle of the night. I just didn’t go back.”

The story, he says, “gave me the excuse to exorcise some demons.”

The circuitous road to writing
Raymond Chao doesn’t exorcise demons but embraces them in his award-winning academic paper on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

“It’s about the character Caliban,” he says, “who is the savage but actually speaks eloquently. So I wanted to explore what language means; does it reflect who a person is?”

As with the other winners, writing is something that arose for him, in a circuitous way.

“For me writing really started in high school,” says Chao, “and ironically, that’s right across the street at Stuyvesant High.” He next attended college in Rochester, New York, then found his way to BMCC.

“It took me some time away from the City for me to miss the City,” he says. “I couldn’t wait to get out, but as soon as you’re out in the woods, with nothing but snow and rock, you kind of miss the steam and the stench.”

Pierce Skinner wound up in New York “on accident,” he says, and after working and living in the City for a time, “I really kind of got bored so college sounded like a good idea.”

He picked BMCC, he says, because “I heard good things about it, it was inexpensive, and seemed like it offered great opportunities.”

Why writers need to win
“It was a really huge surprise, a huge surprise,” says Chaweon Koo, about receiving the fiction prize, and Aaron Thorpe adds, “It’s not so much the prize money or the recognition, but just the fact that somebody else read my story and it was good enough to get an award, that was amazing to me.”

“I think that winning an award is very important because it’s very easy, especially at our age, to lose track, to lose heart, to lose focus,” says Pierce Skinner. “An award tells you, ‘No, you are doing the right thing’.”

“There were some days when I was confident, and some when I didn’t expect to win,” says Derek Brown, and Raymond Chao puts it like this: “As a writer and as an artist, it’s important to maintain checks and balances, to have small encouragements along the way … celebrating with other creators of art and writing is more pieces of coal to put in the engine, to keep yourself going.”

A ceremony and generous funders
The 9th Annual English Department Faculty Writing Awards presentation was held in Richard Harris Terrace on BMCC’s main campus.

Senior VP of Academic Affairs Sadie Bragg welcomed the audience, and the Keynote speaker was Thaddeus Rutkowski, author of the novels Haywire, from Starcherone/Dzanc; Tetched, from Behler Publications, and Roughhouse, from Kaya Press.

This year’s Writing Awards were funded not only by a generous donation from Norton Publishing, but by private donations from BMCC faculty and staff.

These donors include Veronica Alfano, David Bahr, Christa Baiada, Elizabeth Berlinger, Joe Bisz, Catherine Cammileri, Dorothea Coiffe, Maria de Vasconcelos, Page Delano, Tony Drago, Phillip Eggers, Francis Elmi, Cheryl Fish, Jeffrey Gonzalez, Doris Hart, Junga Kim, Adele Kudish, Holly Messitt, Stephanie Oppenheim, Diane Simmons, Jan Stahl, Lara Stapleton, James Tolan and Jaime Weida.

Altogether, individual and corporate donations funded the $700 Faculty Writing Award (F. Pierce Skinner); the $500 Norton Award (Aaron Thorpe); and the $200 Faculty Writing Awards (Derek Brown, Raymond Chao and Chaweon Koo).

For more information on the awards, click here.

Recently, BMCC’s Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development got some very good news—the department’s Sectorial Workforce Proposal requesting $860,000 in funding to provide computer repair and networking training was granted by the NYC Small Business Services.

This means that 120 participants over a two-year period will have the opportunity to earn industry-recognized credentials. The pilot program also offers internships and job placement services.

“We have a strong network of local employers we’ve surveyed,” says BMCC Dean of Continuing Education Sunil Gupta.

“We learned that job candidates with some workplace experience—as well as industry certification—have a better chance of being hired, so we built an internship component into the project, and it’s an internship with a stipend.”

Employer and training partners
Employer partners including CS Technology, PC Experts, Newberger Berman, and Legal Services are planning to host internships to support the pilot program, says Dean Gupta.

The project not only includes employer partners, but training partners.

During the first eight weeks of the program, participants will complete A+ training in computer repair with Per Scholas, a national nonprofit organization that provides technology education and job placement services for people in low-income communities.

They will also receive career services and “soft skills” training from the Workforce 1 Career Centers, which are administered by the New York City Small Business Services (SBS).

Gaining an edge with industry credentials
After completing the 8-week A+ training with Per Scholas and passing the A+ certification exam administered by COMP TIA, participants become enrolled in the project’s 10-week Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) training course.

The certifications are “stackable,” Dean Gupta explains. “They’re part of a sequence of credentials and they relate to a correlating sequence of higher-paying jobs. They’re also recognized all over the country.”

In addition to technical training, participants will join workshops focused on workplace strengths such as team building and conflict resolution, and they will have the opportunity to receive one-on-one financial coaching on budgeting and credit repair.

A successful combination
“It’s the combination of all these things—the dual certification training in both A+ and CCNA, the experience they’ve gained from their internships, and the one-on-one support—that will give our graduates a significant edge over other job seekers with similar skills and educational backgrounds,” says Dean Gupta.

“Sometimes it’s that one differentiating factor that can make a person who is working incredibly hard to improve his or her life, finally get that break they need.”

The project is also unique in that it encompasses a partnership that is “not only extremely cost-effective, but it enables us to provide the very best training from different agencies around the City,” he says, “and since it’s a pilot program, we’re paying close attention to what we would need to do in order to scale this kind of training up to an even larger capacity.”

The new IT training program will begin in Fall 2013.

Thanks to the efforts of Professor Carmen Martínez-López, Deputy Chair of the BMCC business department, BMCC students are becoming regular visitors to the Colombian Consulate in midtown Manhattan.

“The General Consul, Dr. Elsa Cifuentes, invited me to work with her to start a pilot program, which in the future will be extended to other campuses at CUNY and to other universities in New York City,” said Martínez-López. “I saw this as an opportunity to serve my college and university community and to give back to society.”

That pilot program began with a meeting between Dr. Cifuentes and a group of BMCC students of Colombian descent, in Spring 2013.

“The Consul General explained the different cultural, educational, and artistic activities the Consulate could offer them,” says Martínez-López.

“We also brainstormed to create a name for the program to work with Colombian immigrant students at the higher education level. We defined the program as, ‘To return to your roots: the answer is Colombia’.”

The option of dual citizenship
José Tobon, a business administration major at BMCC, was among the first group of students to visit the consulate.

Tobon graduated from high school in Colombia, then moved to Queens in 2011. He works in a restaurant on weekends, and is planning to earn a bachelor’s degree in finance, eventually building a career in investment banking.

“I’m still very Colombian,” he says, “but a couple of us were born in the U.S. and barely speak Spanish. Colombia has the fastest-growing economy in South America. They were encouraging us to invest in Colombia, to go back there are tourists and feel proud about Colombia. We’re going to find more Colombians for the project.”

The Consulate, Tobon explains, “is also going to help us with the paperwork for dual citizenship. I can travel to Colombia now, but with dual citizenship, I can invest in Colombia.”

He adds that “through social media, the Consulate is trying to inform Colombians in New York about elections in Colombia, and to encourage them to get their paperwork together for dual citizenship so they can vote.”

Soon, he hopes that his connection with the Colombian embassy will enable him to network in New York City with corporations that do business in both New York City and Colombia.

Maria Montanez, who was among BMCC’s first communication studies graduates this past May, is headed for Brooklyn College where she’ll continue her studies, and wants to be a journalist.

“With dual citizenship,” she says, “I can develop my journalism career in both countries.”

Internships and professional opportunity
In addition to a focus on dual citizenship and connecting with a shared cultural heritage, says Professor Martínez-López, “the goals of the forums are to support and orient Colombian university students in issues related to academic performance; to offer information related to educational and professional opportunities, and to serve as a platform for networking and leadership among Colombian university students.”

At their last meeting, she adds, “Dr. Cifuentes informed the group that the General Consulate in New York, Colombian business, and not-for-profit organizations are available to offer internships to students performing in these forums.”

Subsequent forums will be held throughout the upcoming academic year.

After completing a year of law school in her home country of Montenegro (the former Yugoslavia), Sanja Chastain moved to New York and in 2011 earned an associate degree in criminal justice from BMCC.

Next, she transferred to John Jay College and completed a dual baccalaureate/master’s program in forensic psychology in 2013.

“Only 29 of us were accepted,” she says of her accelerated studies at John Jay. “It’s a really tough program. You must maintain a 3.5 GPA. We all made it, though. If you struggle with certain classes, the professors are available, and you can participate in study groups.”

One professor who made a strong impression on her there was Mindi Wapner, who acquainted students with an STU, or Special Treatment Unit for sexual offenders in New Jersey.

“Even if they finish their sentence, they remain locked up in a treatment center,” Chastain explains. “A panel of two to three psychologists argue if they are ready to release the person into the community or not.”

Someday, she intends to be part of such a panel.

“It’s not an easy thing,” she says. “Someone’s liberty, their life is at stake—and not only that person, but a whole family is affected.”

Life-changing decisions
Forensic psychology “examines the gray area between criminal justice and psychology,” Chastain says, and is good experience, she says, for her “dream job,” which is being a criminal court judge.

“A forensic psychologist evaluates a person, someone who commits a crime, and if they suffer from a mental disorder, you argue that they can’t go through the same legal process as someone who isn’t ill,” she says. “You recommend treatment, alternative sentencing.”

On the other hand, she says, “if you find that the person doesn’t have a mental disorder, you have to be ethical in your decision. It doesn’t matter if we’re hired by the prosecution or the defense or the court itself; we have to stay objective.”

To stay current on case outcomes related to those of the offenders she will evaluate, she follows Supreme Court rulings carefully.

Also, she says, “Having the law school background will distinguish me from other forensic psychologists. It’s my passion. I love teamwork, but I like creating something by myself, challenging myself, building a case for each decision.”

First, though, she is returning to Montenegro to finish law school, which she had began before moving to the United States and starting over with her college career.

Then, after completing law school in her home country, she’ll fly back to New York, and enter law school again. She’s considering Cardozo, NYU or Columbia, and transferring credits will shorten her time earning an LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree before taking the New York State bar exam.

Complicated as this all sounds, she says, her plan is the most efficient, most economical way to reach her goals.

Starting over, in English
Sanja Chastain grew up speaking Serbo-Croatian, language of the former Yugoslavia, and lived in the capital city of Podgorica (also known as Titograd).

“We studied English in elementary and high school, then I had English in college, but I learned most of my English when I came to the United States,” she says.

She enrolled in a Learning Across America intensive English-language class through the continuing education department at BMCC, when she first arrived.

“One professor, Margaret O’Connor, was extremely helpful,” she says.

“She was very patient with us. Our class met for six hours straight, speaking and writing English. It was hard, to focus for that long on English, and I was surprised that out of a class of non-English speakers, I was the only one from a foreign country. All the others grew up in New York.”

To engage with English as much as possible, she also watched TV with closed captions, “and I always had five dictionaries around me, and stickers everywhere; labels in English on my wall, my door, on everything around the apartment—plus I always try to have a book on me,” she says, pulling a hefty biography of Albert Einstein from her shoulder bag.

Does she miss Montenegro, a country the size of Connecticut, renown for its mountains and beaches, but also known for its historically volatile cultural mix of Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croats, Muslim Bosnians and others?

“I have been in New York 11 years now, and I’ve learned how to be a New Yorker,” Chastain says.

“Montenegro is an old-fashioned society, and things are different today, as compared to 15 years ago, but it’s not like New York. My parents were the exception in that they encouraged me to be educated; my mom was an economist with the government, and my father was in military, a very educated man. They encouraged me to become educated, too.”

‘Once you’re in the water, you have to swim’
In addition to her studies at John Jay College, Sanja Chastain completed 400 hours of unpaid internships at RTI International, a nonprofit organization that provides study and analysis in areas including education and social policy.

“We worked with people who are mentally ill; alcohol or drug abusers,” she says. “We administered a questionnaire to them, and interviewed them. These are people who have been convicted for substance abuse-related offenses, and are sentenced to alternative treatment facilities.”

It should be noted that while completing her internship, her associate degree and dual bachelor’s and master degree program, she worked full time in an Italian restaurant in the West Village of Manhattan.

“I studied in the subway, on the bench in the hallway outside my classes, between shifts, any chance I got,” she says, and adds that she even found time for one short vacation.

“I took a 10-day road trip with some friends,” she says, and describes their adventures winding through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana. “We saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, the White Sands Desert, Monument Valley.”

She looks forward to completing her academic journey, then making a permanent home in New York City.

“We have an expression,” she says, “‘Once you are in the water, you have to swim’.”

In New York, she adds, it is easier to “swim” because “even if you are a foreigner and your English is not perfect, you are still given an opportunity. It’s a great thing.”

Think personal training involves just showing people how to lift barbells and use equipment? Think again.

As BMCC’s newest instructors—professional personal trainers Billy Davis and Brian Semonian explain, personal training involves more—much more—than utilizing equipment. And if you’re interested in taking the NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) exam, you better brush on your science knowledge…

This summer, two NASM/BMCC Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) Certification courses are being offered through BMCC’s Department of Contining Education. One is led by Davis, the other by Semonian, both certified by the NASM.

The course focuses on Exercise Science, Kinesiology, Exercise Physiology, and Physical Education, Personal Training, Wellness and more.

“I think you’re more marketable if you’re NASM certified,” says Semonian, who describes himself as “a huge advocate for health and wellness training” and founded the non-profit organization Phys Ed Plus.

Davis, an athlete, personal, and corporate trainer, calls NASM  “the gold standard for trainer certification. With it, you can work just about anywhere, in any city.”

BMCC’s course prepares students for this exam, which Davis warns, “is not easy. It’s very in-depth and requires a lot of research, especially in the sciences. I wish they offered a course like this when I was studying for the NASM. But if you really want to be a trainer, you’ve got to put in the work.”

Beyond the barbell
According to Semonian, in some places, “the benchmark for quality training is low.  It’s not ‘OK, here’s a dumbbell…’” It’s so much more than that. In this course, we really get into the science of it all and learn how and why the body breaks down. “

Walter Singleton is a student in Semonian’s course this summer.

“I studied personal training at a gym, but I want a NASM certification because I’m interested in training professional athletes,” he said. “I’ve always viewed the body as a temple you take care of, and find the course extremely informative. I’m enjoying the anatomy behind everything we’re learning because I’ve always been a bit of a science geek.”

Semonian adds: “Additionally, you learn about bedside manner and how to grow your business in the fitness industry.  We also focus on the principals of the body and how to put together a program for clients.”

Davis says being an instructor at a university “makes me a better trainer,” and wants interested individuals to know, “If you enjoy fitness and helping people, this may be a field for you.”

For more info, click here.

Today, over 1.3 million New Yorkers (almost one in eight) have diabetes. Many of them painfully stick their fingers twice a day for glucose testing, but thanks to developments in nanotechnology, they might one day trade that procedure for waiving a light over a tattoo.

Mentored by science professor Brahmadeo Dewprashad, Andrew Boodhan has completed an Honor’s project in which he immersed himself in the subject.

His paper, “The Use of Nanotechnology to Develop a Tattoo to Test Blood Sugar” placed in the top three out of 127 papers submitted in the category of physical sciences at the 2013 Beacon Conference held this past June at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The tattoo, Boodhan explains, “uses prescription ink composed of nanoparticles, which spread a glucose-polymer complex that is responsive to glucose. The ink then changes the wavelength of a near-infrared light that is shined on the tattoo, indicating the person’s glucose level.”

“Eventually,” he says, “people will even be able to use a phone app to take their glucose, cholesterol or other blood levels.”

Life-transforming technology
“I’ve started doing nanotechnology projects with students because it’s an amazing field with so many applications that will transform our lives,” says Professor Dewprashad, who is introducing nanotechology into his current courses, and developing as part of a long-term plan, BMCC’s first nanotechnology course.

“By training, I’m a medicinal chemist, but I recognize this is the future,” he says. “For example, you can target certain cells, like cancer cells, by using nano-machines comprised of only a few hundred atoms, instead of targeting the whole body, which is a much more toxic process.”

To fully appreciate nanotechnology, it’s important to understand the scale it operates in.

“A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, roughly the width of three or four atoms,” Professor Dewprashad explains. “The average human hair is about 25,000 nanometers wide.”

Nature operates at the nano level, he says, “and that’s why nature is so efficient. Think of a gecko. It can climb a wall, because it has millions of microscopic hairs on the bottom of its feet—and that’s the technology we’re using for adhesive bandages. Or look at the lotus leaf; it has a layer of air that prevents water from actually touching the leaf, so it can float.”

In search of better lives
Both Professor Dewprashad and Andrew Boodhan grew up in Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America.

“I moved with my wife, Tamele [who has since earned a degree in nursing from Molloy College], to New York, to Queens, in 2010,” says Boodhan. “My main goal was to go to college and I picked BMCC because I heard it was a good college from my aunt, who was a Liberal Arts major here and went on to earn a degree in psychology.”

Boodhan’s best subject in high school was chemistry, and in his first semester at BMCC, he had the good fortune, he says, to take chemistry with Professor Abel Navarro.

“He kept up my interest in chemistry,” Boodhan says, adding that he also benefited by taking Organic Chemistry with Professor Dewprashad.

“We would go to the board and solve problems with everyone’s input. He told us, ‘We learn from our mistakes’, and I view that as how we should live our lives. Every day we make mistakes, and it can be a learning process.”

Giving back
Boodhan is also an avid sports fan, and in Guyana, he worked as a jockey in professional horse racing. “Belmont is my favorite track in the New York area,” he says, and enjoys the abundance of racetracks the region offers.

“New York is full of opportunities,” he says, “and I would like to emphasize the opportunities at BMCC. This college gave me a new chance in life.”

Professor Dewprashad also grew up in Guyana.

“Students really struggle there,” he says. “They have shortages of the most basic things in schools, like books and drinking water.”

Boodhan adds that, “there are constant blackouts, and you can’t even study at night,” and Dewprashad recalls that at his high school, “The U.S. Peace Corps provided us with a chemistry teacher. He did experiments and I was fascinated by it. He also built nets for the football field and he built a latrine for the school, actually digging the pit himself.”

While Dewprashad is busy mentoring science students at BMCC—he received the 2007 Louis Stokes Alliance “Keepers of the Alliance Flame” mentoring award—Boodhan gives back, too.

“One of the best experiences I’ve had here at BMCC has been to be a note-taker for two disabled students, through the Office of Accessibility,” he says. “One was in a speech class and the other in a human services class. It was very fulfilling.”

Technology that impacts art, war, medicine—and a new generation of students
Nano-technology’s emergence has inspired a number of science fiction films, including The Hulk, G.I. Joe, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Military applications are being developed for nanobots, which can identify specific targets, and the biomedical applications of nanotechnology are staggering.

“These miniature mechanical devices could turn toxic waste into harmless matter, or they could travel through our blood vessels to mend cells from within,” says City College professor, physicist and string-theory co-founder Michio Kaku in a recent BBC segment.

“The first step toward building these nano-machines,” he says, “is to hijack living systems at the molecular level and engineer them to do what we want.”

Perhaps an even earlier step would be to make students at the community college level aware that nanotechnology even exists.

“It is a cutting-edge technology involving both the biological and physical sciences, and it is important that we educate our students in new developments in science, particularly those likely to have a profound impact on their lives and work in the future,” says Professor Dewprashad.

He adds that “It’s not only important to create academic and career paths that our STEM students might be able to take advantage of, the notion of ‘responsible nanotechology’ provides opportunities for discussions of the ethical and social ramifications of such new technologies, and for students to have a more holistic view of science and how other disciplines such as social sciences complement it.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Professors Jerrold Schoenblum and Carol Wasserman were 2013 Beacon Conference Steering Committee members, and Ms. Ena Jordan in the Office of Academic Affairs coordinated the participation of four BMCC students in the recent Beacon Conference. In addition to Andrew Boodhan’s paper presentation, Ingrid Bilowich, mentored by Professor Dan DePaulo, presented her paper, “The Psychosocial Impact of Gender Role Violations.” Gertrude Amoah, mentored by Professor Brahmadeo Dewprashad, presented her poster, “Antioxidant Activity of Ginger,” and Alan Ridderhof presented his poster, “Phasor Circuits,” mentored by Professor Anthony Creaco.

Liberal Arts major Diva Green wanted to enroll in a specific course at BMCC so badly, she recalls, “I stalked the class online for days until there was an opening, and I immediately registered.”

What was this course Green wanted so urgently to take? Professor Andrew Levy’s Journalism 303 English course Journalism: News Writing, a thorough, in-depth look at reporting in today’s fast-paced, media-savvy world.

Since journalism is not a direct major at BMCC, the course attracts those who have a nose for news.

I ask a lot of questions about everything and anything—I’m always asking, ‘Why? How?’” said Green.  “So, I knew I had to take this course. Plus, I enjoy research.”
Levy, a professional journalist and poet, leads lively discussions about media concerns and matters. His students learn how to “cite references within the body of an article, review the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) code of ethics, and write—and edit—news articles that are publishable.”

Additionally, last semester, students watched the 2007 documentary No End in Sight about the Iraqi War. “As a class, we discussed the ethical principals from SPJ to determine if director Charles Ferguson upheld those ethical standards,” said Levy, who also brought in guest speakers such as a foreign correspondent from the Los Angeles Times.

“These speakers work in different media genres and remind students there are many jobs or career paths that exist in this field they may not even know about,” explains Levy.

The class trip
Last semester, Levy took approximately 20 journalism students on a tour of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which was led by Stephen Dougherty, Assistant Dean, Director of Admissions and Student Affairs, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.

Dougherty is the former Editor-in-Chief of Businessweek and a friend of Levy’s.
“The students are blown away by the facility, they had no idea it existed,” said Levy. “After hearing from Doughtery, oftentimes, many of them are further convinced this field is something they want to pursue.”

Doughtery informed them that they do need a Bachelor’s degree in journalism to attend the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, adding, “This is a great place for those who want to study what they love. In 16 months, you’re learning the latest ways to report and conduct journalism and you’ll leave with a professional degree. You’ll be out in the field doing internships and stories, and many students here even intern in other countries.”

He also says the Graduate Center had its own university news service, editing studio, and radio station, and there are some end-of-semester days set aside for de-stressing when students need a fun break here and there.

“What you learn here is real world,” said Doughtery to Levy’s students as they walked through the editing studios and classrooms. “The work is relentless and it’s about the work, not any politics behind the work. Everyone is supportive of each other.”

Calling the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism “distinctive,” Doughtery also informed students that BMCC students may be eligible for summer journalism writing and audio workshops at the Graduate School.

Real-world journalism
Student Gil Vazquez is an aspiring filmmaker who enjoyed the tour.

“It was great hearing that this Graduate Center teaches you how to market yourself and how to put together a portfolio,” he said. “I want to raise social awareness about environmental issues as a documentary filmmaker, and I could see myself at the Graduate Center someday.”

His classmate, English major Andrew Chandler, views BMCC as his starting-off point to a career in journalism.

“I found Journalism: News Writing to be very informative and hands-on. Professor Levy is easy to talk to and gave me some great advice about overcoming writers block.”

Adds Chandler: “I have my own tech blog and have been published before in a local paper and in The Huffington Post. I definitely want to pursue journalism after I graduate from BMCC.”

“The assistant director position was open and I hadn’t seen anything from Alexa. I asked her to make an appointment with me, and told her, ‘You have everything it takes to have a very successful career in this field’. She’s extremely committed, bright, innovative … and has lots of ideas.”

Those encouraging words are from Karen J. Booth, Director of the Child and Family Center at Rockefeller University, and refer to BMCC alumna Alexa Pomales, whose progress building a career in early childhood education has been right on track—once she discovered it.

Setting a new course
“I went straight from high school to City College, majoring in Liberal Arts,” says Pomales, “but I didn’t do well. I didn’t know where I fitted in. So, I took a couple years off, worked at K-Mart on 34th Street, and lived at home.”

Returning to school, she chose BMCC because “I figured I could bring my grade point average up, and then transfer to a four-year school,” she says—but her direction sharpened one day, in her first semester.

“I was walking down the hallway, and I saw these pamphlets about early childhood education,” she says. “I thought to myself, ‘You can teach babies? How does that happen?’”

Intrigued, she went inside the teacher education office, spoke to the staff, and though it added a bit of time to her educational path, changed her major to early childhood education, graduating from BMCC in 2003.

Next, she completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Hunter College, then in 2011 graduated with a Master in Early Childhood Education from City College—working all the while at the Child and Family Center at Rockefeller University.

“I started there as a student teacher from BMCC, then took the afternoon teacher position while I was finishing my associate degree,” Pomales says. Eventually, she moved into the role of Head Teacher, and was promoted to the position of Assistant Director in August 2012.

The developmental approach
The Rockefeller University Child and Family Center is a year-round, full-time program for children ages three months to five years, and serves the families of “people who work at the university, post-docs, lab heads, and others,” says Pomales.

As Assistant Director, she guides the teachers in planning curricula and supporting the Center’s philosophy, which is one of “developmental interaction.”

“We base education on where children are developmentally,” explains Director Booth. “It’s learning through interaction.”

Studying psychology between her two degrees in early childhood education, Pomales says, has helped her be aware of children’s development, and also “gives me insight into how to engage with the families, how to understand them more.”

Communicating about a child’s learning to his or her parents is an important facet of her role as assistant director.

“I love being a witness to a child’s growth, and seeing the progression of their development,” she says. “There’s not one day goes by, that I am not amazed at their growth.”

Supporting teachers’ growth
“We do a lot of staff development, workshops on areas the teachers themselves suggest,” Pomales says, “such as how to support children’s learning in activities like block building or sewing, where they don’t actually use a needle and thread, but string together cut-out shapes and objects.”

Her professors at BMCC, she adds, continue to inspire her.

“As a teacher of young children, you don’t want to be talking down to them or telling them what to do all the time, and our professors at BMCC treated us that same way. They were great models,” she says.

“Rachel Theilheimer is one person I remember vividly. She was very descriptive when she spoke about a child or a classroom practice. She welcomed our ideas—and that’s the kind of assistant director I’m trying to be. I also try to be very descriptive with parents, reporting on their child’s day.”

Gaining trust
Born in the midtown part of Manhattan known as “Hell’s Kitchen,” Alexa Pomales graduated from Cathedral High School, and was the oldest of three children.

Her mother came to New York from Peru as a small child. She worked as a hotel housekeeper, and ran a family childcare center out of the home Alexa grew up in. Her father moved to New York from Puerto Rico, and worked as a bicycle messenger.

“My mom had such a gift with children,” says Pomales. “My dad was always on the floor playing with them, while my mom was very structured. So I learned from both of them.”

She recommends a career teaching small children, but “only for people who have a passion for education,” she says. “There needs to be a love and a passion for the field.”

That passion can translate to going the extra mile to support a child’s learning.

“We had a child a few years ago who was presenting some red flags in the classroom,” she says. “It was obvious he needed more outside play, more physical play. He also needed shoes that fit him better; he was falling a lot, so the teachers and staff all chipped in, and we bought him a pair of shoes. We also held a parent-teacher conference at the child’s house, to make it easier for the family, and the parents were very touched by, very appreciative of the support.”

Building trust with parents is vital, she explains. When the staff at the Center recommended moving the child to a classroom that was just below his age group—but was more developmentally appropriate—his parents were ready to accept the idea.

“We just wanted him to be in a place where he could grow,” Pomales says. “The parents understood that we all wanted the same thing.”

Last semester, BMCC student Lindsay Wengler was named to the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) All-State Academic Team. For the All-State application, she wrote an essay about an eating disorder support group she started in Manhattan while attending BMCC.

Currently living in San Francisco, Wengler is studying to be a dietician and took pre-requisite science courses during her time at BMCC, where she maintained a 4.0 GPA.

“I advise students to take advantage of everything BMCC has to offer, such as intro courses,” advises Wengler, who enrolled at BMCC after graduating from Evergreen State College.

“It was a great place for me to take the science and math courses I needed to follow my dream of helping others.”

Phi Theta Kappa students nominated to the national All-USA Community College Academic Team/Coca-Cola Community College Academic Team are automatically named to the All-State Community College Academic Teams. Ranking on the All-State Community College Academic Teams is generally determined by the student’s score in the national competition.

BMCC Alumni Richard Toussaint grew up in Harlem and as a child, would walk down to the bank of the Harlem River to skip stones and chase crabs.

As the years passed, though, his favorite outdoor spot changed. A cement factory along the waterfront closed and became a dumping ground for junked cars. The homeless and others began using the area as a refuge, and it grew increasingly unsafe.

Even so, Toussaint was determined that his generation would not be the last to enjoy this unique urban waterfront.

According to Marcha Johnson, landscape architect with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation and quoted in a June 2011 article in Parks & Recreation magazine, “There was one person [Richard Toussaint] who sketched out an idea for Harlem River Park which showed a bike path and a green space. Once he had an image like that, he shopped it around and convinced the parks department to adopt a large number of those ideas.”

As a member of Community Board 11 and the Harlem River Park Task Force, Touissant helped raise money and awareness to create a park that now welcomes the neighborhood with benches, safety railing, and an inviting setting in which to fish, dog walk, barbecue, relax, and access a bike path that winds alongside the Harlem River for dozens of blocks.

The waterfront of his childhood is back stronger than ever.

Celebrating the urban waterfront
City of Water Day, sponsored by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, was celebrated recently at waterfront parks all over the City.

At Harlem River Park, visitors sat in the shade snacking, and watched tour boats and barges charge up the East River. Kids tried their hand at fishing with poles and gear provided by the Department of Environmental Conservation, and raced each other on bikes courtesy of Concrete Safaris.

“The park is a place to walk your dog, sit down and talk to a friend or friends to ease your mind, and also there’s fishing and bicycling,” says Richard Toussaint. “Plus younger people who come down to the park see another form of traffic—boats. They see water transportation for the first time. “

“Harlem River Park is Harlem’s backyard,” adds Lucian Reynolds, an urban planner with The Harlem Community Development Corporation, and on hand for Water Day.

“It’s very unique; it has a natural edge, a beautiful edge with gabion baskets holding oyster shells and rock to break the tide and protect the bulkhead. The bike path you can access here, will eventually link to a path leading all the way down to 59th Street and points north. Our goal is to have a continuous esplanade like on the west side of Manhattan.”

Community involvement
Harlem River Park is bordered by Harlem River Drive, the Madison Avenue Bridge, and the Metro North Bridge. It looks across the river to the South Bronx, and is being developed in phases on 20 acres between the Harlem River and Harlem River Drive, from 125th to 145th Streets.

Volunteers at City of Water Day included not just park co-founder and BMCC alumni Richard Toussaint, but his neighbor Melvin Lee, who attended BMCC as business administration major in the late seventies, and was there as part of the Harlem River Park Committee organized by Richard Toussaint through the nearby Saint Mark’s the Evangelist Church.

“I’m here to do whatever’s needed; loading the van, helping with the equipment or bottled water,” says Lee. “I think it’s important that we’re doing this. Parks help a community. People don’t have to travel so far anymore in order to get outside and enjoy themselves.”

Sharing the past, looking to the future
Richard Toussaint, who is also Team Chief of his local CERT, retired in 2005 from Consolidated Edison, where he had been working for 30 years in the Environmental Health and Safety unit.

“After graduating from what was known then as the Manhattan Urban Center, and later became CUNY/SUNY Educational Center, I entered BMCC as a frightened 23-year-old freshman,” he says, adding that he graduated in 1970, when the college was still located in a midtown office building.

“My ambition at the time was to become an urban planner,” he says, and when BMCC dropped its urban planning courses, “my course of studies was switched to real estate, which was in the business department.” Following his love of playwriting, he next changed his major to Liberal Arts.

After graduating from BMCC, Toussaint transferred to City College/CUNY, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in speech and theater, then a masters in educational counseling. He wrote a play produced at the Kennedy Community Center on West 134th Street, and co-founded the theatre troupe, The Black Mask Players. He was an intern in the newsroom at WCBS TV, and a regular panel member on “The Learning Experience,” a program that aired in the late sixties through early seventies. His interest then shifted from theater to the environment.

A Coast Guard cutter, then a Circle Line tour boat glide up the East River as Toussaint muses about his past, using the park as it was intended; as a place to relax and reflect.

“The neighborhood is where you live, your shelter, your place of comfort,” he says.

“There are things there that you can and cannot control. For example, right here, we’re getting this park developed, and people can join the task force to advocate for things they think it needs, like a dog run, or comfort station. Once you get involved with an initiative, you can move forward and make those things happen.”

“She went back to America; I went back to England”—that’s the start of an inspiring alumni story, one with cinematic potential.

Here’s the opening shot: A 16-year-old boy—he recently dropped out of high school—is working on a construction site outside London.

Fast forward, and a fetching young American tourist enters a pub and spots the boy, now a young man. Next, he’s on his lunch break at a construction site, studying a GED prep book she’s sent him.

Last of all, the camera pans over stunning Hudson River views as seen from a respiratory therapy lab at BMCC, and settles on the students themselves—including our protagonist.

“Nigel Knox was one of the finest students we ever had,” says Everett Flannery, Allied Health Chairperson and Director of the Respiratory Therapy program at BMCC.

He adds that Knox won the BMCC Respiratory Therapy Award, a BMCC academic scholarship, graduated Magna Cum Laude, and “was very inquisitive. He asked questions in and out of class, and tutored other students. He was extremely helpful to everyone.”

‘Why not this life?’
“My father came from a family of ten, and his priority was keeping food on our table and a roof over our heads,” says Nigel Knox, thinking about his early years, and the family moving from England to Ireland. “My priorities were somehow, ‘survive’, rather than ‘thrive’.”

He looks back on a conversation with the American tourist who became his wife.

“She said, ‘If you could do anything, what would it be?’” and I said, ‘I’ve always wanted to be a doctor; well, maybe in my next life’—and she said, ‘Why not this life?’”

He flew to New York to take the GED, then returned to his construction job outside London, and “She called me at work on my cell phone to tell me I’d passed,” he says.

His next step was to move to New York and enroll at BMCC, which he accomplished with the help of family friend Denis Doody, an attorney whose office was in the South Street Seaport area of Lower Manhattan.

“He would walk over to BMCC to help me with the forms,” says Knox, who worked as a waiter and restaurant manager, as well as on building sites, laying concrete, while he attended school.

Also, he says, “Professor Flannery was a great component in my getting into the respiratory therapy program at BMCC, making sure I had everything in order.”

‘Straight in the middle of it’
In retrospect, says Nigel Knox, it’s possible that his father’s passing—after battling lung cancer—had something to do with his interest in respiratory therapy and the medical field in general.

“I’ll never forget what it was like, being 19 and not really understanding what the doctor was saying,” he says.

“But also, I’ve always liked physiology. I’m a very conceptual person. Lists, I can learn, but concepts of how the heart works, for example, are easier for me; the opposing pressures, the anatomy of the chambers—it’s all physiology.”

He marvels at the cultural milieu he became part of at BMCC, in one of the country’s largest and most diverse urban colleges. “I came to America and right away, I was straight in the middle of it,” he says.

At BMCC he also volunteered for the Office of Accessibility, as a note-taker for students with sight impairment.

“I took the notes then read them into a recorder,” he says, adding that the student he was helping out “didn’t mind” his accent. “He told me, ‘You sound like the Beatles’.”

At BMCC, Knox also completed rotations at New York Downtown Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital, and Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and spent time in pulmonary function testing labs among other areas.

“They believe you can do it,” he says of the respiratory therapy program at BMCC.

“They show you, and then they expect you to be able to do it. They brought in a doctor from Mount Sinai Hospital, which has one of the best anesthesiology departments in the country, to train us to intubate a patient.”

“That helped a lot in medical school, having that strong technical background and experience with procedures such as drawing blood or intubating a patient,” he says. “Other people were scared to do it, but I was eager to get my hands on it.”

‘Over the moon’
Knox graduated with an associate degree in respiratory therapy from BMCC in 2006, then earned a B.S. in pre-med at Purchase College, SUNY in 2009.

He attended Saint George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, and completed clinical rotations in New York and New Jersey “consisting of hospital exposure in all the fields of medicine; surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics and others,” he says.

He also completed research on non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV), at Hackensack Medical Center, won First Place in the New Jersey State Society of Anesthesiologists Resident Research Presentations, and applied for residency programs.

“Waiting to hear was nail-biting,” he says. “Residencies are very hard to get these days. I was ‘over the moon’ when I heard I’d gotten it.”

His residency in anesthesiology at New York Medical College in Westchester, New York, began in Summer 2013. He’s taken two of three licensing exams—“residencies are based on those scores,” he says, and plans to take the third before his residency ends.

Then of course, come the notoriously challenging medical board exams.

Looking back, he’s grateful for his wife, Patricia Knox—they now have two small children, and she’s begun a career as a pediatric nurse—for his family friends, in-laws Marita and Dan Doody, and professors he’s studied with, along the way.

“I really couldn’t have done it without them,” he says.

After United States military personnel return home after serving overseas, their transition back to civilian life isn’t always smooth.

A new Veterans Service Center has opened on the main campus at 199 Chambers Street, and according to President Antonio Pérez, “this Center helps student veterans navigate the complexities of enrollment and registration, informing them of education-related veterans benefits and helping them deal with any issues they may face, whether those issues are academic, administrative, vocational, or psychological.”

The new coordinator
Wilfred Cotto is BMCC’s Veterans Services Coordinator, who previously served as the Director of Veterans’ Affairs at City University of New York (CUNY).

During his tenure at CUNY, student veteran enrollment increased by 55%; gaining CUNY recognition as a “veteran-friendly” university.

Cotto, a native New Yorker, served on active duty in the U. S. Navy from July 1977 to September 2005.

According to BMCC’s Office of Institutional Research & Assessment, approximately 370 veterans currently attend BMCC.

“Of the CUNY schools, BMCC has the second highest enrollment of student veterans,” says Cotto.

Overcoming roadblocks
Criminal Justice major Daryl Griffin is working at the Veterans Services Center this semester.

A veteran himself who served in the U.S. Navy, Griffin understands the adjustments veterans have to make—both mentally and physically—when pursuing an academic path.

“BMCC was a great place for me to enroll when coming out of the military,” he says. “My particular major allows me to transition into John Jay College next semester.”

He adds that: “Student veterans should know that we’re here for them and can help them with any bumps they encounter on their path towards education.”

Adds Griffin, who hopes to work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: “BMCC re-introduced me to a formal education. You should have seen me in high school—I just did not have the grades or stamina, and at BMCC I have a 3.9 GPA.”

Through PROVE, the CUNY-wide Project for Return and Opportunity in Veterans Education, two interns from the Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work, will also be available to offer counseling services to veterans at BMCC.

Help for veterans and families
“I want student veterans to know they have a Support Team here at BMCC, a point person in offices such as Advisement and the Bursar who can advise them during their time at BMCC,” says Cotto. “We also have an on-campus Veterans Club.”

He adds:  “Additionally, the Veterans Service Center can provide information on benefits, scholarships, the VA, disability compensation and more, for veterans and their families.”

Note: The Veterans Service Center is located in Room S115C on the first floor of 199 Chambers Street, by the BMCC/Tribeca Performing Arts Center (TPAC) offices.

Thanks to the efforts of two BMCC Foundation Board members, BMCC students are now included in Citigroup’s prestigious summer intern program at their offices just up the street from the college, in Lower Manhattan.

Board member Tim Tynan, Managing Director and Global Head of Citigroup’s Transaction Services business in Japan initiated the idea in summer 2012, and Bill Fisse, Managing Director and Sr. HR Officer for Citi Transaction Services, currently spearheads the internship program.

“How did you feel interacting with 32 summer analysts from top schools around the country?” Fisse asked the interns at their recent presentation in a Citi conference room flanked by sweeping Hudson River views and attended by both BMCC and Citi leaders and staff.

“Our mission was, ‘Let’s break the ice’,” says Michael Merk, who just earned his associate degree in business administration from BMCC and will enter Baruch College in Fall 2013.

BMCC President Antonio Perez praised the interns for “switching to the dialogue of the corporate finance environment,” and asked, “What’s their reaction when you tell them you’re from BMCC?”

“They say, ‘What’s that?’,” Michael Merk joked, and intern Ashley Celestin added, “I tell them, ‘We’re neighbors! Look out the window; you can see the college from here’.”

When to hand-hold, when to let go
All three BMCC interns were placed in either Citigroup’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) or Security Funds Services (SFS) divisions, and worked with a manager who both supervised their work, and mentored their progress.

BMCC intern Cindy Salazar thanked Beatrice Lee, Citi Supplier Finance “for knowing when to hold my hand, and when to let go,” she said.

In the recent presentation at Citi, each intern made a PowerPoint presentation outlining his or her summer project. Salazar outlined her research into company risk ratings, and assisteding in compiling a closing binder.

She also gained an understanding of the negotiation process between buyers and sellers, she said, and how to develop a receivables solution that is acceptable to both parties.

“It really deepened my appreciation of certain government institutions and the role of math in finance,” said Salazar, who plans to graduate from BMCC in January 2014, and pursue a bachelor’s degree in finance at either NYU or Baruch College.

Remembering to breathe
Ashley Celestin presented an overview of her project working with a Citi sales management team. She explained the difference between mutual funds and hedge funds, and defined concepts such as private equities.

“I worked with analytics,” she said, “and met with a number of Citi managers, including Bob Clifford, VP Investor Sales, who looked over my revenue reports.”

Her presentation was peppered with what she called “Citi speak”; phrases that are integral to priorities of the work, such as “minimize loss and theft” and “safekeep the client’s securities.”

“I had to keep up with those acronyms, too,” she says, “and move out of my comfort zone, network with people.”

In response to Citi Graduate Recruiter Monica Apipattanamontree’s question about what she brought from her experience at BMCC that was helpful, Celestin answered, “my speech classes. They helped me remember to breathe, and with communication and teamwork.”

She next plans to transfer to SUNY Cobleskill for a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business, and eventually return to her home country, Haiti. It’s okay to not understand, or to be wrong, sometimes,” she advises next summer’s interns.

Relaxed, but working hard
Michael Merk, who moved to New York from Sweden in 2011, spent his summer internship at Citi focused on cash management within the North American Payments team.

“We’re building a strong global payment franchise,” he said. “Customer care and responsibility to the client are extremely important. I was also really impressed with the global connectivity at Citi; you contact the fraud team in India and they get back to you immediately, even though it’s the middle of the night for them.”

One task he completed was analyzing the trend to move to electronic transactions, and creating top-revenue client snapshots, or graphic breakdowns presenting facets of their companies.

In his first team meeting, he says, “For one hour I pretended I understood what they were talking about.” The next week, he said, “I understood about 35 percent of what people were saying; a clear improvement.”

He overcame the challenges of his new environment, “by reading, questioning and also my mentor, Vivek Thakur, Director of TTS payments, helped me a lot.”

Overall, he says, he was impressed by the general work culture at Citi, in which “everyone is relaxed, but you work hard and are very dedicated.”

Looking ahead
Also attending the interns’ presentation was Sebastien Delasnerie, Director of Trade Finance, who worked closely with intern Cindy Salazar.

“I was impressed with how seriously the interns took on their assignments, how they embraced the experience and made the most of it,” he said.

“The reality is, as interns you have to learn on the job,” he said, and suggested that in order to support future interns, schools emphasize the work ethic in a corporation; the environment, rules of the road, embracing the leadership.”

Bob Clifford, VP, SFS Investor Sales, added that, “We found out early on that what you write in a business setting is very different than writing a paper for class,” and the interns, he said, “learned quickly to become more succinct.”

A global mindset
Citigroup Managing Director Bill Fisse views the interns’ experience as part of a much larger picture.

“It’s all about the human capital equation,” he says, “aligning our human resources strategy to our business strategy and asking, “What do we need to do to attract, develop and retain diverse talent at all levels of the company?”

Another overriding questions, he says, is “What are we doing to build a pipeline of future leaders?”

“The internship program is a great way to build talent,” he explains. “Also, our number one attribute here at Citi is our global mindset, and because BMCC has so many students from so many places around the world, we value their ability to succeed in a global market.”

They say heroes are made, not born.

Christopher Reeve, best known as “Superman” on the big screen, could be considered a hero, or a legend.

A survivor of a spinal cord injury that left the late actor and activist paralyzed, Reeve and his late wife Dana inspired many people through their humanitarian work with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which remains committed to finding treatments for spinal cord injuries.

This fall, Taylor Brandon, a Head Teacher at BMCC’s Early Childhood Center, will be running in the ING New York City marathon with “Team Reeve.”

And some of his biggest supporters are the smallest ones—the pre-schoolers of the Early Childhood Center.

Every year, the BMCC Early Childhood Center operates an on-campus bake sale, and this semester, funds from the October 11th sale will support Brandon’s run.

“Despite his setbacks, Christopher Reeve had courage, and that’s inspiring,” says Brandon, who mostly works with the Center’s 3-year-olds and has completed marathons before.

He has already started training for the 5K run.

“Since they’ve heard I’ll be running with Team Reeve, I’ve received lots of encouragement from co-workers,” he says.

Support from the Center
“Taylor running the marathon is an inspiration for many of us here at BMCC,” says Cecilia Scott-Croff, Executive Director of the Early Childhood Center. “He takes his physical health and commitments very seriously, has a background in the arts, and infuses his knowledge of health and the arts into the classroom.”

Brandon engages the children he works with in movement activities and playground games such as rolling and tumbling.

“They’re too young to quite grasp the concept of running a marathon, but they contribute to the cause by helping out at the bake sales. They help exchange the money and the goods using little cash registers,” he says, adding, “I’ve always related well to children. I’m kind of a big kid myself! It’s been wonderful watching them learn and grow.”

According to Scott-Croff, Brandon “has a quiet and unassuming demeanor but also feels like a playmate for the kids, and they just love him. He’s very dedicated. That’s why we here at the Center feel like he’s running the marathon for us, too.”

“At a fundamental level, everyone needs to understand rate of change,” says BMCC math professor Jason Samuels.

“You go to the gas pump, it’s dollars per gallon; rates are often constant but in more complicated contexts, they’re always changing. Also, in the real world, almost everything—from air masses to financial trends—changes and has some kind of irregularity; some sort of curvy trajectory. So how do we analyze all that?”

The answer, he says, “is to reduce the situation to a straight line, and how you do that, is what calculus is.”

Starting with a visual: mathlets, models and more
Facilitating that process of finding the straight line in an irregular context, Samuels has created for students a series of free mathlets, downloadable computer applications that perform a small set of tasks.

He opens one of these, on his phone.

“On the top, you see the graph of some function,” he says, “and then there’s this black box around a section of it, and that part is presented on the bottom.”

As the box on the top half of the screen zooms in on the graph, the bottom half of the screen responds accordingly, applying whichever function the user chooses, “and you can identify the slope, or the rate of change at that point,” Samuels explains.

“I like to introduce calculus visually,” he says, “as opposed to introducing it algebraically, or with formulas, which is the more traditional method.”

He redesigned his calculus courses around this strategy, and students not only use the mathlets as a resource, they also start with 3D models and other tactile, physical representations.

“I’ve assessed the outcomes, to see if students were actually learning calculus, doing it this way,” he says, “and those outcomes make it clear that students who first explore calculus visually have a much deeper, more connected understanding.”

An NSF grant to develop instruction
Recently the National Science Foundation’s Division of Undergraduate Education awarded Jason Samuels of BMCC; Brian Fisher of Pepperdine University; Eric Weber of Iowa State University, and Aaron Wangberg of Winona State University over $225,000 through the Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (TUES) program.

Their goal is to investigate innovative new methods for teaching and learning multivariable calculus, or Calculus 3.

The project, “Raising Calculus to the Surface,” is sponsored by Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota, and will teach students by starting with a visual exploration—they’ll draw, measure and grasp concepts geometrically, using three-dimensional, clear plastic models on which they can write with a dry erase marker.

“It’s like thinking about topography,” says Samuels.

“In fact, one of the earliest uses of Calculus 3 was to create topographical maps that could show you things like, all the mountains 5,000 feet high are at this line; all the mountains 10,000 feet high are at that line.”

Students using surfaces of the 3D models, he says, “will explore the questions, ‘What is a level curve?’ and ‘What is a contour map?’ They’ll get the concepts from the actual physical model itself.”

Less struggle, more meaning
Samuels loves playing the popular logic puzzle Ken Ken. He competes annually in the Google U.S. Puzzle Championship, is a “huge, huge Yankee fan,” and leads the BMCC Math Team. He also encourages students to take part in CUNY-wide Math Challenge and contests sponsored by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.

He’s always enjoyed math himself, he says, and when students start with a graphic or physical representation and then move to formulas, they can enjoy math, too, he says, and internalize deeper meaning.

Still, visual-first calculus instruction has its skeptics.

“A lot of teachers think, ‘Oh, if I try to do all this experimental stuff, I won’t have time to actually do the math,” says Samuels, “and nothing could be further from the truth.”

He explains that in the classic instructional presentation—definition, theorem, proof, example—often students struggle; “they try to memorize and copy what you’re doing, and they devote so much mental energy and time trying to understand what it means, it actually takes away from the learning process.”

On the other hand, he says, “If you have them explore the idea first—through discussion and tactile or visual activities—then cap it off by applying a formula and maybe even a theorem, you don’t have to explain what it means, because students already understand the full concept that goes with the formula. It actually takes less time, and you can cover more meaningful mathematics.”

Research using classroom outcomes
In summer 2014, Professor Samuels and the NSF-funded project team will host a series of workshops on how to teach Calculus using the 3D models and their surfaces.

The participants, dozens of faculty now being recruited from high schools and two- and four-year colleges around the country, will then take that methodology back to their own calculus classes.

Eventually, Samuels and his team will compare the outcomes of those classes, with the outcomes of control classes using more traditional methods.

“This large-scale implementation could provide compelling evidence and convince other Calculus 3 instructors to try using their surfaces to strengthen student learning,” says Professor Samuels.

Born and raised in Toledo, Spain, Hilario Barrero emigrated to the U.S. 35 years ago and has taught in BMCC’s Modern Languages Department since 2001. But a day doesn’t go by that he doesn’t think—or dream—about the fabled city of his birth.

This past May, Barrero, an acclaimed poet, writer and translator, returned to Toledo to accept one of its highest honors: He was asked to serve as the pregonero or town crier of the Feast of Corpus Christi, a yearly procession observed since the thirteenth century and one of Toledo’s most important holidays.

In good company
It’s an invitation that doesn’t come to many, nor is it tendered lightly. “In Spain there is a long tradition of asking a well-known luminary to be the pregonero and deliver the proclamation of the local festivity,” says Barrero. For example, actor Antonio Banderas and tenor Placido Domingo were accorded the honor this year in Ma¡laga and Madrid, respectively.

“In my case,” Barrero says, “I was there as a toledano as well as a U.S. citizen and a professor at BMCC.”

He didn’t jump at the invitation—at least not initially. “When Toledo’s Municipal Councilor of Culture called to invite me to be the herald, my first reaction was to ask if I could have some time to think about it, given the heavy responsibility that goes with such an honor,” Barrero says.

“I called my family in Toledo to ask their advice, and one of my sisters told me the decision was mine, but reminded me of how happy the honor would have made our late mother.” His sister’s perspective helped him decide. On the day of the festivities, Barrero’s relatives occupied an entire row of the Teatro de Rojas, which was filled to capacity.

Barrero organized his proclamation in three parts. “The first was a search of my personal past and memories from my childhood, and the second was an homage to all the mothers and people who have left us and were so important to the procession.” The third part drew on Barrero’s deep connection with his adopted country.

“I did a lot of research and discovered that Americans have been interested in the Corpus Christi as far back as the 1800s,” he says. “Among them was Katharine Lee Bates, the author of ‘America the Beautiful’, who published a powerful article in The New York Times about the social, political and, of course, religious aspects of the festivity.” The article was one of several texts that he quoted.

New York Daily
After arriving in New York in 1978, Barrero earned a Ph.D. in 20th-century literature and taught at Princeton for seven years. Over the past three decades, he has published numerous poetry collections and translations of English-language poems into Spanish. In 1999, he began a series of diaries that record his impressions of daily life in Brooklyn. The sixth volume in the series, Nueva York a diario, was published this year to critical acclaim, both in the U.S. and in Spain.

All in all, it was a busy and productive summer for Barrero. “I had the opportunity to return to my native city for the first time in many years,” he says. “The visit brought back poignant memories of my mother, who had attended the Corpus Christi procession every year since she was a young girl.”

On the Road

Driving back home to Los Angeles from the east coast three years ago, filmmaker and BMCC graduate Ester Brym and her producer, Tom Buty, decided to steer clear of interstates and take a less traveled route: old Route 66. Their off-the-grid odyssey yielded some surprising insights—and became the basis of an award-winning film.

Built in the 1920s as one of the country’s first highways, Route 66 in time became a cultural icon, made popular in novels, movies, songs, and a long-running TV series.   Growing up in Prague, Czech Republic, Brym was always fascinated with Route 66.  “To Europeans, this is what America was all about,” says.

Learning her craft
Brym emigrated to the U.S. in the late 1990s and got an early exposure to the basics of video editing at BMCC. After graduating in 2000, she went on to earn an undergraduate degree and then spent five years interning with documentarians and cinematographers, learning as much as she could about the craft of filmmaking. In 2007 she moved to Los Angeles where she made her first film—“Butterflies,” a documentary about YouTube celebrities.  She set out on Route 66 the following year.

Ester, Tom and her dog Rocco started out from Chicago. Tom drove, while Ester filmed, using a simple, handheld “flip” camera. “The idea wasn’t to plan out a rigid shooting schedule or set up formal interviews, but just to see what would happen wherever the road took us,” she says.

There were many unexpected detours. “Route 66 isn’t on any maps, nor is it always marked clearly,” Ester says.  No longer a highway in any conventional sense, the road is well-maintained and treated like a museum in some states, neglected and ghostlike in others.

Over the course of two weeks, Ester, Tom and Rocco stopped often in towns along the way, chatting with the people they met and exploring the hidden and forgotten byways of middle America,  “Route 66 is more than just a road,” she says.  “It’s a community.”

Transforming footage into film
Back in Los Angeles, Ester faced the daunting task of shaping and pruning two weeks of footage into a feature-length film. “Before I started editing, I was surprised at the power of the story that the footage told,” she recalls.

To be sure, “Autumn of Route 66” is hardly the first film about it’s subject. But what sets it apart is a unique and beguiling spin—the narration was written from Rocco’s point of view. “In a sense, Rocco is the story teller,” Ester says  “Casting him in that role also helped to make the movie child-friendly.”

“Autumn of Route 66” had its premiere this past August at the Action on Film International Festival in Monrovia, CA—half an out hour outside Los Angeles and close to Route 66.  More than 300 films from across the U.S. and around the world were screened at the festival; “Autumn” placed second for Best Film and received First Prize in the “Female Filmmaker” category.

“The response at the festival was incredible,” Ester says.  She is quick to note that none of this—the trip, the film, the critical acclaim, her career—would have happened had she not attended BMCC.

Casting BMCC in a starring role
“Around the time I started here, the Media Arts and Technology department had just acquired 10 new film editing stations,” she recalls.  “I was given free rein to use them as much as I wanted—and also the privilege of learning the craft from teachers who were incredibly helpful and generous with their time and knowledge.”  She takes issue with those who suggest that the only place to train for a career in filmmaking is at a name-brand school like NYU or Columbia.

“Had I gone to a bigger school, I wouldn’t have had the learning opportunities—or the personal guidance and mentoring—I was given at BMCC,” she says.

With Route 66’s 2,448 miles behind her, Ester is contemplating the next phase of her journey.  “I know that I love making documentary films and want to keep doing it,” she says.  “I love to bring stories to people.”

For a brief period of time, BMCC student Turner Gray, a business administration major with two children—recently found herself in panic mode. She was facing eviction from an apartment she and her family resided in for many years.

“Plus,” she recalls of her situation last year, “it was finals week, and I had to stay with a relative until my kids, mother, and I could get back into our apartment.”

Due to a miscommunication with city and state agencies, Gray—who someday hopes to work in media relations for a beauty company—had her front door locked shut, with no warning.

Unsure of what happened and how she could get back into her home, Gray spotted a flyer for Single Stop, a national organization that provides free referrals to services that can help address the needs of BMCC students so they can remain in school and succeed academically.

Spreading the word
Gray explained her situation to Deborah Harte, Coordinator for Single Stop at BMCC. Harte advised Gray to meet with BMCC’s Scholarship Coordinator Sussie Gyamfi, who found out she was eligible for a loan, which could help her pay the overdue rent, and get back into her home.

Gray made it back into her apartment after just a few days, and the miscommunication with the city and state regarding her rent was cleared up.

However, the emergency made Gray realize Single Stop is a valuable resource for BMCC students—and she wanted to help spread the world about everything it offers.

“People need to know about this program,” said Gray, who recently went down to Washington D.C. with Harte to speak with congress members and their assistants about Single Stop. “I wanted to spotlight the program and help spread the word about it, so colleges that don’t have a Single Stop program can consider launching one.”

According to Gray, in Washington D.C., political staffers were interested in hearing about Single Stop, and “some stated they would talk to politicians in their towns about launching Single Stop at local colleges. It was wonderful to have their support and represent BMCC in Washington D.C.”

Staying in school
Says Gray:  “I think of Single Stop as a mini crisis center for students. You can find a good support system at Single Stop if you’re in an emergency situation, even if you need a Metrocard. The staffers want to help you stay in school.”

According to Gray, who was interviewed by Businessweek magazine this summer about Single Stop, “the program tries to catch students before an emergency happens. The staffers will ask, ‘What is the immediate emergency and what benefits are eligible for you?’ Single Stop is ahead of the curve and I want students to know you should never be ashamed to ask for help if facing an emergency.”

Harte says this semester, Single Stop will be instituting the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) which “is projected to cover a great number of our students with health care. “

For more information, visit Single Stop.

Stars Shine for BMCC

A remarkable line-up of talent—internationally renowned songstress Roberta Flack; iconic singer/songwriter Art Garfunkel; jazz trumpeter Lew Soloff of Blood, Sweat and Tears fame, and sensational pianist/songwriter Peter Cincotti—came together in support of BMCC recently, their cameo performances emceed by jazz musician and popular sidekick to David Letterman, Paul Shaffer, who also sang and performed to the packed house.

The Steinway Soiree Benefit, hosted by the BMCC Foundation Board, took place on the evening of Wednesday, September 25 in the spacious new Shirley Fiterman Art Center of the Miles & Shirley Fiterman Hall, in Lower Manhattan.

Proceeds of the event will support the BMCC Foundation, which provides student scholarships and supports initiatives aimed at building student success, and will help toward the purchase of a new Steinway grand piano now on loan to the college.

A poster rendition of a piano keyboard was mounted in the gallery space, and guests were invited to sign the keys, announcing their commitment to donate from $500 to $5,000 in support of BMCC.

BMCC music and art faculty showcased
Before the program showcasing the event’s celebrity performers, guests enjoyed a lavish h’ordeurves-and-champagne mixer in the Shirley Fiterman Art Center in Fiterman Hall.

Guests mingled in the North Gallery, which featured the premiere exhibit of visual art, sculpture and installation pieces by BMCC faculty Simon Carr, Betty Copeland, Pat Genova, Xico Greenwald, Sarah Haviland, Ann Hjelle, Thaddeus Radell, Jessica Ramirez, Jerrold Schoenblum, Anthony Sorce and A.C. Towery.

“The faculty’s artwork that has been collected for this event is absolutely outstanding. It shows how much talent there really is, here at this institution,” said Steven Fiterman, whose parents, Miles and Shirley Fiterman, donated the original Fiterman Hall to BMCC and who flew in from Minnesota with his wife Susan Fiterman, for the event.

The evening also featured a stirring performance by The Fiterman Trio, featuring BMCC music professors Maureen Keenan on flute; Robert Reed on cello, and Howard Meltzer on piano—as well as singers Christine Free, mezzo, and Eugenia Oi Yan Yau, soprano.

‘A mirror of New York City’
The BMCC Steinway Soiree culminated in the South Gallery of the Shirley Fiterman Art Center, where BMCC President Antonio Pérez welcomed special guests including Karen Beluso and Betsy Hirsh of Steinway & Sons, and others.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a new and special friend whose contribution to this event is immeasurable,” he said, “and that person is Cathy Shaffer. Cathy, I can’t thank you enough for all you have done to make this such an extraordinary evening. Thank you for bringing us your friends—the wonderful artists who are here to perform tonight.”

Elizabeth Butson, a member of the BMCC Foundation Board and former publisher of The Villager and Downtown Express also welcomed the audience.

“BMCC is a mirror of New York City,” she said, “with a diverse student body that includes the first of many families to attend college. The personal success of our students is also the success of their families, the larger community and the nation.”

BMCC alumni Michael Hattem, a BMCC Foundation Scholar who went on to enter—on full fellowship—the doctoral program in history at Yale University, spoke of having dropped out of high school at age 14, and gotten a late start on his education.

“BMCC was the only place that would take a 32-year-old, GED-holding, high-school dropout,” he said. “BMCC is truly the gateway to CUNY, one of the most remarkable public university consortiums in the country and perhaps the most cost-efficient opportunity in American higher education today.”

‘This is gonna be some show!’
The evening’s emcee was Paul Shaffer, musical director and band leader on The Late Show with David Letterman.

“When I was growing up, my mother was a very charitable volunteer, she would volunteer her time all the time, whether it would be for the local hospital or for the ladies auxiliary of the synagogue, and I got used to seeing her do that,” said Shaffer in an interview before the celebrities took the stage.

“Now my wife has sort of picked up that gauntlet in my life, and she organizes benefits and things for worthy causes, and it was she, my wife, Cathy Shaffer, that got me interested in this,” he said.

“She got me interested in this school, and especially, in this cause of buying this Steinway piano for the arts program here and well, you know, that’s perfect for me, so I said, ‘Count me in’, and apparently, an awful lot of entertainers said the same thing to her—‘This is gonna be some show!’”

‘I can play soft, but this is not the moment’
With the upbeat flair he brings to The Late Show, Paul Shaffer opened the celebrity performances in the South Gallery of Fiterman Hall.

“It’s a nice intimate crowd and a nice live room, and it’s a great cause,” he said, and kicked off the show with what he called “my own take” on the 1962 chart-topping single, “Nut Rocker” by B. Bumble and the Stingers—a rousing adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s “March of the Wooden Soldiers” from The Nutcracker.

Next, he introduced his old friend Lew Soloff—they met when Shaffer was a pianist on Saturday Night Live, and the two young men began a 40-year tradition of attending synagogue on the High Holidays together.

“This gentleman was one of the members of Blood, Sweat and Tears back in 1968, and in fact he played the ground-breaking trumpet solo on a little record that I bet you all remember called, ‘Spinning Wheel’,” said Shaffer, setting off a sudden burst of applause.

“I can play soft, but this is not the moment,” Soloff declared, taking the stage, and Shaffer joined in, singing in the style of David Clayton-Thomas, whose voice, along with Soloff’s signature horn playing, made the song famous and marked the birth of a new genre, Shaffer said, called “jazz rock.”

Next up, Paul Cincotti
“The New York Times has referred to him as the most promising of tomorrow’s crop of young singer pianists, and his very first album went all the way to number one on the Billboard charts,” said Paul Shaffer, introducing Paul Cincotti.

Saying he had been inspired by Shaffer’s version of “Nut Rocker,” Cincotti changed his song list and started with Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock.”

Noting that he grew up in Manhattan, he mentioned that he “was looking at the Freedom Tower earlier today, and it’s amazing. It reminds us all of how lucky we are to be here.”

With those thoughts, he closed by performing an original song, “Heart of the City,” about his hometown, NYC.

Art Garfunkel: ‘A big heart’
The energy in the room hit a new peak when Art Garfunkel took the stage.

“This guy is used to selling out Madison Square Garden,” said Paul Shaffer. “I don’t even know how we got him; he heard it was a benefit and it was something about buying a piano for a school and he said, ‘That’s all I need to know’.”

“I turned out because the Borough of Manhattan Community College is something I want to help,” said Garfunkel, adding on a lighter note, “I know I’m supposed to be taller and I’m supposed to have hair, but this is it!”

“Me too, Art. Me too,” Shaffer joked, and the two settled in to perform their version of Ira and George Gershwin’s well-known jazz ballad, “Someone to Watch Over Me.”

Garfunkel also sang the ballad he made a permanent part of the popular culture of America, “Scarborough Fair,” lead track on the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and featured on the soundtrack to The Graduate in 1968.

Exiting, he brought the full house of mostly baby boomers to their feet, and Shaffer commented, “You don’t sound like that unless you’ve got a heart as big as this man here. And just the fact that he came down, shows the kind of heart he has—and the way he sang just now totally shows it.”

Roberta Flack: ‘The voice of an angel’
The evening closed with a performance by beloved singer/songwriter Roberta Flack, whose uniquely moving voice has been rediscovered by generation after generation since her arrival on the music scene in the 1960s.

“Talk about heart,” said Shaffer in his introduction. “She’s got a heart a mile wide and a sound as big as ‘all get out’, and her music—one after another, not only big hit songs, but songs that you listen to and say, ‘How does she know what I was feeling?’”

Performing several gently powerful songs, Roberta Flack transported the rapt audience to 1973 with her Grammy award-winning Record of the Year, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.”

Having entered Howard University at age 15 on a full scholarship for classical piano, Roberta Flack sets an impressive example for aspiring artists.

“I take a voice lesson every week and I intend to until I can’t find my way to the voice teacher’s studio,” she said in an interview before her performance.

She’s also keenly aware of the world today’s singers are entering.

“The music student today has an incredible kind of situation where they have to decide whether they want to make money or music,” she said, “but I recognize that music has to evolve—everything creative has to evolve.”

Moved by her music and what Shaffer called, “the voice of an angel,” a few men in the audience rose to lead their wives on what became, for a few moments, an impromptu dance floor on stage.

“Seeing the performers—I grew up with a lot of them so it’s magical coming back listening to them,” said Richard Kennedy, President of the Board of Directors of the BMCC/Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and Senior Director of Cushman & Wakefield.

Bill Fisse, Senior Human Resources Officer for Citi Transaction Services commented, “Said simply, I think this is a dream come true.”