Black History Month
St. John’s honored black heritage during Black History month this February with a series of guest lecturers, community service projects and entertainment.
The month kicked off with a day-long trip to Washington D.C. to visit the new Martin Luther King Memorial Museum. Students also had the opportunity to take a tour of the Schomburg center in Harlem.
Carolyn Peck, award-winning athlete and ESPN analyst, and Andrew Jenks, an awarding-winning filmmaker, lectured about their successes in business and sports.
Jenks lectured at Carnesecca Arena Feb. 7 and Peck presented her speech the next day.
Events for the month will conclude at the annual Black and White Ball on Saturday, Feb. 26 in the D’Angelo Center Ballroom. The event is focused on honoring all the people that helped to organize the black heritage celebrations over the month.
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Italian-American organization formed
A new student organization was formed on the Staten Island campus to honor contribution of Italian Americans living there.
The Cicolo Garibaldi Club is named for the leader that unified Italy and lived on Staten Island in the late 19th century.
The club aims to promote Italian language and culture, as well provide a scholarship program to benefit Italian-American students at St. John’s and other community members. The announcement happened on the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy and included the honorary induction of James P. Molinaro, the Staten Island Borough President and NYPD
Chief Steven Paragallo to the organization.
Professor receives $1 million grant
Professor of Psychology, Dr. Elissa Brown, recently received a 4-year $1 million federal grant to research mental health practices for multicultural communities in Queens, NY. Dr. Brown is also a the Executive Director of the PARTNERS Program at St. John’s, which is an organization that receives funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Safe Start Initiative to provide services to children and families that have been victims of domestic abuse.
