Macaulay Honors College at CUNY proudly announces that Garry Trudeau, the first cartoonist to win a Pulitzer Prize, will serve as the 2017 Commencement speaker. Trudeau will address Macaulay’s 500 graduates on Monday, June 12, 2017 at 3pm at the United Palace Theater in upper Manhattan.
“We are thrilled to have Garry Trudeau for this year’s commencement ceremony,” said Mary C. Pearl, Ph.D., Dean of Macaulay. “With a keen eye and sharp sense of humor, Trudeau has tackled difficult subjects ranging from mental health to military intervention to the battle lines of personal and political conflict that have challenged our society over the past 5 decades. His thoughtful approach, his sensitivity, and his deep civic engagement exemplify Macaulay’s highest ideals.”
Trudeau has provided political and social commentary through the influential, creative and accessible medium of comic strips since 1970. He is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series Alpha House. He recently completed his new book, Yuge, which covers 30 years of Donald Trump appearing in his Doonesbury cartoon strip.
Trudeau graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Fine Arts degrees.
(L-R) Stephanie Geier, Shahrin Azim, Marco Costanza, Julia D’Alessio, Arianna Injeian, Alexander Legg
Six Macaulay Honors College students from all different backgrounds and with varying interests are the 2017 William R. Kenan Scholars at Macaulay Honors College. The Kenan Scholars program was founded to enhance honors education at CUNY by sponsoring a group of outstanding Macaulay students who have demonstrated an early commitment to service and civic engagement. Students are selected in their sophomore year. The winners this year from the Class of 2019 are Stephanie Geier (Queens College), Alexander Legg (City College), Julia Marie D’Alessio (College of Staten Island), Shahrin Azim (Queens College), Marco Costanza (College of Staten Island),and Arianna Injeian (City College).
Stephanie Geier was raised in one of the most diverse areas of Queens and has lived in New York City her entire life. Stephanie is interested in a range of social justice issues, and hopes to use her journalism and communications background to advocate for them. She is pursuing a double major in Political Science and Media Studies, as well as a certificate in Public Policy. Stephanie is specifically interested in criminal justice policy, due to her time interning at a reentry organization called The Fortune Society. She is currently a Social Media intern at The New American Leaders Project, and hopes to pursue a career in communications, public policy, or a combination of both.
Alexander Legg grew up in a small town called Delhi, New York which was named after the capital territory of India, though 92 percent of its residents are white. When it was time for him to apply to college, New York City was the escape he had on his mind. New York City offered Alexander a chance to be surrounded by a large number of eclectic peoples, and was a place that was tolerant and offered a chance at growth. At City College, Alexander is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Women’s Studies on the pre-med track. When Alexander isn’t studying organic chemistry or cognitive psychology, you can find him running along the West Side Highway. He hopes to attend medical school in New York City, and one day provide health care to marginalized and underserved communities.
Julia Marie D’Alessio describes herself as an innovative, strong, confident, compassionate, and enthusiastic woman with a strong drive and determination. Julia has been involved in community service since a young age, dedicating between 100-200 hours a year in service throughout her high school career. She is also a Nursing major with American Sign Language Minor with a goal of becoming a Nurse Practitioner, assisting those who are hearing impaired. She strives to be able to use her American Sign Language skills with the deaf community to ensure they have proper health services without a language barrier. Julia is also passionate about the importance of mental health in college age students and works effortlessly to bring awareness to the vital importance of maintaining good mental health, and plans to pursue this passion during her time as a Kenan Scholar.
Shahrin Azim is a Bangladeshi immigrant who came to New York at the age of 3. Living in Queens has helped foster her appreciation and curiosity for different cultures. Not only is she interested in medicine, but she also calls herself a lurking activist who speaks up for women’s rights with the non-profit organization International Muslim Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (I’M WISE). At Queens College, Shahrin is pursuing a B.A. in Neuroscience/Biology with a minor in Environmental Studies. She also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, aiding the housing crisis in New York. Shahrin wants to become a doctor and travel the world with Doctors Without Borders, but for now, she is just trying to make New York a safer place, and to empower young Muslim women.
Born and raised in New York to two immigrant parents from opposite sides of the world, Marco Costanza developed an interest for learning about the intersection of race and cultural ethnicity in healthcare. At the College of Staten Island, Marco is pursuing a dual degree in Psychology and Spanish on the pre-med track. In doing so, he aspires to integrate knowledge of human behavior, cognition, cross cultural perspective, and language in medicine. Over the past three years, Marco has held roles as a researcher and medical assistant at a local pediatric practice. Leveraging his clinical experience and public service with scholarship, he is currently researching the effects of income inequality in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods on cardiovascular health, mental health, and hospital re-admission. Marco is also currently a 2016 America Needs You Fellow.
Arianna Injeian is from Nyack, NY, a river town in Rockland County. Before attending the City College of New York, Arianna pursued her interest in mental health by participating in her high school’s Science Research course. During the summer of 2014, Arianna worked in an HIV/AIDS children’s clinic in Nepal, assisting with tasks such as nutrition and medication administration, as well as leading outreach programs to promote awareness of HIV and provide resources and information about the disease. A medical anthropology major on the pre-medicine track, she is primarily interested in infectious disease, women’s health, and mental health. Her goal is to obtain an MD/PhD and work for Doctors Without Borders, ideally in Latin America. She believes that in addition to having a strong foundation in science, it is important to learn about the cultures and backgrounds of the patients that a doctor is treating.
Chelsea Batista Photo courtesy of Brooklyn College/David Rozenblyum
For Chelsea Batista, ’17 (Brooklyn College) the goal was to get accepted to at least one medical school. She had applied to quite a few, aiming high, but with modest expectations. In the past few weeks, the Brooklyn College senior so far has received acceptance letters from 11 medical schools, and she’s still reeling.
“When the first acceptance came in from SUNY Downstate, I thought, ‘Thank goodness, at least now I know I’m going to medical school no matter what.’ But then a few weeks later, more started coming in and I didn’t expect it to be so great. With all that hard work I put in, studying all night—it was all worth it.”
Chelsea has received acceptances from Albert Einstein, Columbia, Weill Cornell, Drexel, Hofstra, Howard, Mount Sinai, New York University, SUNYs Downstate and Stony Brook, and Tufts. She has been awarded full tuition scholarships at four of the schools that have accepted her–including Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, which she has decided to attend. The school is also paying her room and board.
“I am most proud of achieving my goal I’ve been working towards for so long and becoming a role model for my younger siblings and my little cousins. My accomplishments have opened them up to the many careers they could pursue, no matter their background. Because of what I’ve done, they no longer look at being a doctor or lawyer or engineer as a pipedream, but a possibility.”
Chelsea’s roots are humble. She is the daughter of parents who immigrated from the Dominican Republic. Academically, her parents had set the achievement bar quite high.
“Both of my parents immigrated to New York from different parts of the DR: my mom from La Villa Alta Gracia and my dad from La Vega. They grew up in large, low income families and yet both managed to become the first in their families to get college degrees. My mom is one of the directors of the College NOW program at Kingsborough Community College and my dad was an NYPD detective.”
As a result, Chelsea says that she and her four siblings all dream big—with goals of becoming either a doctor, an engineer, a video game designer or president of the United States. While at Macaulay, the Brooklyn Tech HS graduate also broadened her interests beyond the classroom (including being on the Dean’s List). Through her work as head of the Philanthropy Committee in her sorority, Chelsea has hosted Breast Cancer Awareness workshops. She also was a SPARK Mentor, where she worked to raise awareness in the young adult community by promoting anti-drug, anti-alcohol and substance abuse practices and prevention measures.
“I believe that if you want to invest in something, you should invest in people. I have invested a lot in the people around me and what I have gained from[that] is part of the reason I have accomplished as much as I have today.”
Chelsea majored in Biology but still has found time for lighter fare. In her spare time, she says she always has been an avid reader and is actually working on writing a fantasy fiction novel. “I’ve decided time was never going to find me, so I found the time. It’s probably my favorite way to pass the time, besides reading.”
A significant part of her achievement at Macaulay is a result of the community of high achievers who have inspired her.
“The friends I’ve made and the people I’ve met through Macaulay are kind and supportive and ambitious—exactly the kind of people I love to have around me because we all motivate each other. No matter the major or the accomplishment, we all encourage each other to continue to be as amazing as we strive to be. It was by far the best part of the experience for me, because it made my college experience worthwhile.”
Chelsea is next looking forward to beginning her first year of medical school at Columbia, and meeting “other brilliant and wonderful people, like the other students I’ve met at Macaulay and at Brooklyn College.”
For the third month in a row, a student from Macaulay Honors College has been designated a CUNY Scholar-Athlete of the month. Timothy Sweeney, ’17 (College of Staten Island) is the CUNYAC-Hospital for Special Surgery Scholar-Athlete of the Month for February. The senior from Staten Island, NY has accumulated a 3.86 GPA while majoring in Math and minoring in both Finance and Geography. Sweeney had an outstanding month of February for the Dolphins, beginning the month at the CUNYAC Swimming and Diving Championships where he earned his third CUNYAC Championship MVP in a row. He scored 48 individual points throughout the weekend, and earned six gold medals. In the process, Sweeney broke two more individual records in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly at this year’s meet, giving the senior six career CUNYAC Championship records.
Lindsey Pero, ’17 (Hunter), majoring in English with a minor in Media Studies, was the CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month for January 2017. Pero is a four-time CUNYAC Women’s swimming and Diving All-Star, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and working to become a teacher after graduation.
Naomi Gaggi ’17 (CSI) was named the CUNYAC Scholar-Athlete of the Month for December 2016. The senior from Brooklyn, NY earned a 3.9 GPA as a Psychology major with a concentration in Neuroscience and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Gaggi was also a Goldwater Scholarship finalist last year. The Dolphins’ distance swimmer earned 10 first place finishes and a total of 24 podium finishes in the month of December alone.
Macaulay Honors College is proud to rename its popular student study area The Joseph M. Schor Reading Room in honor of Dr. Schor’s deep and abiding love of books and reading. His widow, Professor Laura Schor, was the founding Dean of Macaulay.
