SPRING 2017 | VOL. 2 | NO. 5 SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY’S AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINO ALUMNI MAGAZINE Register online at programdevelopment.syr.edu CONTENTS Syracuse Manuscript Is Going Green! Syracuse Manuscript can be found online at programdevelopment.syr.edu Don’t miss out on issues of Syracuse Manuscript or CBT updates. Send your email address to [email protected]. CONTENTS Contents From the ’Cuse ..........................................................................2 Mirta Desir ’03 and Harold Jean-Louis ’05 ...................3 13 William J. Borras ’84 ..............................................................4 Maria Melendéz ’89 ..............................................................5 Lewis Wallace Jr. ’72 ..............................................................6 OTHC Celebrates 30th Year ..............................................8 22 OTHC List of Donors ........................................................... 10 Welcome Mark Jackson ........................................................12 Yvette Asumeng ’18 .......................................................13 Avery Callahan Jr. ’19 ....................................................13 José González ’17 ...........................................................14 16 Tatiana Hernández-Mitchell ’20 ..................................14 Alexus Martin ’18 ...........................................................15 4 8 Cueva Funds Orange Grove Landmark .....................16 CBT Student Co-Chairs Selected ..................................... 17 MacDonald and Mayes Honored as Trailblazers ....18 Our Supporters Make First-Ever Online Campaign a Success .........................................18 Program Development Launches 19 Shades of Orange E-Newsletter .................................19 SU Protests Immigration Policies ................................19 Alexis Peterson ’17 .........................................................20 In Memoriam .......................................................................... 21 17 CBT Registration Form ..................................................23 ON THE COVER: OTHC Scholars Sarah Valenzuela ’16 and Anthony Herbert ’15 with donor Charlie Lester ’81 during the CBT 2014 reunion celebration. Syracuse Manuscript Is Going Green! RACHEL VASSEL, Assistant Vice President, Program Development Syracuse Manuscript can be found online at MARK JACKSON, Executive Director, Program Development ANGELA MORALES-PATTERSON, Assistant Director, Alumni and Donor Engagement SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY’S AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINO ALUMNI MAGAZINE programdevelopment.syr.edu SUSAN C. BLANCA, Administrative Specialist Office of Program Development Syracuse University WRITER/EDITOR: Renée Gearhart Levy 900 South Crouse Ave 420 Crouse-Hinds Hall EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE: George Bain Syracuse NY 13244-5040 DESIGN: W. Michael McGrath Don’t miss out on issues of Syracuse Manuscript or CBT updates. 315.443.4556 PROJECT MANAGER: Melanie Stopyra f: 315.443.5312 WEBSITE programdevelopment.syr.edu Send your email address to [email protected]. Opinions expressed in Syracuse Manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily EMAIL [email protected] represent the opinions of its editors or the policies of Syracuse University. SPRING 2017 | 1 FROM THE ’CUSE Get Excited About CBT 2017 reetings! I hope the New Year has been productive for you. Here in the Office of Program Development, G we’re looking forward to your visit in the fall and working hard to create a Coming Back Together (CBT) reunion weekend that will exceed your expectations! First, we are honored to have Dave Bing ’66 as our keynote speaker for the CBT Gala on Saturday, September 16. He has been a longtime supporter of the University, our office, and CBT, and it will be wonderful to hear his rich life lessons. Since Dave’s days as a student-athlete at SU, he has been a professional basketball player, businessman, politician, and community leader. Dave has certainly kept busy over the years, yet he has always made time for philanthropy. We appreciate him as one of the initial donors to the Our Time Has Come endowment for black and Latino students at Syracuse, a legacy that keeps on giving. The stories of the OTHC scholars in this issue prove that giving to the fund is literally life changing. We look forward to seeing many of you during the various pre-CBT receptions across the country this spring. If you haven’t registered for CBT yet, please do so at programdevelopment.syr.edu. The early bird rate of $215 ($150 for Generation Orange) will be available until April 30. This fee includes virtually all of the reunion weekend’s activities, including the CBT Gala, concert, tailgate, game, and receptions. What a deal! Our office is growing! I can’t wait for you to meet Mark Jackson, our new executive director, who is focused on Program Development operations and partnerships that will make us more efficient and further our efforts. And for the first time, we’re looking for a director of development who will help us uncover the donors who want to make an impact, like our friend Zhamyr “Sammy” Cueva ’93, featured in this issue. And Angela Morales-Patterson and Susan Blanca continue to have great passion for our work and much love for all of you. Since joining the staff at Syracuse, I’ve spoken with many of you about ways that you’d like to support our beloved alma mater with your time, talent, and treasure. Several of you have passed along tremendous ideas and suggestions that will make us better. I encourage you to keep those ideas coming, because we’re listening. If you’ve never been involved or made a gift before, now is a great time. If you’ve been involved, but want to engage in a different way, please let us know. This is a new beginning with lots of great opportunities that will require your ongoing support and input to become reality. I can be reached at [email protected] whenever you’d like to connect. My team and I continue to be inspired by you—our talented alumni and students of color. Let’s continue to support one another, stay connected, and give back to those students who need a helping hand. The best is yet to come! With Orange Love, Rachel Vassel ’91 Assistant Vice President, Office of Program Development \ 2 | SYRACUSE MANUSCRIPT ALUMNIprofile: Mirta Desir ’03 and Harold Jean-Louis ’05 Language for Little Learners orn in Haiti, Mirta Desir ’03 was 6 when she joined her parents in Florida, where she Bstruggled in school to learn English. “My ESOL (English for Speakers of was determined that her daughter be in startup funds to launch Smart Coos, Other Languages) teacher spoke to me in multilingual. And because of her own but were also selected to participate in English, read to me in English, and helped experience, she wanted to take advantage 4.0 Schools, a unique nonprofit education me write in English,” recalls Desir. “I was of the golden window for language innovation lab based in New Orleans that desperate to understand her, but I didn’t absorption between birth and age 5. But trains entrepreneurs to build breakthrough speak English.” Desir didn’t speak Spanish or Mandarin solutions in education. Desir’s breakthrough came when a herself and couldn’t find a bilingual “It was a great opportunity. We bilingual Haitian Creole- and English- instructor to teach her baby. developed skill sets that positioned us as speaking instructor came to her home to Instead Desir, a civil rights attorney, a sustainable company,” says Jean-Louis, teach sign language to her younger brother, created her own solution. Smart Coos is adding that his accounting background and who is deaf. “I sat in on his language an Internet-based language immersion Desir’s legal expertise were also a big plus. sessions and was out of ESOL in one year.” program that provides live language Smart Coos was launched with two focus When Desir’s first child was born, she classes in sign language, Mandarin, areas: a consumer product for parents to French, Spanish, and English, among other use with their children, and a school-based languages, aimed at children from ages 3 language instruction program specifically months to 13 years, as well as resources geared toward ESL learners. Currently, to help maintain the language, such as text Smart Coos is partnering with school nudges and multilingual books. districts in New York. Looking for a partner to launch this Desir and Jean-Louis have benefitted new business venture, Desir immediately from good publicity, having been featured thought of her Syracuse University friend in both Essence and American Airlines Harold Jean-Louis ’05, who is also of magazines. But they say the best publicity Haitian descent. “I grew up in New York has been the referral of users, both City schools, where a lot of kids grow up consumers and school districts. speaking their parent’s native language “One of the challenges teachers have is at home and have a tough time the disconnect in trying to communicate when they get to school. I grew up with parents who don’t speak English well,” speaking Creole and got put in an says Jean-Louis. To assist, they created a ESL program myself, so I could text-messaging program that translates see there was a big need for text messages from teachers to parents, this,” says Jean-Louis, who and vice versa, in whatever language is was working at a CPA selected. “We’ve found that it really helps firm at the time. close the communication gap.” Pitching their Desir says their personal experiences idea to various make her and Jean-Louis well suited