Mercy College team wins competition
Mercy College’s United Nations Team has earned the Distinguished Delegation Award at the Model United Nations Competition. The award was received by the Haiti Delegation for their work at the National Model United Nations, which took place in April.
This is the second-highest honor based on the performance of the delegations. Composed of students from the international organization course, the team was led by Michiko Kuroda, who worked at the U.N. for 30 years and now teaches the model U.N. class at Mercy.
Kuroda said, “I was amazed to see the transformation of students at the conference. Everybody was so motivated to work hard. Nobody wanted to give up, and it paid off.”
New banquet planner
Tarrytown House Estate on the Hudson, by Destination Hotels & Resorts, has appointed Antonio Martinez of New Rochelle as its new banquet planner.
“As a highly experienced event planner, Antonio is a welcome addition to Tarrytown House Estate,” said Jamieson Asselta, director of sales. “We are confident that his background in managing and overseeing special events will help us grow our distinguished reputation as one of the region’s most desired destination for weddings, corporate gatherings and other celebrations.”
As part of his new responsibilities, Martinez will plan, coordinate and supervise activities of the catering department and will communicate directly with clients.
Prior to Tarrytown House, Martinez held several positions at The Fountainhead in New Rochelle, including waiter, waitstaff captain, administrative assistant and event maître d.’ He also worked at Open Skies Hospitality in New York City as corporate event server and bartender, and has received certifications from Training for Intervention Procedures and the Academy of Professional Bartending in New Rochelle.
Sanders elected to new post
Hospitality Resource Group Inc. (HRG) founder and Chairman Robert Sanders has been elected president of the Greater New York Metro chapter of MPI (Meeting Planners International).
Sanders served as vice president of membership for MPIGNY since 2012. As president-elect he will serve on the executive committee of the board of directors and play an active role in setting the strategy and vision for one of the 10 largest MPI chapters in the world.
MPIGNY has more than 600 members, representing more than $790 million in annual spending on events and meetings, promotions of the meeting industry and exposing members to the latest industry news, information, and trends from educational programming and networking events.
Super lawyers listed
Jon A. Dorf, Jonathan B. Nelson and Daniel R. Alcott, three partners from Dorf & Nelson L.L.P. in Rye, were selected for inclusion on the list of the “2014 New York Metro Super Lawyers” list. Dorf was selected for the business corporate practice, Nelson for the business litigation practice and Alcott for the nonprofit practice.
Kiwanis Club honors nurses
Elizabeth Almanzar, a nurse at The Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center, and Blanca Rodriguez, a nurse at the John A. Coleman School, both in Yonkers, were recognized as recipients of the 2014 East Yonkers Kiwanis Club Nurse Recognition Award during a ceremony that was held at the Riverview in Hastings-on-Hudson.
Almanzar has been a nurse at the pediatric center for 13 years specializing in pediatric long-term care, pulmonology and caring for ventilator-assisted pediatric patients. She was one of the first nurses to be trained and assigned as a primary care nurse to medically complex ventilator-dependent children when the pediatric center first launched the program in 2006.
Rodriguez has worked as a nurse at the Yonkers campus of the John A. Coleman School for 14 years specializing in caring for children with complex medical needs and ventilator-assisted pediatric patients. She provides skilled nursing services and highly specialized care to approximately 115 students daily who have complex medical diagnoses.
The Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center is a not-for-profit, pediatric specialty nursing facility, serving children from infancy through age 21, who are among the most medically complex children in New York state.
The John A. Coleman School, with campuses in White Plains and Yonkers, provides community and center-based special education and therapeutic programs to children from birth to 21 years of age from more than 50 school districts in the metro region.
Salley joins Community Capital board
Lawrence C. Salley, chairman of the White Plains Housing Authority since 1995 and secretary of the African-American Men of Westchester, has joined Community Capital New York as a member of its board of directors.
Salley was formerly commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Transportation, and 10 years prior was the deputy commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Planning.
Community Capital is a social and economic development nonprofit in Westchester that provides finance for businesses and affordable housing in seven New York counties.
“Larry Salley was one of the founding board members of Community Capital and we’re thrilled to have him circle back around and continue to share his knowledge and expertise,” board Chairman Lee Lasberg, CEO, Lasberg Construction in Armonk said.
Over the past 25 years Community Capital New York has:
• Leveraged $362.9 million in our communities;
• Created 3107 jobs — average loan creates or retains five jobs;
• Generated $10 million in tax revenues for the region on an annual basis;
• Empowered – 81 percent of CCNY’s loans are to women and minorities;
• Provided financial education to 3,000 households;
• Assisted low-income students with a matched-savings program to cover educational expenses not included in financial aid; and
• Provided in excess of 2,000 hours of financial training annually to economically empower low- to middle-income residents.
Historical tidbits
The Westchester County Clerk has served the residents of Westchester for more than 300 years by maintaining and preserving the official documents and records of the county’s history. Four clerks served long terms in office during a time when New York state and Westchester were central to the rising tensions in the colonies under strict British Rule.
“Westchester County began to take shape during the 1700s and land documents recorded in our office at that time illustrate the county’s substantial growth,” Westchester County Clerk Timothy C. Idoni said.
Daniel Clark, a Peekskill resident, served for 11 years as county clerk from 1711 until 1722. While much is not known about Clark’s background, the house and tavern owned by John and Eliza Van Tassel was built in Tarrytown during his term. The house and tavern were made famous and used as a model for the home of one of Washington Irving’s main characters Katrina Van Tassel in the literary classic novel, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
William Forster (1722-1746 term) and Benjamin Nicoll (1746-1760 term) of Scarsdale both served very long terms in office and Nicoll is believed to have died while still in office. During Forster’s tenure, a group of Quakers settled in what eventually would be known as Chappaqua. The town of Lewisboro, formerly known as Salem, was formed during his tenure. Nicoll served during the time when the French Indian War, otherwise known as “the Seven Years’ War,” raged.
John Bartow served 16 years as clerk. He was born in Westchester in 1715, the seventh son of Rev. James Bartow who bequeathed him 60 acres of land in Barnegat, which is now a township in Ocean County, N.J. Bartow was a practicing attorney and served as surrogate judge from 1754 until 1761 and county clerk from 1760 until 1777. Bartow taught school with his brother from 1744 to 1763 and ran a mill business. In 1776, he purchased 60 acres of land in what is now known as Eastchester and sold the land in 1794. Bartow died in 1802.
WCC receives Kresge Foundation grant
The Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education (CCCIE), a national network of community colleges based at Westchester Community College, has been awarded a highly coveted $125,000 grant from The Kresge Foundation.
The grant will allow CCCIE to make plans to increase capacity, determine its core organizational priorities and integrate its expertise and immigrant education issues into broader national reform initiatives supporting the national college completion agenda. The 18-month grant period will culminate in a five-year strategic plan to guide CCCIE’s future growth and progress toward advancing college success for immigrant students.
CCCIE is focused on increasing educational opportunities for immigrant students and as part of its planning process under this new grant will engage in various activities such as strengthening its infrastructure through exploration of diversified funding and revenue streams, solidifying its collaboration with existing partners and aligning its work with other national network organizations focused on college success and workforce development initiatives.
The Kresge Foundation is a $3 billion private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grant making and investing in arts and culture, education, work in the environment, health, human services and community development efforts in Detroit. Fostering greater access to and success in postsecondary education for low-income, minority and first-generation college students is the focus of Kresge’s education grant making.
With this grant, the impact of CCCIE’s work will be far reaching,” said Teresita B. Wisell, CCCIE executive director and associate dean of Continuing Education and Workforce Development at WCC.
Information for these features has been submitted by the subjects or their delegates.
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