Kevin Cervantes H’21 Completes Internship at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution

After being the Artist in Residence at the Intercultural Affairs Center, Kevin learned more about art at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.. Selected as one of six Katzenberger Foundation interns, Cervantes lead the project What Am I to Look At: Developing New Tools for Interpreting Contemporary Art. His project focused on working with youth and adult groups to help them understand three deeply conceptual artworks. As Kevin works towards developing an inclusive museum, Kevin learned what techniques museum educators use to help the general audience understand and interact with complex artworks.

During his internship, Cervantes developed and led StoryTime events to help young children look at art and connect artwork to larger themes and Hirshhorn Shuffle where museum-goers listen to music purposefully paired with select artworks.  Furthermore, Kevin assisted with the Check It Out cart for children attending the museum.

Kevin also visited different Smithsonian institutions to get a sense of what other museums where doing to increase accessibility. Kevin says; “This is a great moment to be doing museum work. Museum institutions, like the Smithsonian are questioning their practices and roles and working diligently to bring new marginalized and underrepresented communities into the museum. Seeing ASL interpreters at StoryTime programming for children was beautiful.”

Kevin is grateful for his experience at the Hirshhorn and is excited to bring what he’s learned to the Davis Gallery on the HWS campus and other museum institutions. Kevin is indebted to Alejandra Molina, the Director of the Intercultural Affairs Center and Jack Harris, Sociology Professor and Academic Advisor,  for their constant support and motivation.

Kevin will be leading a Fireside Chat titled; Round and Round, all Around: Being a Public Programming + Education Department intern at the Hirshhorn, Smithsonian Institution in early September.

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Neil Jaico ’15 the New Coordinator in Marymount Manhattan College

Neil Jaico H’15 who is the current councilor and coordinator for the HEOP Program in Marymount Manhattan College had just completed his first year! Similar to the program in our colleges, The Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) at Marymount Manhattan College provides supportive services to all incoming pre-freshman and continuing students enrolled in the program. Supportive services include academic, career, financial aid, and social services counseling, tutorial services, specialized academic workshops, and a pre-freshman summer program.

“I’ve completed my first summer academic institute program as a HEOP Counselor! It was an extremely rewarding experience that has taught me so much about myself and how to properly guide a student depending on their needs. This experience has reinstalled within me another sense of gratitude that I have towards HEOP and IC HWS –they truly “saved” me and I look forward to the good work – as well as challenges – during my time working for the Higher Education Opportunity Program.”

Featured below is a picture of Neil Jaico & Harmony Cross, director of HEOP Program, with their HEOP students.

Rosemary’21 Pursues Fellowship with DCTV

Rosemary Colon-Martinez WS’21 had a transforming summer working with DCTV, a media arts center. Their mission is to foster diverse viewpoints by providing an outstanding media arts education to underserved populations and by creating outstanding documentary productions, with the belief that diversity of expression strengthens our civil society.  She had a chav to work with a team to create a film and showcase her animation skills.

“In my sophomore Spring semester at HWS, I took a MDSC class with Professor Žigelytė, who pinpointed the creativity I poured into my final project. Because of Professor Žigelytė sharing my work throughout the network of fellow creatives she knew, she encountered an opportunity  for me shared by Professor Jimenez—A fellowship at DCTV in NYC. I applied to that program with a fear of rejection, but I held onto the subtle reassurance that my destiny features a destination full of success. Later when I found out I’ve been accepted, that subtle reassurance transformed into a strong conformation with thanks to the month I spent at DCTV.

I was warned that this program would be jam packed full of quick-paced film education. My group full of fellow college students, we had exactly four weeks to make a 10 minute film. In that time, I wrote the film’s script and directed scenes, learned how to work with professional cameras and edit with Premiere Pro, and I received tons of information on the foundations of making a film from my teacher, Director Jamal Hodge. My own hand drawn art and animations were also included in the show!

“There are many available youth and college programs available year round at DCTV’s website. It’s an experience that truly changed my life and officially set a course into the rest my life that is bound to be nothing short of amazing,” states Rosemary ’21.

Check out the short film that she created!

 

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Farewell Reception for Summer Institute Students!

Five weeks have went by, and now the HEOP students are finally done with the Summer Institute! A farewell reception was thrown for them in the Faculty Dining Room, where they were served h’dourves, some light refreshments and a hearty dinner. Students gathered around tables to converse among one another and reflect back on their time here. PMAs were also chatting among them, cracking jokes and taking pictures.

Jess Ramtahal WS’20, their Peer Mentor Advisor, gave an inspiring speech with raw honesty . My favorite line that stood out to me: “Odds against me, I am here.”

Fatou Dhiokane and Felix Beltre were two students who also gave a speech as SI Student Reflections.

Fatou wrote an elegant speech thanking everyone who was involved in their personal and academic growth, giving credit to her professors, writing colleagues and peer mentor advisors. “After we go on through out perspective majors, respective athletic teams, I urge you to remember this summer and our HEOP family at large as a tree. while our branches are bound to grow in separate directions, our roots will always remain the same… I cannot wait to see what these next four years have in store for us,” states Fatou.

Felix’s speech was sprinkled with witty comments, shout outs and of course, plenty of memories; “I feel like I’ve known this group for much longer than five weeks. We have made a lot of memories in a small window of time. Memories of water balloon fights, times when we were in the lounge of the IC, times we have sat together in Saga and prayed to be fine after each meal. We have an amazing group of people, I am sure we are going to be just fine for the next four years,” Felix concluded.

This heartwarming reception ended on a high note of a funny video montage exposing students and PMAs, as well as a award ceremony. While it is good bye for now, we will be reunited once again when the school year starts.

Thank you again to Molina, Ms. Wormley, Mr. Burruto, Chaplain Byrd, Ms. DiLeo, professors, PMAs, writing colleagues an everyone involved (the list can go on forever) that made this program happen!

 

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Delirious Dancing with Edissa Weeks this Semester!

Edisa Weeks is a Brooklyn, NY based choreographer, educator and director of DELIRIOUS Dances. Weeks creates intimate environments that merge theater with dance. Edisa Weeks and DELIRIOUS have received awards from Artists International, The Brooklyn Arts Council, Dixon Place, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, New Music USA – Live Music for Dance, New York Foundation for the Arts, The Puffin Foundation, as well as choreographic residencies at Djerassi, Joyce SoHo, the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and The Yard.

“I write to let you know of a marvelous opportunity you may wish to take advantage of in your fall, 2019 classes. Dance Department is bringing Edisa Weeks to campus three times this year as a guest artist. She will be here in August to create and rehearse with her company (open rehearsal/informal showing on August 10^th at 4:00 p.m. in Deming Dance Studio), returning in October to teach, host workshops, and involve the community in a Roots Party. We expect her to be on campus Oct 7-10, 2019.”

If you are interested, please contact Professor Cynthia Williams, Chair, Dance Department : Williams@hws.edu.

Look at her interview below to get an insight on the program!

 

We wish Rose Cherubin WS’15 the Best in her Journey beyond HWS!

Rose Cherubin ’15 was the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions and Multicultural Recruitment in the Office of Admissions, who was regionally based in New York City. After four incredible years of working with her alma mater (hired two days after graduation in 2015!), the time has come for her to say good-bye and move on to another adventure. July 31st was her last official day working for HWS.

“As a former student leader and active alumna, I am so proud to see and hear of the great strides you all have made to make the HWS experience your own. For four years, I have learned so much more about life through the perspectives of many students, and your stories have helped to influence the work I hope and plan to do in the future.  This is not a “good-bye,” but a “see you all later!”

Like many of us know, Rose has helped many students from inner cities enter the colleges – even those who weren’t planning on going to college. Her vibrant and funny personality made our day but we are most thankful for the positive impact she had on our lives. Her dedication to recruiting students, like this year’s HEOP students, to cracking jokes and making sure her outfits are on point, she is in inspiration to many who want to make a difference in the world.  Thank you for being so fearless and teaching us the value of a strong work ethic plus a positive attitude in the face of hardship!

Alejandra Molina, the director of Intercultural Affairs, states, “The home of Intercultural Affairs and HEOP are extremely grateful for her dedication to students and her great collaborative spirit! We will miss her dearly but we wish her the best!”.

Remember, this is not a good-bye rather a see you later!

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A (Postcard) Blast from the Past!

Rummaging through the IC library, Molina stumbled upon an old album filled with postcards dated back from the 70’s! From Brazil to China, the postcards illustrate the adventures of HWS students as they embark on their journey abroad. Not only that, but it also gives an insight on the history of Intercultural Affairs, as it goes through its many transformations; from being called the Office of Third World Affairs (yes, very problematic) to Office of Minority Affairs and now the The Intercultural Affairs.

Studying abroad is an amazing experience and is highly recommended – considering that we are known for our abroad programs. One of the Center for Global Education’s (CGE) prime missions is to help students make the most of the opportunities afforded by study abroad. They want you to abroad fully aware of the enormous opportunity and the potential this experience has for your  personal and professional growth. They work to send students abroad with all the necessary tools to reap these benefits.

Check out the link below if you’re interested and keep an eye out for scholarships!

https://www2.hws.edu/center-for-global-education/how-to-apply-for-semester-programs/

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“Hola desde Espana,

I hope everyone is having a great semester. I am loving Espana and Seville, the university is beautiful and the people for the most part are really nice. See you all soon! – Carolin”

March 11th, 2017

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“Hello Mike, 

I hope this letter finds you the best health and doing fine. Tell everyone I said Hello! London is a very beautiful place and I’m enjoying it very much. Take care, Gail.” 

September 24th, 1979.

 

 

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