Proceedings of the Harlem Children Society Internship Program 2009 Induction Ceremony

Rockefeller University, Caspary Auditorium, New York, June 30^th 2009

Discovering & Developing Talented Youth in Science & Technology

Restoring & Revitalizing Struggling Families & Communities

Harlem Children Society 2009 Program Inducts 800 students, including 400 from 150 schools from New York in hands-on Research in Science fields

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Harlem Children Society (HCS) for the past several years has been using its singular and unique ceremony to showcase the potential stars – both new and former students to initiate them the new frontiers and horizons of the sciences. Weaving and garnering some stellar HCS students from prior years – who still continue with the program, it seeks to build the dreams of magnificence in the hearts and minds in the fresh incoming students – to carefully harnessing their potential evolving them into successful scholars, in their preparation for future careers in STEM and allied fields – imbibing in them the realization of the responsibilities of true global citizens.

The Ceremony has become a unique blend uniting the fabric of the past and present – in the celebration of the future. A figment of Dr. Sat Bhattacharya, the founder, president and CEO of HCS, the celebration relies on the hypothesis that once inducted into the program the students continue to remain an intimate rubric of the HCS family. The increasing flow of students from prior years engaging in the program in several ways  - just gives credence to this assumption. He strongly believes that once the students are inducted, they forever form the fabric of the HCS family implementing change – by just becoming the change itself.

This years’ Induction was no different – holding it in one of the most beautiful auditoriums on Tuesday, June 30^th 2009 commencing at 2.30 PM, in the one of the most prestigious universities – the Rockefeller University – an oasis in the heart of New York City is a home to a plethora of Nobel Laureates and high profile research in science, medicine and mathematics. Over 800 students, including about 400 from over 150 schools from New York and elsewhere, were inducted into HCS’s premier Science, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) & and Allied Sciences Program. The student inductees, primarily high scholars’, are all from under-served, under-resourced backgrounds.  Of the HCS students located in the United States, approximately 95% are of minority representation, with 58% of them being young women.

The New York students began arriving at the magnificent spherical Caspary Auditorium at 1 pm on the bucolic verdant campus of Rockefeller University. They laughed and chatted with one another as they eagerly began the student registration process in the marble foyer before the ceremony. Once the students had completed registration, these aspiring scientists, doctors and engineers began gathering in the auditorium. 

Before the ceremony proper commenced, HCS Special Projects Coordinator, Prof. D. Jeanne Ross made announcements concerning logistics, etiquette, scheduled lecture presentations and the new HCS email system. She also announced and discussed specifics related to written accounts HCS would expect to receive from students about the Parent Orientation Meeting they had attended the week before, as well as about the Induction Ceremony that was about to take place. HCS IT staffer, Alejandro Naranjo, who walked students through instructions on submitting the papers in question, and subsequent assignments throughout the summer, followed her.

Shortly before 2.30 PM, Dr. Sat Bhattacharya and invited guests began entering the auditorium and were seated. Alejandro Naranjo approached the podium while an image from HCS’s Mexico sister site in Monterrey appeared on the large screen onstage. He explained that the New York City 2009 Induction Ceremony was being broadcast to other HCS global satellite programs, including newly added US sites in Washington, DC, and New Orleans.

The event proper opened with an exciting reprise performance by the magnificent Cardone, featuring comedy, magic and escape artistry. Having received accolade from the Henson Foundation for puppetry and magic, this talented performer was 2008’s winning entertainer on the CW network TV show, “Stylista” and had appeared at the HCS 2008 Induction Ceremony. Brought back by popular demand, his three-segment performance included swallowing razor blades, sleight of hand card tricks, and a seemingly impossible escape from a strait jacket.  Cardone immediately began involving the audience, asking if they’d like to “something “dangerous… something daring,” to which, of course, he received a thunderous “Yes!”.  He then went into an act of death-defying skill in swallowing a series of razor blades. He led into this by asking the students if they took their vitamins every day… and he added that he took his in the pure form of potassium and iron: a banana pierced with five razor blades.  “Are you ready????” With a musical backdrop, he proceeded to swallow the blades one by one, creating suspense and tension as he did so, and eventually ended by pulling them all, threaded together, from his mouth, to everyone’s amazement.  The second portion of the act was devoted to a card trick, which he narrated with a story about his earliest experiences in learning magic. Cardone then revealed a pack of playing cards and made them appear magically fanned out in his hand, repeatedly, to the delight of the crowd.

Following this segment, the students, upon cue, supplied drum rolls on their knees as Cardone produced a “Houdini Straitjacket.” He invited a young lady from the audience, HCS student, Kyunsang Palmo from the audience to assist him on the stage. Cardone then remarkably pulled a full glass of water from his jacket sleeve, and assigned the young lady the task of pouring water into his mouth whenever cued.  Kyunsang followed his instructions, and as the act proceeded, she began feeling more comfortable in the spotlight, and even began to ham it up a bit herself. Cardone then summoned HCS student, Bikelby Garcia, to help him put on the strait jacket. The performer explained to the audience that this was not a faux strait jacket, as Bikelby buckled up the jacket amid uproarious laughter erupted at the onstage trio’s pranks and pratfalls. Once Cardone was completely in the jacket, he dismissed Bikelby, and began hilariously running back and forth across the stage, meanwhile madly shimmying out of the straitjacket. “If you hear any loud clicks or pops, it’s my shoulder blade!” Periodically he ran over to Kyunsang for a sip of water through different stages of his escape act until, voilà, he was completely out. Cardone thanked Kyunsang, who took a deep bow, clearly delighting in the audience’s wild applause and laughter. The show ended with Cardone’s words to the HCS students,” I always enjoy entertaining you…. Have a wonderful Induction and a wonderful summer!”

Immediately following the opening entertainment, the audience watched a short documentary film about HCS illuminating the purpose of the program, featuring interviews with Dr. Sat Bhattacharya, HCS students and mentors in lab settings, as well as footage taken at the HCS International Street Fairs and Festivals.

At the conclusion of the film, Prof. Ross introduced Dr. Sat Bhattacharya, Founder, President and CEO of HCS, who approached the podium and made mention of his recognition “the many new and old faces” in the audience. He took a moment to acknowledge HCS staff member, Ms. Sheveen Greene, who had been instrumental in working with the summer program before, as well as having been one of Dr. Sat’s original students in the program. The audience offered their hearty applause after Dr. Sat announced that Sheveen is now pursuing her studies in the prestigious and competitive nursing graduate program at Columbia University. He then generally recognized other HCS students who had gone on to graduate programs, and had been awarded accolades and numerous scholarships.

Dr. Sat then recognized special guests in the audience, beginning with Mr. Dennis Walcott, the Deputy Mayor of Education and Community Development in New York City. The Deputy Mayor had attended the 2008 HCS Induction Ceremony, and had later invited the students to visit City Hall at the end of the summer program. Dr. Sat then introduced Mr. Curtis Taylor representing Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Malcolm Smith, who was unfortunately unable to attend because of emergency NY Senate sessions. NY Senator Liz Krueger, who was also scheduled to attend, had been prevented from doing so for the same reason.

The doctor then turned to discussing developments in the HCS program. While he alluded to the difficulties with which the organization is challenged, he also asserted that HCS is pressing on in its mission to educate. Dr. Sat then went into the notion that what students receive through the program they would earn, and they should make a promise to give back. As an example, he introduced HCS Class of 2004 student and POSSE scholarship winner, Kai Lai Poon, who had just a day before returned from working in Kenya.

Kai Lai approached the podium and announced that she is currently a junior at Franklin and Marshall College. She spoke about how, because of the HCS program, she received a full scholarship, knows how to do her own experiments, and write her own papers. Kai Lai even mentioned that she has two papers that have been published in scientific journals. She expressed her wishes to become a doctor to help the destitute, and described the dire conditions in Kenyan hospitals she had witnessed. The student stated that she planned to finish her education and return to Kenya to work there, so deep were her impressions. The program, she said, had given her not only the power to go to Kenya, but also “the power to dream.” Kai Lai closed by encouraging the HCS students to “… make the most of the program, make good connections and come back to help out. “.

Dr. Sat then took the opportunity to recognize the pillars of the organization, beginning with the HCS staff. He then led into awards presentations to other HCS “pillars” beginning with Mr. Tim Hearn, chemistry teacher at Frederick Douglass Academy. With that, he invited Mr. Hearn to the podium.

Mr. Hearn delivered a moving and genuine speech in which he immediately admitted that life had played not one, but two tricks on him in connection with Harlem Children Society’s honoring him as Teacher of the Year. First, Mr. Hearn had learned that his former student, Sheveen Greene, had been accepted and was now attending a PhD-level graduate program, i.e., the student was surpassing the master. And, second, in thinking that he would need only to prepare a five-minute speech, he soon realized that the preparation of such would require a great deal more time and thought than what had appeared at face value.

The teacher went on to discuss how he had formulated his speech ideas. Mr. Hearn drew upon Biblical verse relating to gathering and sharing the manna so as to benefit all. He applied this analogy to his teaching philosophy, saying, “…that those who have much should share with those who have less--I haven’t been able to get that out of my head these past several days. I now realize it’s the fundamental reason I have been the schoolteacher I have these past nineteen years... I look at the young people seated here, with eyes bright, smiles easily springing forth, brimming with energy and ideality, and I say to myself, “My being a schoolteacher?  It is well with my soul.”.

Further, Mr. Hearn applied the same analogy to the larger mission and good works of the Harlem Children Society. Of the society, he first commented, “I didn’t at first understand what an organization called the Harlem Children Society could have to do with affording high school students opportunities in research laboratories around the city. But nowadays I feel I do. Here I stand on a stage usually reserved for incredibly motivated, accomplished, and feted scientists--here, frequently of Nobel calibre--or otherwise highly trained, lyrical, and wonderfully-talented musicians. Here, I can’t help but feel like a child, myself.  What must the souls of these young people be feeling at this moment?”.

In connection with this discussion, Mr. Hearn acknowledged the imminent ten-year anniversary of HCS.  “Wrapping up its first decade, frankly, I am amazed--but deeply heartened--that the Harlem Children Society has made it this Far.”. He asserted in no uncertain terms that others should step up to the plate to support the organization. “Well endowed yet or not, I have no doubt that the Harlem Children Society will once again this coming year prove its worth, passing the manna to others who might yet lack.  Young people seated before me, you are accepting invitation to participate in a heady, largely sequestered, and privileged environment--The Academy.”.

Mr. Hearn’s speech then drew to a close as he encouraged and bid the students his best wishes, saying, “You will now catch a glimpse of, and be invited to be a part of, a world that I was not invited into until my senior year of college…. Precisely because you will be starting your journey so early and thus will so much lacking in manna--if you look and listen with clear eyes, keen ears, and a pure heart--those who have much manna will reveal to you where and how it can best be gathered. It’s deep in the nature of the human beast. It is the purpose of souls to do this…. So, go, young people. Gather much. Prepare yourselves for service and sharing so that those who might gather little will have no lack. How much further and broader you all might journey than I, you all setting out at dawn? Go ahead. Surpass your masters--and thereby honor them. Go! Gather the manna set before you. Equip yourselves, not just to garner the good job with that good pay--not just to gather for yourself--but to also equip yourselves to pass on to others what they might lack. Let your souls assist one another!”. As the audience approvingly applauded, Dr. Sat then presented Mr. Hearn with the HCS 2009 Teacher of the Year Award.

Dr. Sat then invited Prof. Susan Fahrenholtz, HCS’s 2008 recipient of Educator of the Year, to the podium to introduce the 2009 recipient, Mr. William Quintana. Prof. Fahrenholtz good-naturedly advised she had not prepared a speech, adding that it would be difficult to match Mr. Hearn’s powerful words. She simply and eloquently announced Mr. Quintana, the Principal of the High School for Medical Sciences in the Bronx, NY, as the recipient of the award.

Mr. Quintana began, “After listening to you, Mr. Hearn, I would like to offer you and all the educators in the New York system my commendation.”. He went on to say, that as founder of a 6-12 grade school in one of the most challenged and under-resourced neighborhoods in the Bronx, he was proud to acknowledge the many of his students before him in the audience, to whom he sent his love. 

The principal then read two letters delivered to him from two sixth-grade children that he received before this year’s 5^th commencement ceremony. “This is my first year…. Anyone who comes here will be inspired to be a successful doctor. This school is like my second home.. and I think of you as the father of the house… Thank you for making this school fun, a sanctuary, and a place to be.” Mr. Quintana admitted the words had resonated with him the week, having taken him back to when he first came to the United States, “…with no English, a couple of Bachelor degrees, and a bag full of dreams.”

Mr. Quintana revisited his first experiences in the United States, and the many unskilled jobs that he had had before he could even begin to realize his dream to establish a school to foster education in medical science.  He acknowledged that he had been fortunate to have had many helping hands, but that the first step to realizing his dream required that he go back to college.

The speaker recounted how he had then obtained two Masters degrees and his teaching license, and had begun his teaching career on the Lower East Side. During that time, Mr. Quintana submitted his proposal, against all odds, to establish a school in the Bronx dedicated to math and science. Despite discouragement and difficulty, he persevered with the help of other dedicated individuals, who together launched a massive grass-roots campaign to recruit the students necessary to get the ball rolling. As a result of those efforts, Mr. Quintana was able to proudly report the many successes and scholarships awarded to his school’s graduates, some of whom were present.

“But, nothing happens in isolation…. And without the support, the faith, and the cooperation of organizations such as Harlem Children Society, with Dr. Sat heading that organization (sic) and coming to our school and recruiting kids in numbers year after year, you have had the opportunity to be exposed to high levels of science… and Dr. Sat, your work will not be ever forgotten, and all the seeds that you have planted will reproduce generation after generation…. and they will continue the work that you began….. For that, our school will always be in debt, and our loyalty and gratitude will reside with you.“ Mr. Quintana then thanked all of the students and faculty who had made the award possible.

Dr. Sat then approached the podium, and introduced Dr. Thomas Brennan, Professor and Chair of the Bronx Community College Chemistry Department, as the 2009 Mentor of the Year recipient. Dr. Brennan began by saying that HCS had come into his life four years earlier, and that he had mentored students in Bioinformatics and Forensics since that time.

Dr. Brennan launched into his personal story, as it intersected with those of the previous speakers. He recounted his humble beginnings in the South Bronx, and how he had not necessarily imagined himself going to college. But, with the help and support of educators, he had received a full scholarship to Iona College, where he had been involved in boxing as well as his science studies. From there, Dr. Brennan went on to pursue a Masters degree at Columbia, and a PhD at SUNY, Post Doc work at Buffalo in Pharmaceutics, and more research at University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Northwestern. Further down the road, Dr. Brennan decided he needed to stay with his first love: teaching. So, he had returned to the South Bronx 12 years ago, and the rest was history.

Prof. Brennan went into his work and programs that have developed during his tenure at Bronx Community College, and have been supported by such organizations as NSF. He asked for a show of student hands who would be reporting to him to begin their internships in Bioinformatics and Forensics this summer, and closed by welcoming them as they embarked upon their summer work with him. Dr. Sat then returned to the podium to present the HCS 2009 Mentor of the Year award to Dr. Brennan. 

Following, Dr. Sat introduced “an ardent supporter” of the HCS program, Ms. Pat Goldman of the Butler Foundation, as the HCS 2009 Community Member of the Year award. He acknowledged her for suggesting that HCS partner with the Summer Youth Employment Program to help the organization weather the economic storm.

Ms. Butler approached the podium and asserted that, “It’s not easy to give away money. It takes a lot of looking and talking to identify organizations that produce.”. In an emotionally charged speech, she recounted how she had initially spoken to Dr. Sat via telephone, but actually had met him at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at a time when her husband had been undergoing tests for serious cancer. “Dr. Sat came and sat with me through all this testing one afternoon… And what I would say to you that it’s the humanity in people that really is needed.  Whether you become a researcher, a scientist, a doctor, don’t lose that compassion to talk to people when they’re hurting or need help… because reaching out to another human being is the greatest gift of all…. And so that’s what he’s doing to you right now… and your gift back to him would be to carry that forward… Make the best of this experience!”  Dr. Sat then presented Ms. Goldman with the award.  Dr. Sat then added to Ms. Goldman’s comments, saying that it’s a fine thing to go to university for education, but “…ultimately to give back and touch someone else is what you should be looking for.”. 

The HCS President then introduced special guest speakers, Dr. Estomih Mtui, Director of Anatomy and Physiology and Hospital for Special Surgery at Cornell University School of Medicine, and his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Mtui, the first woman Engineering graduate in Tanzania, to come to the podium. Dr. Mtui addressed the students with his wise words, saying that he had seen the program grow in measured dimensions during the time of his affiliation with it. He commented on his background and training in Tanzania, and his family’s subsequent move to New York City.

Dr. Mtui echoed the theme of giving back, speaking of his concern and work supporting underprivileged children in Tanzania. He advised the students, “When you accomplish this journey, look back where you came from.” Mrs. Mtui recounted a bit of her own history in the context of being a female pioneer in the study of Engineering. Though it was difficult, because she had to fight the mentality that “…men never thought that women could be engineers,” she recounted that she had nonetheless received a scholarship from a Swedish organization dedicated to women’s education, and went on to pursue her degree. She concluded, underscoring her husband’s words, “We need to do a lot more for minority students.”.

Dr. Sat then returned to the podium to commence with the official Induction Ceremony. He first acknowledged and asked the students of HCS Class of 2004 to stand. As the groups were introduced in consecutive class years, those students who had gone on to university were asked to announce the institution they were attending, and those students who had received awards were asked to announce them, as well. Their HCS peers gradually joined the beaming students already standing until all were finally standing.

The HCS President concluded the HCS 2009 Induction Ceremony with his remarks, and the event was adjourned. The ceremony had marked the effective launching of HCS students into an exciting summer program of hands-on science research under the guidance of their Mentors’ steady hands. The HCS thus began its careful harnessing its student’s potential to evolve them into successful scholars, and their preparation for future careers in STEM and allied fields imbibing in them the responsibility as true global citizens.

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