BRONX PREP TIMES June 14, 2014 Bronx Prep Times 2014 ALUMNI PINNING CEREMONY June 14 th marked Bronx Prep’s first Alumni Day filled with various workshops and professional opportunities. The day began with an essay workshop geared to help our rising seniors edit their college admissions essays. Alumni, Diana Merino (09’), Thomas Sosa (12’), Jekia Brockman (13’), Marissa Charlemagne (12’) and Melanie Nyarko (13’) came out to support Bronx Prep’s future graduating class of 2015! Mrs. Tara Almonte, a beloved former staff member of BP also came out to help in making our college essay workshop a success. A sincere thank you to all of our volunteers. The next workshop of the day was the Young Men of Color Achievement Panel led by alumni Quintin Price (07’) and Thomas Sosa (12’). The task of the panel was to define what our young men identify success to be and how we, as a community, can support them in achieving their goals. The central takeaway of this conversation was the implementation of more community service involvement to motivate our young men to do more. The dilemma was, how do we get them to be intrinsically motivated to give back? All in all, a great conversation! During the course of the day, Alumni had the opportunity to have their photos professionally taken by photographer Elliott Ashby and our entrepreneurs set up tables to sell products and goods. Esther Peña (14’) sold her Exotic Cupcakes and Johnny Menzies (07’) of Menzies International promoted his Amway business and gave away free products and samples. Also present was the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC ). Representative Andrea Kramar and Jonathan Morales from Parsons The New School for Design, came out to promote Fashion Career Week where students will have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at top fashion firms and network with hiring managers. Alumni in Action! by Jessica Powell Need cupcakes for an event? Contact BP alumna Esther Peña at [email protected]. Space is filling up fast! Complete your registration today!
Transcript
BRONX PREP TIMES June 14, 2014
Bronx Prep Times
2014
ALUMNI PINNING CEREMONY
June 14th
marked Bronx Prep’s first Alumni Day filled with various workshops and professional opportunities. The day began with an essay workshop geared to help our rising seniors edit their college admissions essays. Alumni, Diana Merino (09’), Thomas Sosa (12’), Jekia Brockman (13’), Marissa Charlemagne (12’) and Melanie Nyarko (13’) came out to support Bronx Prep’s future graduating class of 2015! Mrs. Tara Almonte, a beloved former staff member of BP also came out to help in making our college essay workshop a success. A sincere thank you to all of our volunteers.
The next workshop of the day was the Young Men of Color Achievement Panel led by alumni Quintin Price (07’) and Thomas Sosa (12’). The task of the panel was to define what our young men identify success to be and how we, as a community, can support them in achieving their goals. The central takeaway of this conversation was the implementation of more community service involvement to motivate our young men to do more. The dilemma was, how do we get them to be intrinsically motivated to give back? All in all, a great conversation!
During the course of the day, Alumni had the opportunity to have their photos
professionally taken by photographer Elliott Ashby and our entrepreneurs set up tables to sell products and goods. Esther Peña (14’) sold her Exotic Cupcakes and Johnny Menzies (07’) of Menzies International promoted his Amway business and gave away free products and samples.
Also present was the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). Representative Andrea Kramar and Jonathan Morales from Parsons The New School for Design, came out to promote Fashion Career Week where students will have the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at top fashion firms and network with hiring managers.
Alumni in Action! by Jessica Powell
Need cupcakes for an event? Contact BP alumna Esther Peña at [email protected].
It was quite an honor to have Doug Melville come out to speak to Bronx Prep alumni about how to be successful entrepreneurs. This wasn’t a lecture or a conference but an inspirational talk about how Doug turned adversity into opportunity.
A Syracuse University graduate, Doug’s first job was driving the Oscar Mayer Weiner mobile. This job equipped him with the necessary tools and experience that would lay the ground work for all of his later achieved accomplishments.
Doug, undoubtedly, has charm and charisma and knows how to speak to people but one
audience member asked, “…but what if I’m shy?” Doug replied with, start
building your LinkedIn network. Connecting with potential employers over the world’s largest professional network is not a bad idea.
Take away points from Doug Melville’s talk
You pay for what you don’t know!
Be Yourself!
Focus on doing one thing well
Support women and minority own businesses
Digital Breadcrumbs
For more information about Doug Melville visit his website ThinkBigPeriod.com and connect with him on LinkedIn!
Read Doug’s Bronx Prep Tweet!
Doug Melville Talks Success!
Doug Melville, Chief Diversity Chair, North America for TBWA\Worldwide with Bronx Prep Alumni
2 new members join Linked in approximately every second!
LinkedIn has over 300 million users!
SHOUT OUT BOARD!
Shout out to Ms. Sonia Reid for coming out to support Alumni Day!
Shout out to Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Roberts for helping with decorations and last minute details!
Shout out to Diana Merino and Johnny Menzies who came for the first event and stayed until the very last!
Shout out to Marissa Charlemagne, Melanie Nyarko, Cheyenne Clardy and Samantha Fernandez for continually coming out to support alumni events!
Shout out to ALL the students who were committed to bettering themselves and helping others in the spirit of Alumni Day!
The evening was pleasantly capped off with a pinning ceremony honoring BP alumni who have graduated from certificate and degree granting programs. Since the first graduating class of 2007, there have been over 60 alumni who have completed degrees.
It was an absolute pleasure and an honor to have Bronx Prep’s founder, Kristin Kearns-Jordan, be a part of this ceremony. Once she entered the room full of middle-schoolers she used to know, expressions of joy and amazement surfaced as she began recognizing the beautiful young adults before her.
Johnny Menzies of Bronx Prep’s graduating class of 2007 was our guest alumni speaker. He spoke of how, if it weren’t for Kristin’s dream, he and many others would not be where they are today. Johnny’s speech was motivating and as he spoke to alumni, he drew from his own personal experiences as a youth and the positive impact Bronx Prep has had on is life.
In the spirit of motivation and success, Johnny ordered copies of the book The Magic of Thinking Big, to gift to alumni. Over 6 million copies have been sold and a summary of the book reads “…you don't need to be an intellectual or have innate talent to attain great success and satisfaction, but you do need to learn and understand the habit of thinking and behaving in ways that will get you there.” If you’d like a free copy of this book, click here (quantities are limited).
Bronx Prep’s
1st
College Graduate Pinning
Ceremony!
“We are powerful as an alumni network”
-Johnny Menzies, Class of 2007
Alumni Video Extended Cut
If you could not make it out to claim your pin, fill out this form
and it will be mailed to you. A complete list of all honorees
