Community
Nursing majors talk heart health with Newburgh students
It’s never too early to start down a heart healthy path.
Photos provided
Nursing majors from the Mount’s Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) program recently modeled healthy heart habits for the students of Nora Cronin Presentation Academy (NCPA) and San Miguel Academy (SMA) in Newburgh.
In addition to a discussion on how to keep one’s heart in great condition, the lesson included activities related to vital signs and measuring pulses. The students of NCPA and SMA were also gifted a stethoscope on behalf of the Mount’s School of Nursing.
The visits were coordinated and attended by Irene Belen-Jones, assistant director for Nursing Workforce Diversity; and Kaitlin Pevny, NWD Program Coordinator.
The Mount Nursing mentors at Nora Cronin were Melissa Diaz of Middletown, N.Y.; Melissa Suddoth of Wappingers Falls, N.Y.; Gwendolyn Johnson of Pleasant Valley, N.Y.; and Myasia Williams of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The Mount mentors at San Miguel were Amahl Cotterell and Nicholas Cioce, both from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
NCPA is a Catholic middle school serving girls of low-income families in the lower Hudson Valley. The school takes a faith-based, holistic approach to education addressing academic, physical, social, emotional, moral, and spiritual needs of the student, and develops the growth of the student in all areas.
Since opening as a middle school in 2006, SMA has grown into the multi-faceted San Miguel Program, serving more than 250 students and their families. The academy is overseen by former Mount Chaplain Fr. Mark Connell, who serves as Executive Director and Director of Graduate Success Program at the academy, among other responsibilities.
The Mount’s School of Nursing was recently awarded a $1.6 million, three-year NWD grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The NWD program focuses on the recruitment, support, retention, and graduation of nursing students from underrepresented groups. It increases nursing education opportunities and assists students from disadvantaged backgrounds to become baccalaureate-prepared nurses. Mount students in this program benefit from a multitude of support services and opportunities to serve the community.
Mount marches in annual Take Back the Night campaign on campus
Photos by Lee Ferris
The Mount community joined other colleges across the nation during its annual Take Back the Night campaign in April.
Students, faculty, and staff gathered on the patio of the Dominican Center before walking in solidarity across campus. The group carried candles to honor survivors of sexual violence and to express support as these survivors continue their healing journey.
Take Back the Night is a nationwide event that takes place at college campuses to combat sexual violence in all forms, including assault, abuse, trafficking, stalking, gender harassment, and relationship violence.
The walk included student-created imagery from the Clothesline Project, another national campaign aimed at ending violence and abuse, wherein students wrote messages of encouragement to survivors on t-shirts. The t-shirt display was featured on campus throughout the month of April.
Bright business ideas at Techstars
Photos by Lee Ferris
This spring, Mount Saint Mary College hosted the third annual Techstars Startup Weekend Newburgh on campus, where dozens of young entrepreneurs cultivated their ideas for new, unique businesses.
The participants – including students and alumni from the Mount, Newburgh Free Academy (NFA), and beyond – learned how to think and work like a startup company. They formed teams, developed their business ideas, and gave their pitches to the judges, all in a span of about two and a half days. Teams also had the opportunity to attend helpful workshops over the course of the weekend, hosted by more than a dozen local business leaders.
For example, Domenic Baiocco, a Sales Team Leader and Commercial Lender from Wallkill Valley Federal Savings and Loan, was a speaker at the event. Baiocco discussed a variety of useful financial tips that could help get a new business off the ground.
The winning teams presented the following ideas for new businesses: The Nayame Nhyira Charity (first place), CyberGrade (second); and Roman.AI (third).
“Everyone had some really great ideas,” said Micah Modell, assistant professor of Information Technology, who spearheaded the project at the Mount. “This was an opportunity to put what the students have learned in their classrooms to use in a hands-on situation, and they all did a fantastic job.”
He added, “This experience can show that it’s very possible to be an entrepreneur and the building blocks of how to do that.”
