Service and scholarship with a smile
Service goes hand-in-hand with the Mount experience – so much so that it’s the first focus point of the college’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. But service and community have been core values since the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh established the college in 1959. From mentoring children to raising funds for local charities, the Spring 2023 semester once again saw our Knights in the community.
Serving with science
Photos by Lee Ferris
Last semester, Mount students continued a longstanding tradition of aiding the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) with their ongoing eel-monitoring project in Newburgh’s Quassaick Creek.
The group counted and released eels that had been caught in nets, helping to track the size of the population. The tiny, nearly transparent American eels are born in the ocean and migrate upstream to live, eventually returning to the ocean to spawn. According to the DEC, the species is in decline.
The Natural Sciences majors were led by associate Biology professors Suparna Bhalla and Doug Robinson, as well as Chemistry professor Lynn Maelia. Mount students and professors have aided the project since at least the early 2010s.
Diving into swim lessons
You wouldn’t know it by their name, but it turns out that Knights are great swimmers.
With some help from the Mount’s swim team, students at Newburgh’s San Miguel Academy enjoyed lessons twice a week at the Kaplan Center Pool during the Spring 2023 semester.
The San Miguel students learned basic swimming skills and water safety in order to meet their school’s requirements for joining the crew team. All students who finished the program were able to swim 10 laps continuously, float on their back for five minutes, and tread water for 10 minutes.
“This has been a great opportunity for MSMC student athletes to share what they learn in the pool to help teach life-saving skills to local children,” noted Christopher Mance, head coach of the swim team.
Making strides for Baby Steps pantry
The Mount’s Dominican Scholars of Hope (DSH) recently donated $500 to the Baby Steps Baby Pantry at Christ Lutheran Church in Newburgh. The scholars raised the money through a Krispy Kreme donut fundraiser.
The Baby Steps pantry provides infant supplies for families in need in the local area. Each month, families who are part of the program are provided with a week’s worth of diapers, wipes, wash, and cream.
The Rev. Ernst Mossl, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, received the donation in person only a few days before the college’s 60th annual Commencement ceremony.
The DSH program is spearheaded by Charles Zola, assistant to the President for Mission Integration, director of the Mount’s Catholic and Dominican Institute, and associate professor of Philosophy.
Medici scholars pay it forward
Left to right: Lauren Bonawandt, Emily Alta, and Edelin Mora Lora. Back, left to right: Frank Gargano, Jordan Rush, and Chris Montenegro. Not pictured: Samantha Bendig, Sofia Gannon, and Sophia Reed.
At the completion ceremony for this year’s Walden Savings Bank Medici Scholars Program, Mount students presented a $500 check to A Single Bite of Sullivan County, an organization that educates young adults on why nutritious food is important and how to make healthy choices.
The Medici program introduces undergraduate Business and Accounting students to the world of arts and nonprofits to foster a better understanding of the important role the business community plays in supporting them. The students were the seventh group to finish the prestigious initiative since its inception in 2015.
Medici Scholars is a competitive program open to a handful of Mount Business students each year. It’s made possible through an endowed gift to the Mount from Walden Savings Bank. The program is overseen on the Mount’s campus by Anthony Scardillo, Medici faculty advisor and associate professor of Marketing.
Teaching asthma management
Nursing students recently taught asthma self-management in local elementary schools, in collaboration with the American Lung Association’s Open Airways for Schools (OAS) program.
Dr. Antonia Brewer, instructor of Nursing, has helped coordinate Mount students for this partnership since 2017. She stated that her students “really enjoy the program and they now see firsthand how important the program is for children living with asthma.”
Going forward, Dr. Carol Wanyo, assistant professor of Nursing at the Mount, will be leading the collaboration for the Mount students. She believes it’s an effective way for nursing students to experience how their skills learned in class are put into practice.
“This is an example of providing interventions within the community, and linking academia with practice,” said Wanyo.
Newburgh wins the ‘Soup’er Bowl’
Photo by Matt Frey
Campus Ministry teamed up with the Student Government Association (SGA) recently to collect about $800 worth of food and monetary donations for the Deacon Jack Seymour Parish Food Pantry in Newburgh.
Mount students and employees donated to the cause – known as the “Soup”er Bowl food drive – in the month of February. Students and staff then presented the donations to Paul and Linda Zalanowski, directors of the pantry.
The Deacon Jack Seymour Parish Food Pantry is a ministry of St. Francis of Assisi Church and Sacred Heart Church that provides emergency food assistance for families of all faiths and backgrounds in the Newburgh area. Since 1997, volunteers have been providing groceries to help the local hungry.
Emily Gursky ’23 contributed to this article.
