Spring Semester Roundup!

The 2013 Spring Semester was another successful one for the CCE, Binghamton University, and our community. Check out the semester roundup below for a summary of some of our most successful events and initiatives. We only expect more Binghamton Community involvement over the next several years as the reputation or the CCE continues grow and develop into a prominent and respected institution on the Binghamton Campus and Broome County at large. To learn more, contact us at cce@binghamton.edu

Citizen U Restores Binghamton’s Famous Carousels:

The CCE's own AmeriCorps VISTA, Pat Madej, organized a Spring Cleaning Day at The Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park, the home of one of the Triple Cities’ famous carousels. Binghamton University students helped restore the carousel to its summer luster with students from Cornell Cooperative Extension’s , Citizen U Program.

Recently, Madej and Binghamton University Resident Assistant, Melanie McCullough, held a “Dance for Downtown” fundraiser in support of Citizen U. "We raised a bunch of money and we're using that for supplies and tools so [Citizen U] can keep doing clean-ups like this and help to improve the community."

The event was covered by Fox 40 News. Watch the story here.

Bridging the Digital Divide has another Great Semester:

The Bridging the Digital Divide Project (BDDP) scores again! BDDP had another successful semester, providing computers and computer literacy training to local residents and assisting local organizations with their information technology needs.

Read an interview with Alison Handy, BDDP project coordinator, in which she discusses her work leading the initiative and how BDDP has a lasting, positive impact on the community:

Bone Marrow Drive Draws 178 People, Including the President of the University, Dr. Harvey Stenger.

On Wednesday, April 17, 2013, the CCE sponsored a Bone Marrow Registry event co-sponsored with the Charles Dew Minority Pre-Health Society, We Speak BU, BU Music Society and BU Hillel. A total of 178 people had their cheeks swabbed for the registry, including Binghamton’s own President, Dr. Harvey Stenger!

The event was organized by Ms. Mildred Ngminebayihi, the CCE Faculty-Student Scholar (2012-2013).

Read the full story here:

The CCE’s Service Ambassadors Assist Non-Profits in the Binghamton Area.

CCE Ambassador Anthony Aguiar, and his partner, Kate Abazis, volunteered this semester at "Binghamton Food Not Bombs".

“I heard about [Binghamton Food Not Bombs]actually by searching through the CCE's database," said Anthony, “I knew I wanted to help out a soup kitchen because I had never previously experienced working in one. A soup kitchen is one of the most ubiquitous ways people can fight hunger so I decided before I graduated that that was where I needed to be.”

Read about their experience, and how you can sign up to be a Service Ambassador next semester, here.

CCE sees increase of over 150 new Facebook Page Likes from January to May.

Thanks for all of those who participated in our “Great T-Shirt” Giveaway. It’s wonderful to see students wearing the CCE Shirts on campus.  Look forward to our new student-created shirt designs, coming this Fall! Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, to learn about T-Shirt Giveaways this coming semester.

Thanks for a fantastic semester!

--CCE Staff

ConGRADulations! 

CCE Service Ambassador Amy Zhao, Sayuri Ito and Taylor Squires discuss the BCUL After-School Program

CCE Service Ambassador's wrote about their experience working with School Children at an Afternoon Program run by the Broome County Urban League, or the BCUL.  

Broome County Urban League

Amy Zhao, Sayuri Ito, and Taylor Squires

Location: St. Patrick’s Church, Downtown Binghamton

St. Patrick's Church

In downtown Binghamton, there lies a small, unidentified building behind St. Patrick’s Church which serves the next generation of Binghamtonians.

Every day after school lets out, Broome County youth school district come to be part of the visit the Broome County Urban League after school program. This program allows minorities and provides after school support and enrichment for children from low income families. The mission of the Broome County Urban League is “to enable African Americans, other minorities, and the poor to secure economic self-reliance, parity and power and civil rights.”

As CCE Service Ambassadors, we decided to volunteer at the program in order to help these young students reach their full potential.

On our first day volunteering, we were all anxious to meet the children and get to know them. They had big dreams and creative minds. They were filled with endless energy and enthusiasm, constantly asking questions and remaining active and engaged. Our job was to keep them occupied by helping them with their homework. This included math problems, short readings and grammar exercises.

Many of the children were quick workers, easily solving addition problems and completing spelling homework correctly. Their only problem seemed to be paying attention and staying on task--like many adolescents, they were easily distracted. We understand that most of the kids want to run around and play once they get off the bus, but we remind them that once they get their responsibilities completed, they will have the rest of the day to play unhindered. 

We tried to keep them occupied with games, drawing and getting them to tell us stories about their families. We learned that a young girl named Leah loves to draw rainbows; another five-year-old girl, Promise, wants to grow up and become a dentist.

Once the kids are done with their homework, they are allowed to hang out and play games. We make sure they stay under control, as kids can get a bit rowdy!

It’s our job to let them know that they can do anything they set their minds to as long as they maintain their ambition to succeed in life. Even though working with children can be exhausting, we are excited to see their familiar faces every week and hear more of their stories.

Once the kids are done with their homework, they are allowed to hang out and play games. We make sure they stay under control, as kids can get a bit rowdy!

Turning this:

(A flood of overly excited, rowdy rascals)

Into this: 

(Calm and attentive rascals)

Basically, we are there to help with whatever the teacher needs, and we are there to be a positive role model and help them succeed in school and life. 

Future goals:

This program runs from around 3 to 5:30 Monday through Friday. We volunteer on Fridays each week and have made it our goal to maintain and develop Binghamton University’s relationship with the Urban League. We want to find a minimum of 10 students next year that can volunteer in pairs so that every day of the week there is a Binghamton University student presence to help the with their homework and demonstrate healthy study habits.

The Broome County Urban League truly believes that having college students interacting with the young kids every day could change their lives and inspire them to break the mold, finding a better path in life than the one they may have traveled before the Urban League intervened.

Volunteering at the Broome County Urban League has been such a rewarding experience so far, and we know that this could be an even better student project in the near future!

CCE Hosts a Bone Marrow Registry

On Wednesday, April 17, 2013, the CCE sponsored a Bone Marrow Registry event co-sponsored with the Charles Dew Minority Pre-Health Society, We Speak BU, BU Music Society and BU Hillel.  A total of 178 people had their cheeks swabbed for the registry, including Binghamton’s own President, Dr. Harvey Stenger.

Much of this success can be attributed to the hard work of the CCE’s Faculty-Student Scholar, Mildred Ngminebayihi.  

Mildred stressed the importance of advocating for the Bone Marrow Donor registry.

“At this particular registry event, the CCE attempted to target minorities,” said Mildred, “If a minority is diagnosed with a blood disease, and needs a Bone Marrow donation, it can be extremely difficult to find a match.”

When it comes to bone marrow matches, minorities face grim statistics. According to the National Bone Marrow Registry website, “the likelihood of a Caucasian patient finding a suitable donor in the bone marrow registry is 93%. The likelihood of a minority patient finding a suitable donor in the bone marrow registry is between 66-73%, depending on the specific ethnicity.”

While "Good Morning America" host Robin Robertshas boosted the visibility of Bone Barrow transplants in the U.S. after her successful treatment and return to the news desk, those affiliated with the blood cancer that often requires transplantation, say much more work still needs to be done, especially among African Americans. For individuals of mixed race, the chances of finding are donor are smaller still.

(Robin's return to the Good Morning America desk after receiving a transplant from her sister) 

Filmmaker/Producer Susan Brecker, who created the critically acclaimed Documentary, More to Live For, (hyperlink to film website or trailer) said Wednesday that for individuals of mixed-race descent, needing a bone marrow transplant was “a near death sentence.” Brecker was in attendance at the recent on-campus event, helping to register donors and promote awareness for her cause.

(Producer Susan Brecker, who came to BU to help register new donors)

More to Live For is the story of three lives, all shaken by cancer and dependent upon the one vital bone marrow match that could save them. The individuals profiled are: Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Michael Brecker (Susan’s late husband); James Chippendale, Entertainment Executive and Founder of Love Hope Strength Foundation, the largest music-centric cancer charity in the world, and Seun Adebiyi, a young Nigerian training to become the first ever Nigerian winter Olympian.

(Award Winning Musican Michael Brecker, profiled in More to Live For)

While getting 178 new people added to the registry is a great achievement, Mildred assures us that the CCE will strive to sign up even more students at future Bone Marrow Donor events.

“People were hesitant to get swabbed because they thought that they were going to have to donate Bone Marrow right there,” said Mildred, “But once you explain that it’s just a simple swab on the inside of your cheek and not an absolute commitment to give marrow even if you are a match, people were more than willing to help. They were enthusiastic! I also explained how the extraction of Bone Marrow has evolved. It’s much, much less invasive now. People have nothing to be afraid of.”

At the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers set out to understand how to begin to close the bone marrowdonation gap, conducting a study on why African Americans and other minorities opt-out of transplant registries at rates far higher than whites.

They found that four factors contribute to the high rate of registry dropouts, including religious objections, less trust that stem cells would be allocated equitably, more concerns about donation, and a greater likelihood of having been discouraged from donating. These factors help to explain why approximately 60 percent of potential minority donors who register opt out before donation, compared with 40 percent of whites.

Thousands of patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, sickle cell and other life-threatening diseases need a bone marrow transplant. They depend on programs like the “Be The Match Registry” (http://marrow.org/Home.aspx) to find a match. Consider becoming a donor today! You could save a life.