Boston College Chronicle March 31, 2011 flipbook edition

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The Boston College

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Chronicle Published by the Boston College Office of News & Public Affairs

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Dinneen 5 Romero, award winners

CSON trip to Haiti

Leahy’s annual 6 Fr.letter to BC March 31, 2011 VOL. 19 no. 14

By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs

BC hockey player Pat Mullane ’13 works with a fifth-grader at Brighton’s St. Columbkille Partnership School as part of a mentoring program that brings together University student-athletes and local schoolchildren.

‘I Like Knowing He’s There for Me’ To many, these BC undergrads are known as student-athletes. To this group of schoolkids, they’re something else: friends and mentors By Jack Dunn Director of News & Public Affairs

The Boston College men’s hockey team was denied in its bid to win its second consecutive NCAA championship and its third in four years, but to the students in Pat Mooney’s fifth grade class at St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton, they will always be champions. Through a program devised by Assistant Coach Michael Cavanaugh and enthusiastically supported by Men’s Coach Jerry York and Women’s Coach Katie

King, the players on the men’s and women’s hockey teams have each committed themselves to a one-on-one mentoring relationship that St. Columbkille Head of School William Gartside describes as a transformative experience for his pupils, who are reaping the benefits of having role models in their lives. Under the mentoring program launched last fall, the hockey players are teamed up with 23 St. Columbkille fifth-graders, with the goal of forming relationships that will last beyond their respective school years. Meeting in person regularly at both at BC and St.

Columbkille, the players help with homework and offer encouragement, while also making themselves available via email for the occasional boost of confidence that all preteens need as they navigate the often turbulent waters of adolescence. “What I like best about my mentor Chris Venti is that he listens to me,” says St. Columbkille fifth-grader Ryan Sullivan of Brighton. “I am not really a big hockey fan; I just like knowing that he is there for me.” The presence of the BC students has made a noticeable difContinued on page 4

BC employee among National Guard unit sent to Afghanistan

Josh Levine

A Boston College Farewell to the 182nd By Reid Oslin Staff Writer

For the next year, Boston College Dining Services employee Brian Casey will be replacing his white chef’s hat with a camouflaged Kevlar helmet. Casey, first cook at the University’s Stuart Hall dining facility, is also a member of the first battalion of the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 182nd Infantry Regiment – a combat-ready unit that was recently activated for deployment to Afghanistan. Army Specialist Casey and nearly 700 of his fellow National Guard citizen-soldiers were given a rousing civic sendoff Sunday at an inspirational ceremony hosted by Boston College at Conte Forum. Casey won’t be doing much food preparation during the unit’s anticipated 12-month deployment

Dining Services cook Brian Casey with University President William P. Leahy, SJ, at Sunday’s farewell for the Massachusetts National Guard’s 182nd Infantry Regiment.

to unspecified locations along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. His military assignment will be as the battalion armorer – the person in charge of maintaining and repairing all of the unit’s weapons. “We are going over there to do a good thing,” said Casey, a 13-year BC employee. His National Guard combat unit will provide security for military construction and civil af-

fairs teams who will work to rebuild the war-torn nation’s infrastructure. “I’m a pretty quiet person and I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. But it is something that I want to do. I believe in the cause and I believe that it is good. I’m not on any soapbox — that’s not my thing. I am just doing my job.” Before becoming a professional Continued on page 4

Aditya Ashok ’12, a Presidential Scholar and student in the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program, has been named a recipient of a 2011 Harry S. Truman Scholarship. A history and biology major in the pre-med program, the Nashua, NH native has distinguished himself at Boston College through his academic achievement and HIV-AIDs activism, having served as co-president of the AIDS Awareness Committee at Boston College, and director of international outreach at the Virginiabased Teen AIDS-Peer Corp. The prestigious Truman Scholarship, established by Congress to honor the memory of the 33rd president, provides recipients with $3,000 for their senior year of college and $27,000 for graduate study. It is awarded on the basis of leadership potential, intellectual ability and the likelihood of “making a difference.” The selection process requires that candidates have a strong record of public service, as well as a policy proposal that addresses a particular issue in society. Ashok credits experiences as a high school student working in Ghana on a HIV-AIDS initiative, and later at a summer camp for HIV-positive individuals, as the catalysts for his passion. He chose Boston College over several Ivy League universities,

Sean Smith

Lee Pellegrini

BC Junior Is Awarded Truman Scholarship

Aditya Ashok ’12

he says, because of its emphasis on service and its reputation for mentoring relationships between students and faculty. “Without Founders Professor of Theology and Presidential Scholars Program Director James Keenan, SJ, and Associate Professor of History Virginia Reinburg, I would not have had an opportunity to win this award,” says Ashok. “They are titans in their respective fields, and inspiring mentors.” Working with the Teen AIDSPeer Corp, Ashok has trained students from throughout the world to become activists and agents of change in their own communities regarding AIDS awareness and education. For his Truman Scholarship, he wrote a policy proposal to modify needle exchange programs in New York City, suggesting that they be moved from local communities, where they stigmatize patients and depress surContinued on page 3

‘Broken Tower’ Debut at BC Actor-director Franco adapts book by Mariani

Acclaimed actor James Franco will be at Boston College on April 15 to premiere his new film “The Broken Tower,” inspired by and based on a biography of American poet Hart Crane written by poet and University Professor of English Paul Mariani. The screening event — which will be held for BC undergraduates selected via lottery — will take place at 5 p.m. in the Robsham Theater Arts Center. Mariani will join Franco in a Q&A session following the screening to discuss the film, Crane’s life and poetic reputation — Mariani has described Crane as “brilliant, complex and obscure.” Details on the lottery for the event will be e-mailed to undergraduates shortly. Published in 1999, the year of Crane’s 100th birthday, Mariani’s book The Broken Tower: The Life of Hart Crane, received numerous awards and accolades, and was called “a compelling

James Franco

chronicle of artistic triumph and private ruin,” by Washington Post “Book World.” Mariani, who provided Franco with extensive background and at his request toured locations and was on the movie set, also has a small speaking part in the film as photographer and artist Alfred Stieglitz. Set in the 1920s and shot in and around Crane’s beloved New York City, the film Continued on page 3


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