TechTimesT H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E B R O O K L Y N T E C H A L U M N I F O U N D A T I O N

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TomorrowlandReadying students for the future – before it arrives

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Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.The Mark of Responsible Forestry.

The Test That Changes LivesI GREW UP a working-class kid in Brooklyn, going no place in particular, in or out of school. I was raised by a mother who did a remarkable job, but was ill equipped to give me any serious life advice other than to attend college someday. A high school dropout who valued education, she had gone to work at age 16 to help support her family: It was the Depression and her father, Manuel Garcia, was working three jobs; the family had an affordable apartment only because he was the janitor.

My own father abandoned his (my) family, and we moved to a terribly small, dark, cockroach- filled apartment on Flatbush Avenue, situated over a dry cleaner. That’s where I began.

Brooklyn Tech was revolutionary for me. Without Tech, I don’t have a clue what I would be doing today, or even if I would be alive. It was pure luck that I took The Test; it changed the direction of my life and even my children’s lives. That’s what The Test meant to me.

Reporters and elected officials regularly ask me why the alumni are so concerned about keeping The Test. I can’t know how every graduate of a specialized high school feels about it, let alone the 80,000 graduates of Brooklyn Tech. But it is a question worth considering.

The New York Times did so on the first day of school this fall. It ran a collection of comments from readers about the role “The Test” played in their lives. These brief stories were remarkable:

Hao Diep, Bronx Science ’04, said that despite disliking a summer spent studying for the exam, taking a prep course sparked a competitive drive and was itself a transformative experience.

Ben Sorkin, a more recent specialized high school graduate, wrote, “I likely would not have been admitted if anything other than my score was considered.” He laments the inequality of others not being able to make it.

For Stan Augarten. Stuyvesant ’71, “it was by far the hardest and longest test I’d taken. To my surprise, I made the cut….” As a result, he says, he got a great education.

Josh Lin, who recently received an offer from Brooklyn Tech, explained The Test meant a second chance for him because of poor grades and “big mistakes that I made in the past.” He summed up his feelings as, “I couldn’t be more grateful and thankful for the opportunity the test has given me to get an offer in one of the best high schools in the city.”

Back to my own story: I sat for The Test in 1965, long before test prep came on the scene. My preparation for it was to sharpen two No. 2 pencils. I took The Test because Jimmy, the friend I sat next to in eighth grade Hygiene, told me about it. I liked Jimmy, so why not sit for the exam? I got in; he didn’t. I have since realized I had no idea what Tech was about.

The school put me on a life course very different than what it would otherwise have been. It taught me I mattered, that what I thought mattered, and that I should and could make a difference. That wasn’t what I had been getting from school, which in retrospect seems to have been preparing me, at best, for the life of a drone.

I have told you my story, now I want to hear yours. This is an important conversation because it is complicated and can mean something different for every person. Tech’s 100th anniversary is only a few years away and your story about The Test and Tech deserves to be told. Please email me at Lcary@bthsalum.org and include your class year. Hope to hear from you.

Larry Cary ‘70President Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation

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TechTimesThe Magazine of

The Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation

08 Tomorrowland Today’s Tech is producing tomorrow-ready students.

10 Tomorrow’s Children These teenagers are definitely ready.

14 Powerful Partnership Con Edison and Brooklyn Tech

18 One for the Books Barnes & Noble founder Len Riggio’58 stands up for public education.

03 Alumni Reflection: Sekou Bermiss ’95

04 Inside 29 Fort Greene Place

16 Ask An Alum: Blockchain Explained

17 Twins Together

21 Rising Star

22 AlumNews

23 Student Opinion: Joyce Zhang ’18

25 Alumni Foundation Annual Report

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TechTimesThe Magazine of

The Brooklyn Tech Alumni FoundationFall 2018

©2018 Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation, Inc. Published annually. Articles may be reprinted with permission.

Alums: Send your personal or professional update for publication in Class Notes to:

neds@mediaimpact.biz

Editor In Chief and Chief Writer

Art DirectorCreative Consultant;

Student Interviews Editorial Direction

Ned Steele ’68

Nicholas E. TorelloChelsea Erin Vaughan Elizabeth A. Sciabarra

2 T e c h T i m e s F A L L 2 0 1 8 W W W . B T H S A L U M N I . O R G

DEAR EDITOR:› LAST JANUARY marked the 75th anniversary of my graduation. I received what for me was the best possible education. It led me directly into my career, particularly due to the courses in math and physics. The 4th term class in plane geometry taught by Mr. Wood was unforgettable.

That career spanned more than 40 years, almost 30 of them as manager of the high magnetic field facility at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory at MIT.

I look back with extreme fondness at my four years at Tech. Among my extracurricular activities was the astronomy club—did you know there was a telescope mounted on the top floor?

Lawrence G (Larry) Rubin ’43

DEAR EDITOR:› JUST RECEIVED the latest TechTimes and truly enjoyed recalling my days at Tech. What caught my interest was the display describing some “defining class projects.”

You asked, “What was yours?”I went to my living room display table and took

the attached picture of my defining class project for machine shop at Tech. A tap holder.

Thanks for bringing back great memories.Stan Glickstein ’52

DEAR EDITOR:› WHAT I LOVE is that my school creates learners and leaders. The vast majority of us did not go on to stay in our selected major – however the work ethic, pride and metacognitive abilities instilled at BTHS groomed us to be successful in whatever we selected to pursue. I would love to see my old teachers and say, “You inspired me to become a tech-savvy innovative educator. Thank you!”

Yolanda Newton ’99 (Editor’s note to Yolanda: Come back for Homecoming and you may see some of them!)

DEAR EDITOR:› I JUST READ the current TechTimes and am impressed by the caliber of students attending our alma mater. I also took great enjoyment in reading the Reflections type articles. Having enjoyed a very successful 40+ years career in aeronautical engineering, many times I reflected on the outstanding technical preparation I received at Brooklyn Tech from 1945 to 1949.

The highlight of my career was being selected Chief Systems Engineer by HQ USAF in developing the F-16 Fighting Falcon Weapon System. I am writing a book about the F-16. Whatever profit accrues from sales will be forwarded to the Alumni Foundation in the hopes that it will help some gifted Tech student.

Herb Hutchinson ’49 (Editor’s note to Herb: The Alumni Foundation appreciates your generous offer.)

ATTENTION ALUMS: We Want to Hear from You! Send Email to ➜ neds@mediaimpact.biz

F RO M T H E P R I N CI PA L

David NewmanTHE 2018-19 SCHOOL YEAR opened this fall with two special milestones occurring the minute we opened our doors.

First, a benchmark that Brooklyn Tech has not attained in more than 50

years: enrollment eclipsing 6,000 students—a fact that validates how highly sought our school is as a specialized high school. Second, the class of 2022 entered our halls holding a special distinction: they will be the graduating class of the 100th Anniversary of Brooklyn Tech.

We are confident that all 6,000 students will meet the expectations set for them by their former classmates, the newest Brooklyn Tech alumni–the Class of 2018. Last June we bid farewell to 1,300 of them in grand fashion, with graduation at the Barclay’s Center. Nearly all were bound for college: among them Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Brown SUNY Binghamton, Buffalo, Albany and CUNY Hunter, City, Brooklyn and many more.

The school is abuzz with activity and excitement for coursework and facilities unrivaled by any high school in the nation. We are moving forward with building our new Forensic Science Laboratory, which has been made possible through a grant secured by our Alumni Foundation from the Brooklyn Borough President. This lab will enable students to explore the field with modern technology, giving them a real-world work experience and rendering an environment that taps into how students learn today. Next spring we plan to open our new modern, cutting edge Materials Testing Lab. This project is made possible through alumni donations and alumni are helping with the design of the room. We are well on our way in securing funding for a new Anatomy Lab to facilitate virtual anatomical discovery and prepare students for the major advances technology is bringing to the practice.

We are creating exciting new hubs and iconic classrooms for learning in the modern world at Brooklyn Tech; I cannot wait to create these new facilities, and for each of you to see them and to understand and learn about the courses and majors that will be impacted by them.

There are many alumni events which will connect us this year. I look forward to meeting you at Career Day, the Titans of Tech Dinner, Recent Alumni Day and of course, Homecoming!

Letters to the Editor

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R E F L E C T I O N

1. THE POWER OF SOCIAL NETWORKS - It amazes people I currently work with that I am so close to so many of my high school classmates. I have to continually explain that Tech was a unique high school – an intense environment that forged strong bonds among classmates. I have analyzed my online social networks—and my Tech network is undoubtedly the strongest and most wide ranging. Tech alumni are everywhere, in all sectors and they do well in those sectors. Whenever I have a question, I can usually find someone who is an expert in that area in my Tech network. It is a tremendous resource for all alums.

2. BEING A LEADER REQUIRES ACADEMIC AND EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE - When everyone around is smart, being a leader requires being a great communicator and motivator. These behaviors are highly correlated to emotional intelli-gence. One skill I learned at Tech was how to recognize my own emotions, and those in others as I interacted with them. It was at Tech that I learned to “read a room” to best under-stand what to say or do to help others succeed.

3. DIVERSITY IS POWERFUL - Brooklyn Tech was the most diverse organizational setting I have ever operated in. When I entered Tech in the early 90s, I believe it was about one third Black and Latino, one third White, and one third Asian. Ethnically, it was like the United Nations. As a result, I was exposed to people whose backgrounds and cultures expanded my mind. I believe our diversity was one of the reasons Tech was so strong both academically and extracurricularly.

4. MENTORS ARE ESSENTIAL - Tech is a large school (it had more students than my college) and it is easy to get

lost. Being a student at Tech first taught me how important it is to actively search out individuals with more experience than you, and learn the unwritten rules of the environment you are in. I was fortunate to have a senior mentor (Arkiem Harris) who imparted some vital wisdom to me about how to navigate Freshman Friday.

5. ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS EVERYWHERE - I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but Tech was an informal business incubator. The school brings thousands of really smart and motivated kids from all over the city, and provides them with resources and services to grow any idea they might have. Participating in clubs and sports teams, I learned about fundraising, business models, marketing, and the economic principles of supply and demand. My mind was truly blown when I took Mr. Black’s organic chemistry class. He had memorized the periodic table, and he told us about the anti-graffiti product* he had made in his house and was selling for millions of dollars. I remember thinking, “Wait, you can make real money doing chemistry?” – and becoming very motivated to memorize the periodic table. ■

After Tech, Sekou Bermiss went on to receive a B.S. in chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) and an M.S. and Ph.D. in management and organizations from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His research has been published in various academic journals, edited volumes, magazines, the Harvard Business Review blog, and on National Public Radio.

* https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/02/nyregion/ eureka-anti-graffiti-gunk-an-inventor-the-wizard-of- brooklyn-tech-strikes-again.html

FIVE THINGS ABOUT BUSINESSI First Learned at Brooklyn TechBY SEKOU BERMISS ’95, Ph.D. Tenured Professor of Management University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

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THE APP was a brilliant idea based on scientifically-validated common sense:

People learn better when the learning is active, fun, and competitive.

Called PrepUP, the app turns prepping for the SAT and ACT college entrance exams into an online game with head-to head competitions.

It won a national competition, and is now in use in 20 countries.

The inventor was featured on the cover of Crain’s New York.

The inventor was a teenager: Brooklyn Tech student Akhilesh Khakhar.

“I believe in eliminating economic disparities in educational opportunities,” said the future technology entrepreneur, “and I am into behavioral science and psychology.”

Akhilesh took 130 hours of online courses in making and marketing an app, then outsourced the programming to two coders in Russia, with whom he Skyped mornings

before going to school.Did Akhilesh need

this app himself? Probably not. He achieved a perfect score on his own ACT test. Wharton admitted him, and he is now a freshman. ■

GAMIFICATOR › Akhilesh Khakhar ’18

THE PHOTOGRAPHERSWITH THIS ISSUE, TechTimes introduces student contributors to our team. On these pages you’ll see photographs and infographics by several talented young artists, and a student-written article (see page 23)

› Ayman Siam ’19 “I WANT TO EXPRESS true emotions and moments of people around me, and some issues they might be going through. It is a way for me to show my perspective on things, and capture moments that can tell a story.

Photography is something I will do always, even though I will pursue computer science. I can’t see myself without a camera for a single day.”

Adulting (v): to carry out one or more of the responsibilities expected of a fully developed individual. A term generally applied to and used by 20-something Millennials.

At Brooklyn Tech, adulting often starts earlier

THE LEADER› Valmira Popinara ’18• Student government president• Won rave reviews as co-emcee, with

famed New York sportscaster Russ Salzberg, for the Titans of Tech gala – 500 dignitaries, celebrities, and alumni in the audience

“I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE I did some-thing as unbelievable as that. I put a lot on my shoulders that night: I wanted to ensure that, representing the school, I would portray the best of the qualities I got from Tech.

“I was committed to memorizing my part in the script.. I spent hours in front of the mirror, and reciting it to my mom, friends, and teachers.

“I was extremely nervous, but it got easier once we were on stage – with the lights on us, I was unable to see the audience. It prevented me from thinking about how who was in the audience and how many people I was speaking to.

“I had an amazing time. It was a night I will always cherish.” ■

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She Reads, She Leads.› Dea Kurti ’19Here is what Dea Kurti did in her junior year – besides classes, homework and student government work:

She created an international nonprofit, Novel Girls, to send books about science, technology, and empowerment to girls in developing nations.

She engaged her Tech classmates in it, then spread it to a dozen high schools around the country.

She raised, in all, more than $500,000 of books through volunteer drives.

She sent them to Albania, India, Ukraine, the Philippines, South Africa and Thailand.

Soon her inbox filled with emails from young girls around the world telling her they were inspired to aim their aspirations higher.

Dea says she was inspired to act by the inadequate education she received as a young girl in her native Albania, and by her hard-working parents who were denied educational opportunities.

“In New York I never felt disconnected from the world because of being a woman but I know that little girls out there don’t have the same feeling and don’t feel empowered or liberated due to their countries,” she said.

Collecting books through school drives was Dea’s fallback idea when her initial plan failed: “I asked bookstores and authors to contribute books. This was confusing. A 15 year old starting a nonprofit was not something people expected.”

Now a senior and biological sciences major, Dea took a rest from donating books last summer. She did structural biology research at Columbia Uni-versity, studied engineering at Yale, gave speeches for the Girls Who Code organization, and enhanced her refugee-centered website, Roadmap, to better reach communities with weak Internet access. ■

Dea’s Top TenHer essential reads for all young adults:1. The Feminine Mystique

Betty Friedan2. The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald3. Animal Farm

George Orwell4. Wonder

R.J. Palacio5. Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoyevsky6. 11.22.63

Stephen King7. House Rules

Jodi Picoult8. Bad Feminist

Roxane Gay9. Native Son

Richard Wright10. Bluebird

Kurt Vonnegut

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› Jasper Waldman ‘20 “I TEND TO FOCUS on the more dramatic side of people. However, I don’t tend to focus on one theme in a person: I’ll sit down with them and see who they are, and then portray that in a photograph.

Photography has always been a hobby. Even though I’ve worked professionally before, I wouldn’t pursue it in college or as a career; I’d be more into pursuing engineering.”

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THE ADVOCATE› Divya Tulsiani’19• Formed an organization to teach students

about their rights• Interviewed in news media as a leader of the spring

2018 anti-gun violence student rallies“STUDENTS DON’T KNOW about their rights under the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment.

My passion is to be an activist. In school I take part in moot court, and in student government I am the student advocate.” ■

ACTIVISMINTERVIEWING STUDENTS throughout a school year marked by tumultuous global events, we were struck by how many cited social activism as a personal priority. Atop the demands of schoolwork and preparing for college, they attached importance to engaging in the external world. The outbreak of school shootings was a galvanizing force, but students also cited racial injustice and social inequality as concerns.

With the school, we conducted a survey. Of 435 students responding, 68% had participated in a rally for social justice or a political cause in the past year. Before the national school walkout last March, student Dea Kurti (see prior page) said, “To most Brooklyn Tech students ‘activism’ was simply a noun used in AP US History class. Now it is a fundamental part of our life. Students are now socially active because they don’t want what is happening now to happen in their future.”

Divya Tulsiani (see left) observed that activism “is the product of a chain reaction. All it takes is a few people with similar ideas to start a movement, after which it gains momentum.” ■

66%

Walk up or down 21 or more flights of BTHS stairs daily (more than 50: 5%)

Source: Alumni Foundation/BTHS survey of students, 435 respondents

Note: Students were asked to select the three platforms they used most to watch media. Gaming consoles, TV streaming devices, DVR/DVD/Blu-Ray, theater-based viewing received fewer votes

What They Watch

Phone or Tablet

Laptop or Desktop

Traditional live TV

29%87% 82%

ZZZ

“I spend the most time...”

In School48%

Asleep 5%

Out of School Awake 47%

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Wait, What ?Tech students far more intelligent than your TechTimes editorial team discuss their current research work. Tech’s adult experts then come to the rescue and explain to the rest of us.

Romy Aron ’19, mathematics majorI am working on deriving an extension of the usual quadrupole power approximation of energy loss from a black hole binary system due to gravitational radiation while taking into account mass time-dependence, particularly due to Hawking Radiation. I am hoping to use this new equation to study

the possibility of entanglement entropy building up between two entangled binary black holes via Hawking radiation particles and then seeing if this entropy may be released as gravitational radiation via ER=EPR.

Irwin Shapiro ’47, astrophysicist and educator These concepts are very advanced. To deal with the simpler part: gravitational waves will be emitted by a system of two black holes orbiting about each other. These waves carry away energy, which is thus lost to the orbital motion of the black holes so

that the black holes will spiral closer together, eventually colliding with each other. Other processes will cause a loss of energy and even others will increase the two-black-hole system’s total energy. Romy wants to calculate the time it would take the black holes to coalesce, following the dissipation of all of their orbital energy, and the dependence of this time on the various factors which control it. Accomplishing this would be a significant achievement. ■

ONE OF THE MOST iconic figures in Tech’s 96 year history has, after a few unsuccessful attempts, really, really stepped off the field.

Mostly. Maybe.Jim “Dibo” DiBenedetto ’71 mentored and

inspired thousands of Technites in three decades as teacher, football coach, athletic director, and music director.

In 2012 he officially retired – but stayed on as athletic director for two more years.

In 2014 he went part-time, aiding the transition to a new athletic director.

This past spring, he finally stepped back.

Then the current football coach resigned before a new one could be named.

And so Dibo was asked to pick up clipboard and headset once more, until teacher Sam Adewumi was appointed coach over the summer.

Fully retired at last, Dibo continues this fall to assist Coach Adewumi off-field with administrative work. And

he remains on the Alumni Foundation board, where he chairs the Hall of Fame and Faculty Grant committees.

Whether this actually constitutes “retirement” may be a debatable point – but Tech is fortunate to be graced by his continuing presence. ■

(Susan Mayham ’76 contributed to this story)

The Dibo File• Played Tech football

under Coach Adam Cirillo (his last year) and Coach Joe Cuzzocrea (his first)

• Head Tech football coach 21 years (1987-2008)

• Led 2003 team to Tech record 10-win season

• Sent three players to the NFL

• Directed more than 20 Tech musical productions

• Sent three performers to Broadway

• Favorite spectator sport: football (what else?)

• Favorite retirement sport: golf (“But I’m terrible.”)

• Favorite Broadway musical: Sweeney Todd

Dibo Decides

Tahmid Ahmed ’18, physics major Transmission of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beams with different orbital angular momentum(OAM) were studied in both ballistic and diffusive regions of a mouse brain tissue.

MacRae Maxfield, Tech science teacher and holder of 23 patentsUnderstanding physiology and diagnosing ailments is aided by imaging parts of the body, which has been particularly difficult with soft tissue. In this study laser beams were passed through a filter before passing though mouse brain tissue.

The beams were able to show high contrast between complex tissue (diffusive) and more homogeneous (ballistic) tissue. In ballistic regions, light travels straight through unimpeded. In diffusive regions light is scattered, absorbed, or reflected. ■

C O V E R S T O R Y

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EXACTLY 100 YEARS AGO – on Oct. 10, 1918 – founder Albert L. Colston, appearing before the Brooklyn Engineers’ Club, first publicly framed the mission for what would become Brooklyn Technical High School: “train-ing for industrial leadership.”

The ensuing century has brought the digital age, ubiquitous higher edu-cation, and dizzying global change. Still, a walk through today’s Brooklyn Tech reveals that the vision still stands – but updated for the 21st century

With robotics replacing machine shops and AutoCAD supplanting T-squares, at Tech the future is here; it is now. And so a modern-day interpretation of the Colston vision emerges: to ready teenagers for post-college, post-industrial careers through work-world based curric-ula; externally-focused internships, student clubs and activities; and close interaction with successful alumni.

Above all is the mindset that pervades the school. Assistant Principal Rosabeth Eddy summarizes what’s happening inside 29 Fort Greene Place:

“We teach students the skills that will be required in all of tomorrow’s jobs: to become resourceful, self-reliant, and to innovate.”

With a phrase that should resonate with 20th century Technites, she adds: “Yes, we still teach students how to think and solve problems. But now it may be problems that don’t exist yet.”

Alumni may fondly remember an iconic project they designed and built…

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Inside today’s Brooklyn Tech, it’s all about the future.

TomorrowlandMENTOR A TECHNITEHundreds of alumni support the next generation of Technites through internships, job shadowing, mentoring, and Career Day presentations.What can you and your business offer?For internships, contact:Matt Mandery, Chief Educational Officermmmandery@bthsalum.orgor Isaac Honor, Internship Coordinatorisaachonor@verizon.netFor the others, contact:Liz Sciabarra, Executive Directoresciaba@bthsalum.org(718)797-2285www.bthsalumni.org

(Left) Plasma cutting uses

accelerated jets of hot plasma to slice

metals. Tech students master the skill. (Top and above) Robotics

is a popular program, and the Aero major has

been reimagined for the 21st century.

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to exacting specifications. Today another teaching method is in play – not only in engineering and technology classes but in other fields: Open-ended problems, with multiple solutions. Assignments to not just make a widget – but to do it with fewer parts and at lower cost.

THE SCHOOL’S FUTURE-FOCUS sharpened last year with the appointment of teacher Wandy Chang, an architect by train-ing, as Tech’s f irst work-based learning coordinator. As such, she is charged with establishing intern-ships with employers and plac-ing students in them. The Alumni Foundation has run internship programs for two decades, and Ms. Chang’s appointment marks a mile-stone in the school administration’s efforts in work-learning. Starting from scratch, she secured paid summer 2018 spots for 70 students in aerospace, architecture, engi-

neering, media and industrial design. Another 120 juniors and seniors leave school early daily to job-shadow at employ-ers like LaGuardia Airport, ABC, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Random House.

“We are developing real-world opportunities for students that are relevant, paid and vetted,” she said. “I am just starting.”

With those spots adding to the Alumni Foundation’s long-running program, about 500 of Tech’s 6,000 stu-dents take part anually in officially sanctioned internships. Countless more independently secure internships they learn of at Tech.

One intern, engineering student Ryan O’Neal ’19, marveled that after just three days in his assignment in New York City government, working in an office and attending business meetings for the first time, “I have already gained a lot of knowledge… the experience is exposing me to new things that I believe will greatly benefit me in the future.”

That’s not to say the benefits flow one way. George Hanze ’68, principal of a Westchester advertis-

ing company, has hired Tech interns through the Alumni Foundation’s program for several years. They keep his perma-nent staff on their toes: “They are so state of the art that it is

a challenge for our staff to keep up – and we have top staff. But we all get comfortable with the ways we do things, and the students raise the bar for us.”

BEFORE THEY PURSUE internships , all freshmen and sophomores fol-low a two year career prepara-tion-focused study course, career technical education (CTE). About 900 upperclassmen continue and

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Top to bottom: PIXAR cinematographer Danielle Feinberg (second from left, front) came to talk with students; teacher Anthony Pigis and assistant principal Rosabeth Eddy teach how “to solve problems that don’t exist yet;” teacher Ali Harb, a modern version of yesterday’s shop teacher, mixes hands-on and high-tech.

TEAMING UPAmong the companies introducing Technites to the professional world through internships, job shadowing, guest lectures and field visits:

• American Broadcasting Company• Bloomberg • Brooklyn Nets• Con Edison• Google• JPMorgan Chase• Microsoft• Parsons Brinckerhoff• Pixar• Random House

“My internship is exposing me to new things that will benefit me greatly in the future.

–Ryan O’Neal ‘19[continued on page 16]

S T U D E N T S

10 T e c h T i m e s F A L L 2 0 1 8 W W W . B T H S A L U M N I . O R G

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TOMORROW ’S C H I L D R E NInside Brooklyn Tech are the stories of 6,000 young people preparing for their future. Some stories start in another country. Many are inspirational. Some require an advanced degree in the sciences to fully comprehend.All of them are only beginning to be written. Here are eight.

FEAR-SHREDDERJIAYUN CHEN • “I don’t like being afraid of anything.

I challenge myself to overcome my fears.”• Beat childhood fear of heights by getting

on a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster. • Volunteers at hospital

where she hopes to be a doctor one day.

• Came to U.S. at age eight.

HELICOPTERISTNOEL CERCIZI• Builds balsa helicopters;

flies them in competitions.• Researches microbiology,

DNA sequencing, effects of bacteria on plants.

• Plays viola in Tech orchestra.• Emigrated to U.S. at age five.

Hidden Talent:“I whistle really well.”

Book He’s Reading:“In Between the World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates

App He’d Like To Invent:You enter your homework scores all semester; it predicts your final grade.

Hero: Aaron Yan, singer-actor

Won’t Leave Home Without: A huge collection of colored pens. “The white one is my favorite; I draw on white paper with it. It drives people crazy, but you really can see it.”

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TOMORROW ’S C H I L D R E N

SUPERCOMMUTER YASMIN HAREDY• Takes two buses and the R train, two hours

each way, between Tech and her family home in a distant part of Staten Island.

• Active in student government, National Honor Society, community service organizations and Alumni Foundation.

• “I read and study on the train. If I get tired I remind myself, ‘I wanted this. I chose Tech.’”

• “I do look forward to living on campus when I get to college.”

Hero: Emma Watson, actress: “She uses her fame to better people’s lives. She’s very involved in female leadership issues.”

Hidden Talent: Certified scuba diver

Book She’s Reading: “Brave New World”

ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEER AARON LOFTMAN • Earned three professional

software certifications at Tech (AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor).

• In a sophomore year industry internship he learned of through Tech, taught his adult co-workers computer skills he’d learned in school.

• Won two scholarships to Drexel University, where he is now a freshman.

Hidden Talent: Photography

Into: Dystopian sci-fi, cooking

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NETWORKER SHEQUANA COURTNEY • Won Harlem Children’s Zone scholarship

to pursue a double-major in business and mechanical engineering at SUNY Buffalo; now a freshman there.

• Interned at a construction engineering firm for two years through Tech; her design project won a prize.

• Internship mentor wrote recommendation letter for her college application.

• “Most people don’t know that you can view high school as a networking opportunity.”

Hero:Elon Musk

Secret Talent:Twirls a hula hoop around her neck.

Won’t Leave Home Without:Her retractable backscratcher

A.I. CHAMP THOMAS ZHOU• Placed fourth globally, and top high school

student in the world, against 5,000 programmers, professors, physicists, and NASA engineers from 101 countries, in an artificial intelligence coding competition.

• Competition’s hedge fund sponsor then hired him for a summer internship.

• Didn’t start programming until he chose the software engineering major in his junior year at Tech.

• Gardens and farms for relaxation in his spare time.

App He’d Like To Invent:“Right now I’m making a bot that plays Scrabble.”

Book He’s Reading:“11/22/63,”Stephen King

Won’t Leave Home Without:A second phone he likes to tinker with

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ACTIVIST KAREN LI • Co-founded student group “Stand Against

Starvation” in response to famines in Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Somalia: “These are man-made famines. 85% of the U.S. population doesn’t know about them.”

• Led “Do Something,” student club that collected and donated jeans to homeless teenagers.

• Now a freshman at Yale through the prestigious Questbridge and Milken Scholars scholarship programs

• “Activism is a big part of who I am.”

Not-So-Secret Talent:Sang in Tech choir for four years.

Hero:Barack Obama.

App He’d Like To Invent: Reminder to stop doing robotics at school long enough to have lunch.

Book He’s Reading: “The Kingdom Keepers,” fiction series set in the Disney company.

Thing He Learned At Tech:“Understanding other viewpoints.”

ROBOTEER NIKOLAS BURZYNSKI • Lead strategist and designer, BTHS robotics team.• Set designer, IT specialist, and mechanical engineer

for church summer camp.• Volunteers at a soup kitchen.• “My older brother texts me pictures of his college

projects, and it’s the same work we’re doing at Tech.”

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PowerfulPartnership

AS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING MAJOR, Tiffany Ho ’13 had her sights and her college planning set on “a conventional electrical engineering job.”

Then, scant weeks into her senior year, Hurricane Sandy struck. Participating in a pioneering Brooklyn Tech – Con Edison internship-employment part-nership, Tiffany found herself inside the giant utili-ty’s main command center – contributing hands-on expertise alongside company veterans in an extraordinary battle to restore power to thousands.

The experience was one of the pivotal moments that transformed the teenager into what she now is: a college-graduate permanent employee and rising young star in the utility’s gas division.

“I would not be in the power distribution indus-try, doing what I am, if it had not been for the Tech internship,” Tiffany says today.

Multiply Tiffany Ho a few dozen times, and you have the Tech-Con Edison partnership: a distinc-tive model that can be replicated nationally, partic-ularly in a tight labor market where employers dig deeper and deeper into the future talent pool for interns to become future employees.

What makes the program stand out is its long-term vision and its protracted elasticity: after sum-

mering at Con Ed before senior year, most Tech interns are offered paid part-time work for their final high school year – and all of college. Some even receive tuition support.

Nearly eight in ten grab the opportunity –and a good number go on to full-fledged careers with the utility. Since its launch in 2000, the program has netted Con Edison 12 employees, six of whom have ascended to management roles.

“This,” says Con Edison senior vice president Milovan Blair, “is a win-win.”

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Showing their Brooklyn Tech – Con Edison pride:

Internship graduates still working with the company

A pioneering internship program puts high school students to work. Real work.

C O N E D I S O N

15F A L L 2 0 1 8 T e c h T i m e s

What further makes the program stand out is the intellect of the 168 Technites who have come through it over 15 years (recession caused three years to be skipped). Seeing what young Technites can do when put to the task, Con Ed recognized early that their talents were not to be wasted fetching coffee or planning social events. The students were “integrated seamlessly” into work teams facing “real-world challenges,” and deployed to capitalize on their precocious mastery of technology, explains Blair: “If you didn’t know they were interns, you’d think they were full-time employees.”

At last year’s annual intern project presentation, senior Con Ed executives l istened intently as 17 year olds explained how they had used software to: identify when streets are free of parked cars to enable more efficient sub-street repair work; automate certain subway system power inspections; create a database for better maintenance of network transformers, develop off line backups of key systems for enhanced security, and standardize reporting on regulatory compliance. The bosses were impressed.

“A Con Ed internship,” says David Beckles ’02, a 2001 intern and now an electric operations super-visor at Con Ed, “brings you into adulthood.”

Such was the intent when the program launched at the urging of then - high ranking company exec-utive and Alumni Foundation board member Jack Feinstein ’60. “With the Alumni Foundation, Con Edison has created a nationally replicable model for com-panies that want a long term strategic approach to recruit-ing future talent,” says Dr. Mathew Mandery ’61, Alumni Foundation chief educational officer and creator of the pro-gram with then Con Edison manager Lawrence Laskowski. “By identifying top talent in high school and nurturing it over time, they have a pool of ready-to-thrive college graduates to hire from.”

“The program demonstrates t he impor t a nce of hav ing a specialized high school l ike Brooklyn Tech with a curric-ulum and faculty to develop a student talent pool in the STEM fields,” Dr. Mandery adds.

“ T h e y a r e k n o w l e d g e -able future employees,” says Kimberly Strong, Con Edison vice president. “They come out already having relationships in the company; they’ve learned our culture.”

“I don’t know what Brooklyn Tech teaches them, but they arrive prepared – at college level. We need people who can add value, and they do”

One example is Dmitriy Kheyfets ’09. After his 2008 internship, he worked at Con Ed throughout college – time many of his school peers spent partying. Today, many of those

college pals are saddled with tuition debt and still trawling for good engineering jobs, he says. Dmitriy, meanwhile, is a

senior designer at Con Ed – with his talented hands and mind on the power distribution grid of the nation’s largest city.

In one way, the program has come full circle: its volunteer coordinator within the company is Leon Bukhman ’01 – one of the first seven Tech students ever to intern there. Today he oversees the processes and technologies Con Edison uses to comply with

regulatory requirements. “Giving students the opportunity to start their careers

through the same program that started mine is surreal,” he says. “I keep in touch with many of our former interns and find it very rewarding to see them succeed.” ■

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Con Edison hired full-time employees through its Brooklyn Tech partnership.

Top: Rennah Wang ‘18 (now at Columbia University) presents her summer internship project to senior executives (left);

computer aides Rebecca Ramnauth ’17 and Lily Li ’18 continue to work for the company while in college.

Bottom: Current Tech student interns, alums working for the company while in college, and full-time employees seem to mingle

seamlessly at Con Edison headquarters.

BTHS + Con Edison = Goldman Sachs….See page 21

C O V E R S T O R Y

16 T e c h T i m e s F A L L 2 0 1 8 W W W . B T H S A L U M N I . O R G

graduate through it. With classes culminating in adult-level professional certifications in design, architecture, engineer-ing and coding, and others taught at college level, CTE at Tech “is not the old vocational education – it is creating the future leaders of the STEM [science, technology, engineer-ing, mathematics] industries,” says Dr. Mathew Mandery ’61, chief educational officer of the Alumni Foundation and for-mer Tech principal.

Much learning at Tech, as before, occurs outside class: clubs, activities, and field trips. There too is a focus is on connecting to, and preparing for, the adult work world.

Assistant Principal Johnny Ventura, who oversees CTE as does Ms. Eddy, says: “In a STEM school like Tech, it is key to expose the students to professionalism.”

Twice a week, 100 students pair with volunteer mentors in the ACE Mentor Program for architecture, construction, and engineering. The average participating high school sends nine.

More than 50 architecture majors participate in design

competitions of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). An even greater number of budding engineers take part in American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) design competitions. Last year they placed first – in the world.

About 40 other students participate in competitions, activities, and field trips or career fairs sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers. Other field visits take students to Google, Microsoft, and the Brooklyn Nets. Senior executives from companies like Pixar guest lecture. And of course, each year more than 100 alumni return “home” to tell students about careers in their respective fields at the Alumni Foundation’s annual Career Day.

Even with all this, the educators at Brooklyn Tech leave little to chance. New this past year: an online, 40 question self-assessment tool, administered twice yearly, for all CTE students to chart how effectively they’ve strengthened their skill sets and their internship résumés. Teachers monitor and evaluate each student’s growth.

The future surely holds many surprises for all young people. One safe prediction: those who are Technites will be ready. ■

TOMORROWLAND [continued from page 9]

Ask An Alum: Blockchain(Because Technites know everything)

The digerati say blockchain technology is the next big thing. To find out why,

TechTimes asked one of Tech’s newest college graduates.

BY YEJIN LEE ’14

B LO C KC H A I N H A S PROV E N to be one of the most inno-vative and promising technologies since the creation of the Internet.

Bitcoin is the best known, but just the first of many, current and future blockchain uses. It is a digital currency that peo-ple exchange on a peer-to-peer network with no governing authority such as a central bank. People can exchange, buy, or sell bitcoin for currency, prod-ucts, and services. Encryption keys, which conceal the buyers’ and sellers’ identities, secure the peer-to-peer exchange.

These exchanges are placed in an immutable network of records called blockchain. With no cen-tral authority, encryption keys, and an immutable record, block-chain provides end-to-end trans-parency, security, and traceability in any exchange. A blockchain can be public or private. In a public blockchain, anyone can join and obtain a copy of the digital ledger; however, a majority of users must reach con-sensus to add any new transaction. In a private blockchain,

the network’s creator is usually in charge of inviting other users. In most cases, consortiums such as stakeholders of a company or project run the blockchain.

Today more than 100 start-ups and companies across dif-ferent industries are using blockchain. From financial ser-vices to consumer goods, blockchain has shown potential to eliminate the use of paper documents in commodity trading

and to end any illegal activities that occur during the produc-tion of goods. Société Générale, SimplyVital, and Provenance are a few companies that have suc-cessfully piloted a blockchain platform or service.

Yejin Lee ’14 just graduated from Syracuse University with a thesis on blockchain technology, and is now an analyst for a leading con-sulting firm. ■

Attention alums: Do you have expertise in a subject area that your fellow alums would be fascinated to learn about? Email the editor: neds@mediaimpact.biz

F A M I L Y

17F A L L 2 0 1 8 T e c h T i m e s

“When people see us in a hallway or in a room together, there’s a list of questions we know we’ll be asked. One is, ‘Whoa! Do you guys do everything together ?!’”

“In short, the answer is yes. We have truly stuck together through thick and thin. When we were nine, our dad had a stroke. He was pronounced brain-dead and taken off the machines that kept him alive.

His death was a tremendous heartbreak… the worst possible thing in the entire universe. As time went on, we realized that being together was one of the reasons we got through everything.

If we didn’t have each other… it’s hard to think about. The strength we feel from having each other in our lives is all we really need.

So, we stick together all the time.

Being in Brooklyn Tech together was the exact right choice. We know our dad would be proud of all that we’ve become and are becoming. We miss him, but with every achievement is a thought that he is there somewhere and smiling.

We feel the Tech family’s support. Since we were young we’ve been interested in mathematics and performance. Tech’s advanced academics and its majors are preparing us for college and the real world, but it has a drama and music program. We were in Fiddler on the Roof, the spring musical – a great way to incorporate the arts into our lives.” ■Susan Mayham ’76 contributed to the development of this story. Adapted from a post on Humans of Brooklyn Tech, a student-run social media page.

Together

“I don’t exactly know yet what kind of career I will want, but I’ve always enjoyed the idea of being a powerful businesswoman.

I might want to be a Finance major. I love math. I learn it quickly. I love to solve problems... even the tricky ones. Tech’s math club pushes our limits, and the musical made me feel so comfortable that I even want to be on stage.”

--WILLA

“My life doesn’t have an end goal just yet, and my career path is totally invisible to me now. However, I know I love design, and want that to incorporate somehow. I think I’ll be leaning towards the industrial design major, though anything can happen in the next year.

I’m ready for whatever my next years at Tech will bring!”

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Willa and Lucy Meissner, Class of 2021

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18 T e c h T i m e s F A L L 2 0 1 8 W W W . B T H S A L U M N I . O R G

T2: We understand and appreciate your love for Brooklyn Tech – but what’s behind your impassioned support of public education?LR: A democracy can’t exist without high-quality public edu-cation. It’s the equalizer and the facilitator. The preponder-ance of successful people in America have received their edu-cation in public school. Public schools work.

T2: One has to wonder why it’s even an issue that needs to be discussed.LR: It’s mythology that the public schools don’t work. It seems to be promoted by people who are demagogues. They use issues like this to gain political power: it is much more popular to com-plain about the school system than to cite its vir-tues. It seems like every candidate for public office says, “We have to do more. We have to do better.” Implicit in this is that we’re not doing enough.

I agree that we should do more, but the critics go over the line. They talk about failures as though

there were no successes.The idea that the best education comes from private school is set into the minds of the popula-tion. I don’t think that is correct.

T 2 : W h e r e d o c h a r t e r s c h o o l s f i t i n t o y o u r viewpoint? LR: Some people get the impression that I am against them.

➜

One for the Books

Talking WithLen Riggio ’58

Q & A

LEN RIGGIO ’58 is the founder and chairman of Barnes & Noble Inc., the world’s largest bookseller. He is also Brooklyn Tech’s biggest fan and greatest benefactor: over more than three decades, his generosity has benefited tens of thousands of Technites. In appreciation, the iconic Tech auditorium was recently named in his honor, and he was named a Titan of Tech in addition to his longtime status as a BTHS Hall of Fame member.

He is also a passionate advocate of public education – a topic he discusses here with TechTimes.

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Not so. I am pro public school. We shouldn’t be abdicating public schools so that America consists of nothing but charter schools. We have to have great public schools. It seems there’s a whole movement trying to decry public schools as failing. It’s just ridiculous on the surface. If the charter schools are doing something better than public educators, then the public schools should emulate that – just as the charter schools would do well to learn lessons from Brooklyn Tech.

T2: Now we’re starting to see where your support of public education originated!LR: It is pretty hard to replicate Brooklyn Tech, but what we’re doing there could be replicated around the country. I would call Brooklyn Tech poetry in motion. It’s an indefinable quality—it’s in hues, not colors. It’s subtle. It’s an aura. It can’t be defined.

The students know they are in a special place. The quest to learn, the quest to grow, to be some-one: there’s no question that it’s in the air. These young people are aspirants, not the already arrived.

T2: Something special happens in the school. Is it unique to Tech?LR: Brooklyn Tech is not the only model for greatness in public education. There are models all over. There are reasons some schools work and others don’t. We have to do a better job of fig-uring out why the good schools work, and why they work over

a long period of time. Why does their culture produce results year after year? We have to emu-late them. We have to bring a positive approach toward educa-tion and say: “What’s working? Let’s do it,” rather than “What’s failing? Let’s not do it.”

T2 : W h a t is yo u r rea c tio n to the nationwide effort by teachers to improve their pay?LR: All over America teach-ers are standing up and saying their salaries have not caught

up with inflation over the past 20 years. That situation has to be redressed. It’s virtually impossible to pay teachers what they’re really worth, but you have to give them a fair wage.

People who teach in our public schools in New York City can’t even live in New York. They can’t live in the outer boroughs.

[Elected officials] have to do a better job. They have to come to grips with this issue. Unless they pay the teachers well, they’re not going to get high-quality people, and they’re not going to retain them.

T2: You’ve said before that you have some-times wistfully expressed a desire to trade in your fantastically successful career to be a teacher. LR: I had noted, as a business person early on, that no matter what I did in life it would never be as important as people who taught our young people; that is the highest calling. I thought that when I was done with making money, deal me in: I want to be a teacher. ■

“I WOULD CALL

BROOKLYN TECH

POETRY IN MOTION.”

“A democracy can’t exist without high-quality public education.”

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In appreciation of his commitment and his generosity,

Brooklyn Tech’s iconic auditorium was named in

his honor last April.

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Accomplishments of DistinctionWe asked members of the 50th anniversary class, the class of 1968, to tell us one amazing, ridiculous, special or memorable thing they had accomplished.

• Stood on top of a Russian missile – Jeffrey Wang• Bumped into the Queen of England while sightseeing –

John Vassall• Moved 2 stuffed giraffes out of the Smithsonian Museum

– Mark Rausch• Came back to teach at Brooklyn Tech (only one from his

class who did) – Paul Friedman• Assistant cameraman on Christie Brinkley’s earliest

photo shoots – Ron Cerretta

• Got paid as environmental engineer to inject toxins into the ground instead of out – Mark Goltz

• Biked from Vancouver to Boston (in 1975) – Ed Roffman• Became a latter-day Beat poet; hung out with Allen

Ginsberg and William Burroughs – Mike Wojczuk• Talked on the phone with John Lennon – Martin Brooks• Ran into his first wife on his first date with his second

wife – Barry Marcus• Ran 18 marathons – Miles Eng

Calendar of Events October 14 Long Island Breakfast, Cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City, LIOctober 23 Career Day at TechNovember 10 Founders Day Celebration at TechNovember 28 Titans of Tech Dinner, Chelsea Piers’ Pier Sixty, ManhattanJanuary 4 Recent Alumni Day at TechFebruary 4 Annual Tech Celebration, Gargiulo’s Restaurant, Coney IslandMarch 16 Ruby Breakfast at TechMarch 22 Volunteer/Internship Panel at TechApril 5- 6 Homecoming at Tech May 9 Parents Ass’n/Alumni Foundation Auction, Berg’n, BrooklynJune 6 Hall of Fame Induction at Tech

This year’s winning entry is:

Aboard a Nuclear-Powered Fast Attack Submarine.

The SSN ANNAPOLIS, where professors Tom Congedo ’68, University of Pittsburgh (left) and John I. Hochstein ’69, University of Memphis (right) met in July during a Navy educational tour for academics.

Readers: Got a story as good as this?Send it to neds@mediaimpact.biz and we’ll publish the best ones next time.PHOTOS: US NAVY

UNLIKELY ENCOUNTERSA TechTimes feature in which Technites reveal the strangest place they ever bumped into a fellow alum they’d not met before.

R I S I N G ★ S T A R

21F A L L 2 0 1 8 T e c h T i m e s

Head Start

ALAN PLOTKO ’13 software engineer, Goldman Sachs

MY FRE SHMAN YEAR IN COLLEGE , I was competing at a hackathon and hoping to catch the attention of some recruiters for a summer internship opportunity in software engineering. They asked about my professional experience: They don’t care what you did in class, because everyone’s doing that.

They noticed I had done the Con Edison internship program at Brooklyn Tech, and I stood out. I got the internship.

Two summers later I met some Goldman Sachs engineers at another hackathon and I had a super interview with them. I got the Goldman Sachs internship as a rising senior, and I was offered a full-time role following that summer.

My freshman internship caught their initial attention: freshmen aren’t expected to get internships; they expect to see that you did some side projects.

It’s very competitive to get an internship in our industry. It all started from my Brooklyn Tech – Con Edison summer. That gave me the head start. I saw early on that when a recruiter is thinking, ‘Give me a reason to hire you’… it’s great to have a résumé that says, ‘BAM! Look at the experience!’

Now I build software globally used across the firm. I feel that I am on the right career path for me. And I just reached a milestone – I have an intern now! I’m always looking for opportunities to mentor and give back to others. ■P

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ALL IN THE FAMILYNORM KELLER ’54 didn’t realize what he started: the longtime Alumni Foundation board member has seen both daughter Janice Keller McDowall ’85 and son Kurt Keller ’88 (top) graduate Brooklyn Tech. But the topper came in June, when grandson Jack McDowall ’18 followed in the proud footsteps.

Jack reports that he has not yet married or bore offspring – so Norm, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for that fourth generation. ■

Attention alums: Some of us are three-generation Technites; some of us were five sibling-Tech Blue. Who out there has the biggest Technite family? Cousins? Grandchildren? Aunts and uncles? Send your BTHS “All in the Family” story to the editor: Neds@mediaimpact.biz . We’ll publish the biggest and best.P

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A feature in which alums, the statute of limitations having run out, ‘fess up to stunts and minor misdeeds they pulled off during their student days – and got away with.

“We were tasked to remove paint from a room’s floor. We decided to do this by filling the room with shaving foam, which would remove the paint. Then we flooded the floor to clean up the shaving foam. That was when we learned that the drain in the center of the room had been capped off decades ago...” Liz Decolvenaere ’08 Attention all alumni: Was there a similar prank, irreverence or stunt which you should not have committed during your Tech days that you nonetheless did – and got away with? Tell us and we will publish the best. Please note: no stories of offenses against the law or official regulations, please. Send your tale to TechTimes at: neds@mediaimpact.biz

True Confessions

C L A S S N O T E S

22 T e c h T i m e s F A L L 2 0 1 8 W W W . B T H S A L U M N I . O R G

ALUM NEWS MOM WAS RIGHT

AS A TECHNITE , Assemblywoman Latrice Monique Walker ’97 was a graphic communications major and cheerleader, aiming for a career in the entertainment industry. Not long after graduation, a traumatic event altered her life and launched her on a new course – public service.

The Brownsville housing project where she had grown up was abruptly vacated and torn down when building flaws were detected. Hundreds of people including her family were cast into a diaspora.

Latrice saw in the experience a disturbing disregard for due process and tenant rights. “Take out your frustrations by going to law school and becoming a lawyer,” her mother advised.

Which is exactly what Latrice did.After a brief detour into pre-med, she switched to

law (“I told my mom, ‘I’m going to be Clair Huxtable, not Heathcliff.’”) and even served as legal assistant

to Titan of Tech Londell McMillan ’83. A community advocate from the start, she served as counsel to a member of Congress, and has helped tenants facing eviction and defended young people in “stop and frisk” cases.

Since 2015 Latrice has represented Brownsville in the New York State Assembly. She serves on five committees: housing, election law, energy, correction and insurance. She chairs the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.

She stands up for women – today’s young women especially: “They are limitless. They didn’t grow up having the inhibitions we received from parents and grandparents coming out of the Jim Crow era. They are an inspiration to me.” ■

ON BOARD

JOHN ALBERT ’90 AND

DAVID LEE ’78 have been elected to the Alumni Foundation board of directors.

John is counsel to Bolton St. Johns, assisting leading New York City non-profits focused on youth and education. He previously served on the Alumni Foundation board in the 2000s.

David is exec-utive director of

CoalitionEDU, a group supporting the finest traditions of the specialized high schools of New York City and promoting equal access to these schools. ■

DOUBLE DEAN

ON JAN.1, DR. JOHN L . JACKSON ’89

achieves an academic rarity: he trades in one deanship for another within the same university when he becomes dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication. Since 2014 he has been dean of Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice. “Tech taught me to feel comfortable enough in my own cultural skin,” he says, “to learn about/from (and work alongside) individuals with different/

varied histories and everyday experiences. It also made it clear to me that I didn’t actually want to be an electrical engineer.” (laughs) ■

D R O P T E C H T I M E S A N O T E A B O U T Y O U R N E W S O R U P D AT E … S E E B O T T O M P. 2 3

TWO

INDIANAS

THE SPIRIT OF

INDIANA JONE S

comes to life in two members of the Class of 1968.

Dr. Jeffrey Quilter is direc-tor of Harvard’s Peabody Mu- seum of Arch-

aeology and Ethnology, a professor in Harvard’s anthropology department, and author. He has conducted archae-ological investigations in Peru, Costa Rica and the U.S. He once made interna-tional news: his team discovered a lost language – on a 400 year old bit of paper they excavated in Peru.

John Strusinski has for more than 30 years been a collector and dealer of tribal art, especially in Indonesia, where he lived for many years. His business, Primary Source, is based in Los Angeles and Bali, and includes masks, jewelry and armaments. ■

SERVING

ROSIA

BLACKWELL

LAWRENCE

’81 was re-elected Eastern Regional Director of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, an organization

of more than 250,000 college-educated women worldwide. Dedicated to public service, scholarship, and social justice, it emphasizes programs that target African-American communities. In this volunteer role she leads 150 chapters in the eastern U.S. and overseas. ■

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S T U D E N T A U T H O R

CLASS NOTESGEORGE MAUL

’56 received the National Eagle Scout

Association’s Outstanding Eagle Scout award for lifetime achievement. He is a fulltime professor of oceanography at Florida Institute of Technology.

Inspired by two of his Tech teachers, ARTHUR D.

GREEN ’63 took up the same profession, rising to assistant principal, in New York City. Now retired, he pursues his interest in history by volunteering at Ellis Island and the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

ALAN KOCH ’66 was elected to the board of directors of the Carpinteria (CA) Arts Center. He is retired from two

careers: banking and coaching high school girls’ basketball.

ED KASSOF ’68 is retired from three careers: aeronau-tical engineering,

NYPD police officer, and Air Force flight medic.

SCOTT MUGNO ’74, a longtime senior executive at FedEx, was nominated in December 2017 as assistant U.S. secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

JENNY LOW ’82 is Director of the Community Engagement

Division of the New York City Council.

MARK ANTHONY NEAL

’83 is department chair and distinguished profes-

sor of African and African American studies and found-ing director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship at Duke University.

ANTHONY BROWNE ’84 is department chair of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino studies at Hunter College.

MARSHA STEPHANIE BLAKE

’92 (Orange is the New Black, The Good Wife) will appear in the 2019 Netflix miniseries Central Park Five.

MALIKA JEFFRIES-EL ’92 was one of 51 scientists named a 2018 Fellow of the American Chemical Society for out-standing achievements. She is a chemist at Boston University researching organic semicon-ductor materials.

After his first successful Internet business, ANDREW WARNER’92 started Mixergy, where proven entrepreneurs teach how they built their startups. Mixergy has had the found-ers of Wikipedia, Groupon, LivingSocial, and LinkedIn.

LIZ DECOLVENAERE ’08 (see “True Confessions,”

page 21) is a postdoctoral research scientist at D.E. Shaw Research.

REBECCA BARON ’14 graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College and has entered the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. ■Alums: send us your professional or personal news update. Send to editor Ned Steele ’68: neds@mediaimpact.biz

DISADVANTAGE, ADVANTAGE BY JOYCE ZHANG ’18

BROOKLYN TECH IS FILLED with the children of immigrants, and a majority of us are free lunch-eligible. Many students see their status as a challenge to overcome. But I see it differently: I think our so-called “disadvantages” are actually advantages.

It’s a fundamental flaw in the mentality of the majority of Technites, and many adults as well: We constantly compare our-selves to each other. This makes us overlook our full potential.

It is easy for people to look at their circumstances and feel inad-equate, with no control over the outcome of their lives, as though they were born disadvantaged and it will always be that way.

But as I said, we need to see disadvantages as advantages. It is through hardships and obstacles that we become stronger and capable of adapting to situations, conquering problems, and doing the impossible.

My parents arrived in America as immigrants. They currently work more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I rarely see them. Despite their hard work, we’re low income. I am the first in my family to attend college.

Despite all this, I find myself extremely privileged. I have always had the support of my family and friends, the work ethic necessary for success, and a love for learning and taking on chal-lenges. The biggest room is the room for improvement and by changing our perception of disadvantage into advantage, we’ll be one step closer to achieving the heights of excellence our parents envisioned for us. ■

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HERO: Maya Angelou

BOOK SHE’S READING: “Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison

SECRET TALENT: “I can bark. I don’t think it is a talent.”

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24 T e c h T i m e s F A L L 2 0 1 8 W W W . B T H S A L U M N I . O R G

$1 million + Alumni Isaac Heller ’43 Norman K. Keller ’54 Leonard Riggio ’58 Leandro P. Rizzuto ’56 Charles B. Wang ’62 $500,000 + Alumni Fred M. Grafton ’44 Floyd Warkol ’65 Josh S. Weston ’46 $250,000 +Alumni James Fantaci ’64 Victor Insetta ’57 Erik Klokholm ’40 Achilles Perry ’58 John Catsimatidis ’65 $100,000 + Alumni Harold Antler ’46 Charles A. DeBenedittis

’48 Howard Fluhr ’59 &

The Segal Company Jeffrey M. Haitkin ’62 Herbert L. Henkel ’66 Alfred Lerner ’51 Frederick C. Meyer ’40 Michael F. Parlamis ’58 Lee James Principe ’56 Mary Jane Schnoor &

Richard H. Schnoor ’49 Louis H. Siracusano Sr.

’60 Friends of Tech Richard Mack Stephen C. Mack $50,000 + Alumni David Abraham ’48 Martin V. Alonzo ’48 Willard N. Archie ’61 Anthony J. Armini ’55 Larry Birenbaum ’65 Peter J. Cobos ’72 Robert F. Davey ’58 Jacob Feinstein ’60 Peter A. Ferentinos ’55 Joseph J. Jacobs ’34 Joseph J. Kaminski ’56 Stuart Kessler ’47 Richard M. Kulak ’56 Rande H. Lazar ’69 William L. Mack ’57 Michael Minikes ’61 Carmine A. Morano ’72 Robert C. Ochs ’59 Sherman Rigby ’46 Alan M. Silberstein ’65 Thomas J. Volpe ’53 Michael A. Weiss ’57 Friends of Tech Susanne D. Ellis $25,000 + Alumni Anonymous ’67 Douglas Besharov ’62 Larry L. Cary ’70 Joseph M. Colucci ’54

John di Domenico ’69 James DiBenedetto ’71 Andras Frankl ’67 Lawrence Harte ’49 Eric Kaltman ’60 Mathew M. Mandery ’61 Robert Marchisotto ’47 Arnold J. Melloy ’40 Margaret Murphy ’83 Murray H. Neidorf ’45 Bert Reitman ’63 Patrick Romano ’43 George E. Safiol ’50 Anthony P. Schirripa ’67 William Sheluck Jr. ’58 John C. Siltanen ’31 Chester Wong ’94 Friends of Tech Martin V. Alonzo Jr. &

Marlene Alonzo & Sabrina Alonzo

John Arfman Dorcey Chernick Jason Haitkin Penny Haitkin Alice C. Hartley Betty J. Mayer $10,000 + Alumni Frederick H. Ajootian ’41 Joseph Angelone ’63 Mark Arzoomanian ’83 Lawrence A. Baker ’61 Tony Bartolomeo ’70 Cindy L. Bird-Kue ’86 LeRoy N. Callender ’50 Wilton Cedeno ’82 Nicholas Y. Chu ’77 John V. Cioffi ’67 Kenneth D. Daly ’84 William A. Davis Jr. ’59 Thomas C. DeCanio ’63 Al D’Elia ’67 Murray Dropkin ’62 Leonard Edelstein ’55 Keith Forman ’76 Bernard R. Gifford ’61 Jeffrey L. Goldberg ’69 Domingo Gonzalez ’72 Eugene J. Gottesman ’47 George Graf ’70 William H. Henry ’57 K. Steven Horlitz ’64 Edward H. Kadushin ’57 Charles Kyrie Kallas ’37 Steve H. Kaplan ’63 Penelope Kokkinides ’87 Eliza Kwong ’93 Edward T. LaGrassa ’65 Richard E. LaMotta ’60 Franklin F. Lee ’77 Michael Levine ’61 Glenn Y. Louie ’59 Stephen J. Lovell ’57 Lawrence C. Lynnworth

’54 John M. Lyons ’66 Sidney A. Mayer ’46 Susan Mayham ’76 George W. Moran ’61 John Moy ’58 John R. Murphy ’61 Michael D. Nadler ’52 Alan S. Natter ’69 Floyd R. Orr ’55 Michael Reiff ’72

Daniel K. Roberts ’43 John B. Rofrano ’61 Robert M. Rosen ’51 Edward R. Rothenberg

’61 William J. Rouhana Jr. ’69 Edward P. Salzano ’64 Alfred Schroeder ’46 Irwin Shapiro ’47 Roy B. Simpson ’41 Lawrence Sirovich ’51 Barry Sohnen ’70 Ronald P. Stanton ’46 Ned Steele ’68 George Suffal ’53 Joseph N. Sweeney ’48 Michael Tannenbaum ’58 Wesley E Truesdell ’46 Armand J. Valenzi ’44 George L. Van Amson

’70 Patricia Vasbinder &

Victor Montana ’60 Louis Walkover ’37 Stephen Weinryb ’75 Steven Wishnia ’66 William H. Wong ’64 Douglas Yagilowich ’76 Friends of Tech Emanuel Becker Jacob Goldfield Elizabeth Korevaar Ellen Mazur Thomson Moshe Siegel Daniel Stahl Jonnie Stahl Stuart Subotnick Daniel Tomai Anre Williams Randi Zinn $5,000 + Alumni Ron S. Adler ’68 Louis G. Adolfsen ’67 Kenneth S. Albano ’68 Michael A. Antino ’60 Joseph F. Azara Jr. ’64 Donald Bady ’48 Rudolph Bahr Jr. ’41 Eric D. Barthell ’75 Harry H. Birkenruth ’49 Anthony Borra ’58 Marty Borruso ’71 Robert H. Buggeln ’57 Dominic N. Castellano

’45 Joseph A. Cavallo ’58 Robert J. Ciemian ’59 Deirdre D. Cooke ’80 Kenneth D’Alessandro

’66 James E. Dalton ’49 Fred M. Del Gaudio ’71 Frederick DeMatteis ’40 Edward Diamond ’63 Robert C. DiChiara ’63 Robert H. Digby ’61 Robert J. Domanoski ’47 Jonathan D. Dubin ’74 Barry D. Epstein ’58 Domenick J. Esposito ’65 Murray Farash ’52 Robert Femenella ’72 Richard R. Ferrara ’59 Keith Franklin ’78 David L. Fung ’81

Arnold Goldman ’73 Adrienne D. Gonzalez

’94 Herbert A. Granath ’48 Michael Greenstein ’65 Robert Gresl ’46 Arnold A Gruber ’59 Mario Guerrero ’86 Steven A. Hallem ’72 Gordon H. Hensley ’47 Joy H. Hsiao ’87 Allan C. Johnson ’28 Michelle Y. Johnson-

Lewis ’79 Peter Kakoyiannis ’65 Leslie P. Kalmus ’56 Sheldon Katz ’52 Arthur H. Kettenbeil ’67 Carl H. Kiesewetter ’55 Eugene V. Kosso ’42 Bert Krauss ’50 Joel F. Lehrer ’48 Salvatore Lentini ’79 Marvin J. Levine ’65 Nathan Lipke ’92 John Liu ’98 Raymond M. Loew ’58 Joel O. Lubenau ’56 Frank R. Luszcz ’61 Edward D. Miller ’56 Francis C. Moon ’57 Hau Yee Ng-Lo ’80 Kaeisha T. O’Neal ’99 Robert J. Pavan ’47 Eugene Picone ’76 Lee H. Pomeroy ’50 Valentine P. Povinelli

Jr. ’59 Bertram Quelch ’45 Edward Roffman ’68 Charles J. Rose ’70 Edward M. Rosensteel ’74 Lawrence G. Rubin ’43 Dan M. Ruesterholz ’56 Seth Ruzi ’76 Erwin L. Schaub ’46 Roger E. Schechter ’70 Ernest R. Schultz ’25 Michael Simpson ’90 Irwin Smiley ’46 Richard E. Sorensen ’60 Robert J. Stalzer ’59 Mitchell E. Stashower ’83 Salvatore J. Vitale Jr. ’56 Ralph B. Wagner ’51 David W. Wallace ’42 Denice C. Ware ’83 Elizabeth M. Wieckowski

’79 Grayling G. Williams ’76 Russell P. Wong ’79 William C. Wurst ’67 Lloyd Zeitman ’69 Friends of Tech Randell Barclay Syd Blatt Charles Cahn Jr. Brian Cosgrove Joseph Cuzzocrea Sr. Lucia DeSanti Ronald T. Diamond James Dimon Mary-Jean Eastman Al Ferrara William L. Haines John Hensley Kiseon Ko

Carol Loewenson Thomas Lowry Stephen Mazur Michele Meyer Regina M. Pitaro Jeff Porrello Joan Riegel Jonathan Riegel David Rios Randi Rossignol Robert C. Stewart Robert Sumanis John Thonet

Corporate and Organization Sponsors BTHS Parent

Association, Inc Con Edison Goldman Sachs Gives

Annual Giving Fund National Grid BTHS Alumni Long

Island Chapter Charles B. Wang

International Foundation

C. R. Bard Foundation Ingersoll Rand American Express

Foundation The Durst Organization Keyspan The Lotos Foundation National Basketball

Association Related Construction

Holdings, LLC Simpson, Thacher &

Bartlett LLP Verizon Foundation, Inc. Zwanger-Pesiri Radiology

Group, LLP B T Alex Brown BDO Seidman, LLP Care2 Charles B. Wang

Associates, Inc. Chase Manhattan Bank Computer Associates

International, Inc. Cowles Media

Foundation Eastern Metalworks of

NY, Inc. FIRST GameStop Corporation Gatorade Company GIBC Digital Goldman Sachs Matching

Gift Program Heritage Mechanical

Services, Inc. The Hyde Agency Ice Air, LLC Jaros Baum & Bolles John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mancini Duffy Marathon Bank Math For America, Inc. MBS Textbook Exchange Merrill Lynch & Co.

Foundation Metromedia Company National Society of Black

Engineers The New York

Community Trust

Octagon Raytheon Company SIAC SRS Enterprises, Inc. T.E.C. Systems, Inc. TD Bank Time Warner Turner Construction Warner Brothers

Television Wasserman Foundation Air Products Bonanza Productions,

Inc. Brooklyn Nets Burson-Marsteller Cary Kane, LLP Cellini Fine Jewelry Ceramax Co. Chicago Bridge & Iron

Company Cirocco & Ozzimo, Inc. Construction Resources

Corp of New York Credit Suisse Securities Daikin Applied Deutsche Bank Duggal Color Projects,

Inc. El Paso Energy

Foundation Gateway Institute for

Pre-College Education Haights Cross Operating

Company ITW Foundation Laura Berdon Foundation Liberty Science Center Lucent Technologies M & I Electric Industries,

Inc. Miller Proctor Nickolas,

Inc. Morgan Stanley

Cybergrants National Hockey League

Foundation P.J. Mechanical Corp Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,

Wharton & Garrison Pennoni Associates, Inc. Pension Review Piper Jaffrey Polytechnic University Ridgewood Savings Bank Robinson Silverman

Pearce Aronsohn & Berman LLP

Simatelex Manufacturing Company

SPX Cooling Technologies

Starlite Printers Sterling Project

Development Group Structure Tone, Inc. Textron Charitable Trust The Benevity Community

Impact Fund The Jay Chiat

Foundation, Inc. The Kahn Family

Charitable Foundation The McGraw-Hill

Companies Zoppas P

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The list reflects total lifetime giving through June 30, 2018 above $5,000. Many thanks to all the contributors who have not yet reached that level but whose contributions are making a difference at Brooklyn Tech.

Lifetime Giving

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Partnerships Enhancing Educational Experiences for Brooklyn Tech Students

• National Grid – Our partnership with National Grid continues into its sixth year sponsoring the Middle School STEM Pipeline Program.

• Con Edison – A new grant from Con Edison is enabling Tech to build a greenhouse as an extension to the environmental science lab. In addition, they have committed $5000 to support our Robotics Team and continue to support a summer internship program for rising Tech seniors.

• Picattiny Arsenal – Picattiny Arsenal has provided a mentor and financial support for our robotics team.

• Zwanger-Pesiri Radiology – A new partnership has enabled us to replace computers in the Environmental Science Lab; the dedication of the lab took place during the 2017-18 school year.

• NYU Tandon School of Engineering – Continues to provide research internships, access to the ARISE Program, ties to the ACE Mentor Program and the Dynamic Systems Lab.

• New York Institute of Technology – we are working with NYIT to develop ties to our media major. NYIT continues to provide support to make the course management software, Moodle available to Brooklyn Tech on a school-wide basis.

• Turner Construction - Worked with Turner to make a comprehensive scholarship/internship program in construction management at Pratt Institute available to Brooklyn Tech students. Continued to work with Turner to maintain our connection with the Turner Youth Force 2020 program.

• ACE Mentor Program – Through our partnership with ACE we have been able to expand the number of internship experiences available to Brooklyn Tech students to seventy placements.

• Long Island University – the partnership with the School of Pharmacology provides research opportunities for Weston Research Scholars. LIU has sponsored two new majors – the first is an accelerated program leading to a PhD in Pharmacology and Physical Therapy and the second is in Advanced Health Professions.

• Medgar Evers College – This partnership continues to provide several summer research placements for Weston Scholars in biology and chemistry.

• Rutgers University – The Civil Engineering Department of Rutgers School of Engineering is providing professional advice in the development of our Materials Testing Lab.

• Stevens Institute of Technology – Our partnership with Stevens continues to develop. It provides internships for Weston Scholars and dialogue between Stevens professors and Brooklyn Tech faculty.

PROGRAMS

LEANDRO P. RIZZUTO INTERNSHIP PROGRAM- Rizzuto,’56 sponsors our internship program which provides field based opportunities for our students.

This past school year over 425 students participated in the Leandro P. Rizzuto Intern-ship Program in conjunction with the Career & Technical Education (CTE) Program.

The Architecture Construction Engineering (ACE) Mentorship Program continues to be a popular program with over 90 Tech students participating.

Our ‘flagship’ internship, The BTHS-Con Edison Summer Internship Program, provided internships for 15 students from the Electrical, Mechatronics & Robotics, Physics and Math majors.

Futures and Options (futuresandoptions.org) is another popular program providing career exploration and internships with over 10 students participating

What’s also very noteworthy is that more and more Tech alum who attend Homecoming and Career Day are looking

for ways to provide meaningful internship opportunities. At least a third of the 50 internships posted on the school website are from Tech alum.

WESTON RESEARCH SCHOLARS PROGRAM – Josh ’46 and Judy Weston sponsor a research program designed to pair students with a Brooklyn Tech mentor and an external mentor to pursue research in all STEM areas.

Coordinated research experiences for sophomores, juniors and seniors in the program.

Produced a research journal documenting the work of the Weston Research Scholars Class of 2018

Conducted the recognition program and White Coat Ceremony on June 22 which included a welcoming of new members.

Secured summer 2018 research placements for 49 students.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STEM PIPELINE PROGRAMBrooklyn Technical High School in collabora-tion with the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Founda-tion and National Grid launched the STEM Pipeline program in July 2013 to introduce Middle School students to the exciting world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The program is designed to develop the next generation of STEM leaders by opening the world of science and technology to middle school students and prepare them for the challeng-es facing them in high school, college and careers. Preparation for the Specialized High School Admission Test, SHSAT, is incorpo-rated into the program to enable access to the specialized high schools.

We draw our participants from Brooklyn middle schools that are under-represented in the specialized high schools.

Students in the program experience a variety of project-based activities including design and modeling, automation and robotics, energy and the environment, and the science of technology. The classes are taught by Brooklyn Tech faculty and current Brooklyn Tech students serve as assistants.

Annual Report

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Upon graduating from middle school, students who are admitted to Brooklyn Tech continue in the program having the opportunity to study at one of the nation’s premier specialized STEM high schools.

JEFFREY M. HAITKIN ‘62 FACULTY GRANT PROGRAM - supports faculty, student activities, and curriculum enhance-ments. The grant program, enables teachers to attend professional conferences, earn additional professional credentials, receive training to stay at the cutting edge of their craft, bring teaching tools to the classroom that otherwise would not be available, expand instructional opportunities for stu-dents. Grants have been awarded in many categories including: NASC; Zome tools for mathematics classes, LEAD conference for the Student Government Organization; DNA Lab materials; College Board Training for teachers teaching Advanced Placement and the Capstone Project; Chemistry Manipula-tives for classroom use; National Society of Black Engineers, Debate, Mock Trial, AMC Math Contest; Science Olympiad and a host of other items.

SCHOLARSHIPS - Office manages $15,000 in scholarships annually started by alums in memoriam or for subject area recognition. Our office obtains the names of the nominees, makes certain that each meets the selection criteria, presents letters at Se-nior Awards night and makes disbursements before the end of the school year.

EVENTS/ACTIVITIES/INITIATIVES

CAREER DAY - In 2017, we recruited speakers with the help of alums, friends, local community, and the Parents Association. The parents were instrumental in helping us recruit for the medical and chemistry fields; two areas where we previously had difficulty obtaining speakers.

We had 125 attendees who covered close to 200 classes consisting of junior and senior major classes, freshman and sophomore English classes, freshman DDP classes, AP Computer Science, and

sophomore digital electronics classes.Our student board members instituted

workshops to bookend Career Day – Resume Writing and Interviewing and Financial Literacy. These workshops were attended by 80 students.

AUCTION -This was the second time we worked with the Parents Association on an auction, which was comprised of an on-line component and a live event at Berg’n. Auction items were solicited from businesses, friends, and alumni.

RECENT ALUMNI DAY - Our target audience base consisted of individuals that were 5 years out, or less. Alums were given schedules of two-three classes within their previous major, or those that were closely aligned with their college studies. They were also given different key-points to speak on, depending on whether they were freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors.

Overall attendance included 300+ alumni.

HOMECOMING -Homecoming has become a two-day event. Friday, we showcase the school by hosting a panel discussion in the auditorium and guided tours. The day culminates with lunch at Juniors.

Saturday begins with an auditorium presentation. This year we showcased our award-winning STEP Teams – the Lady Drag-ons and Organized Chaos, our jazz band and our chorus. We also presented an excerpt from our spring musical – “Fiddler on the Roof”. During Homecoming we named the au-ditorium in honor of Leonard Riggio ’58, Chair and Founder of Barnes and Noble and major supporter of our Foundation. Class pictures were taken, memorabilia were sold and lunch was served. Classrooms were open for alumni visits. Saturday night was capped off with individual anniversary year parties at different venues throughout the five boroughs.

RUBY ENGINEERS – Leadership and self-esteem building group for young women founded by Susan Mayham ’76. The Ruby Event on March 10 awarded 175 students certificates for their outstanding perfor-

mance, or participation. Tech alum, Cheryl Williams ‘94, was our keynote speaker.

MENTORING -The program is two years old and we have ten students who were being mentored. We are in the process of identifying new mentees; only one is left from the original group because all have graduated. The mentors meet monthly and exchange ideas as to how to support their mentees. The mentors have also been active at Tech’s Open House, Accepted Students Night and various fairs.

SCHOOL CULTURE ADVISORY -They have been working diligently on a Founders Day which will be held on November 10. The alumni involved in this group have been active at Tech’s Open House, Accepted Students Night, and various fairs.

MIDDLE SCHOOL OUTREACH GROUP- This group meets monthly and has been extremely active in sharing information throughout the community about the specialized high schools. They have spoken at many community boards and tenant meetings, participated in DOE outreach events and have assisted us with our Parent Outreach efforts in districts where there is an under-representation of students coming to the specialized high schools.

The Foundation hosted several major events at Tech for parents and students of Brooklyn middle schools. We had excellent attendance and interacted with over 11,000 participants. The Department of Education’s Office of Student Enrollment as well as the Office of Assessment participated in two of these workshops. The DOE also helped us obtain directories, handbooks and changes to the test booklet for each of these workshops.

We participated in Outreach events at various middle schools throughout the five boroughs. We participated in two specialized high schools fairs this summer and three sessions on high school admissions.

The middle school outreach group assists at these events and helps facilitate parent sign-ups at each event.

Annual Report

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Investment Asset Allocation

% Allocation

As of July 31, 2017

FY 17/16 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES AND CHARGES IN NET ASSETS

Unrestricted

Temporarily

Restricted

Permanently

Restricted Total

2017 2016

SUPPORT $679,823 $472,353 $ - $1,152,176 $683,029

REVENUE $1,488,732 $9,557 - $1,498,289 $1,035,255

NET ASSETS RELEASES FROM RESTRICTIONS

$190,435

($190,435)

-

-

-

Total Support And Revenue

$2,358,990

$291,475

-

$2,650,415

$1,718,284

EXPENSES $2,035,437 - - $2,035,437 $1,759,674

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS

$323,553

$291,475

-

$615,028

($41,390)

NET ASSETS, BEGINNING OF YEAR

$4,308,751

$1,029,281

$7,817,212

$13,155,244

$13,196,634

NET ASSETS, END OF YEAR

$4,308,751

$1,029,281

$7,817,212

$13,770,272

$13,155,244

Parentheses indicates a negative number

Cash Alternatives 5.46% Fixed Income 42.52%

Equities 28.66%

Alternative Investments 11.43%

Real Assets 11.93%

Miscellaneous 0.00%

Account Value $13,795,636.67

Total Assets 100%

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FY 17/16 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES AND CHARGES IN NET ASSETS

Unrestricted Temporarily Restricted

Permanently Restricted Total 2017 Total 2016

SUPPORT $679,823 $472,353 $ - $1,152,176 $683,029REVENUE $1,488,732 $9,557 - $1,498,289 $1,035,255NET ASSETS RELEASES FROM RESTRICTIONS

$190,435 ($190,435) - - -

Total Support And Revenue $2,358,990 $291,475 - $2,650,415 $1,718,284

EXPENSES $2,035,437 - - $2,035,437 $1,759,674 CHANGE IN NET ASSETS $323,553 $291,475 - $615,028 ($41,390)

NET ASSETS, BEGINNING OF YEAR $4,308,751 $1,029,281 $7,817,212 $13,155,244 $13,196,634

NET ASSETS, END OF YEAR $4,308,751 $1,029,281 $7,817,212 $13,770,272 $13,155,244

Parentheses indicates a negative number

SECOND ANNUAL TITANS OF TECH DINNER -The second annual Titans of Tech Dinner was held on November 28 at Chelsea Piers, Pier Sixty. The dinner was very successful and emerged as our major fundraiser. The three alumni honored at this dinner were Leonard Riggio ‘58, L. Londell McMillan 83, and Floyd Warkol ’65.

Chelsea Piers has been selected for the third Titans of Tech Dinner on November 28, 2018. Honorees are: Victor Insetta ‘57, Penny Kokkinides ’87, Ken Daly’84 and Augustine DiGiacomo ‘63 (posthumously)

SIXTH ANNUAL TECH CELEBRATION This year’s Tech Celebration was held at Gargiulo’s Restaurant. We recognized honorees in three different categories:

Faculty Emeritus - Saluting retired teachers – Sheldon Pasner and Robert Reilly

Blue and White Service – Sam Adewumi ’84 and Andrew Prophete ‘86

Younger Alumnus Recognition –Erin Grace Clarke ‘01

ALUMNI GROUPSLONG ISLAND CHAPTER – BROOKLYN TECH ALUMNI

FOUNDATION - Sam Kornhauser ’67 received the Vincent De Santi Distinguished Alumnus Award; Frank Dwyer was recognized with the Carl Lange Distinguished Service Award

NEW JERSEY GROUP – BROOKLYN TECH ALUMNI FOUNDATION – is working on a project celebrating the Notables of Brooklyn Tech. Much progress has been made identifying the “movers and shakers” of our society who graduated from our school. The goal is to develop a publication.

Annual Report

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Message From the Executive DirectorTOMORROWLAND is today for all our alums. It is the place we all land day after day from when we graduated from high school. Tomorrowland is filled with so many hopes and dreams, disappointment, life’s slings and arrows. It is a place for us to reflect as to how yesterday made us who we are.

For all of you, the reflection is about Brooklyn Tech. Was it a place that changed your life? Impacted your way of thinking? Opened you to new relationships and friendships for life? Was

it a place that tested your mettle – that made you work hard and strive, sometimes feeling rewarded and other times unfulfilled? Was the Tech experience something you will never forget?

For all of us who care to ponder any of these questions, Tech obviously did something for us, otherwise we wouldn’t think back at all. We also would not be predisposed to think about Tech’s future–will it always be a great school, what will happen with admissions, how do we close the financial gap to ensure that we remain one of the top schools in the nation?

Tomorrowland compels us to think about what the school needs to keep Tech at the forefront of STEM education and at the top of its game as a specialized high school in New York City.

This issue of TechTimes underscores the incredible young people we have attending our school. It highlights the importance of various programs and how these programs help to define the mission of Tech. You get to see through a special lens some of our teachers who give day in and day out to make the educational experiences of our students robust and unique. You witness the accomplishments of our alums–those who are among the so many successful alums who have made Tomorrowland a place better for all.

With your continued help, Tomorrowland will never be a place that is static. It will be a place that continues to evolve and grow. It will be a place to enable young Tech minds to expand and critically think, problem solve, and experiment. It will always be a place that we will all wish to continue to be part of.

I urge you to strongly support the work of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation which strengthens the programmatic, professional development and facilities components of Tech. Donations or in-kind support are the blocks upon which Tomorrowland can be built. Only you, our alums, can ensure that Tomorrowland will be a signature destination for all our Technites.

Sincerely, Elizabeth A. SciabarraExecutive Director

BROOKLYN TECH ALUMNI FOUNDATION

Board of Directors

President Larry Cary ‘70

Vice PresidentsHorace Davis ‘84 Susan Mayham ‘76 Anthony Schirripa ‘67

SecretaryNed Steele ‘68

TreasurerDonovan Wickline ‘88

DirectorsJohn Albert ‘90Wilton Cedeno ‘82Jim DiBenedetto ‘72Norman Keller ‘54Penelope Kokkinides ‘87Edward LaGrassa ‘65David Lee ‘78Salvatore Lentini ‘‘79John Lyons ‘66Margaret Murphy ‘83Bola Oyedijo ‘92Achilles Perry ‘58Denice Ware ‘83Michael Weiss ‘57Laurie Zephyrin ‘92

Honorary DirectorLeonard Riggio ‘58

Student RepresentativesJiayun Chen ‘19Yasmin Haredy ‘20Ayan Rahman ‘20

Foundation Office

Executive DirectorElizabeth A. Sciabarra

Chief Educational OfficerMathew M. Mandery ‘61

Operations and DataRikhia Chowdhury

Office ManagerIna Cloonen

Graphics AdministratorSuzanne Hausman

Special Events and Projects CoordinatorLiliya Magalnik Nissen ‘01

Special AssistantVance Toure ‘06

Social MediaLisa Trollback

BROOKLYN TECH ALUMNI FOUNDATION

29 Fort Greene PlaceBrooklyn, NY 11217

718-797-2285www.bthsalumni.orginfo@bthsalum.org

BROOKLYN TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL

DAVID NEWMAN, PRINCIPAL

Who Was Your Favorite Teacher?

What Was Your Favorite Class?

Tell us who. Tell us what. Tell us why. We’ll publish a sampling in the next issue. Send to neds@mediaimpact.biz

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One day they will realize–as Margaret Murphy ‘83 did: “Tech set me on the path.”

They–and you–may not realize that public funding can never cover the cost of all the technology, equipment, and educational enrichment Tech needs to remain the nation’s pre-eminent technology high school.

Alumni donations make it possible for Brooklyn Tech to:• Convert older shop rooms into state-of-art scientific

and academic teaching centers• Equip those new centers with modern technology

and equipment • Enable real-world, work-based learning through

internships and mentorships• Enhance teaching through faculty development

and curriculum enrichmentEvery donation, no matter its size, makes a difference.

Here’sWhy...

Every year, our alma mater graduates 1,300 Technites.

They will become leaders in science, technology, business, and in all fields.

They are the reasons your Alumni Foundation asks you to contribute to Brooklyn Tech.

Please contribute—with the reply envelope, or at www.bthsalumni.org/donate

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Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation, Inc.29 Fort Greene Place • Brooklyn NY 11217www.bthsalumni.org

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDBrooklyn, NY

Permit No. 1778

4Number of minutes it takes lacrosse player Carly Morris to climb eight flights of stairs to the roof gym for practice

Brooklyn Tech by the Numbers

13% of all New York City citywide championships, 2017-18, won by BTHS sports teams

42% of all BTHS students are female

80% of all valedictorians since 2007 are female

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