Campus News
Legendary Pitcher Ron Darling Raises Awareness for McGuire Scholars
February 1, 2018
Baseball star turned television
color commentator Ron Darling,
a member of the 1986 World
Series Champion New York
Mets, met with St. Francis
College students, faculty, and
friends at an event raising
awareness for the Robert J.
McGuire Scholarship Fund.
Darling learned about the
McGuire Scholarship Fund
through his former boss, Mets
owner Fred Wilpon, who started
the program and has been
instrumental in raising more than
$1.3 million toward scholarships.
In Darling’s talk, “Livin’ the Dream—Failure, Triumph, Living, and Giving Big
Dreams,” he spoke about his acceptance to Yale University being a defining
moment for his family.
The Robert J. McGuire Scholarship was established in 2015 to support
St. Francis College’s mission
to offer an affordable, quality,
private college education to
students who have the promise
and passion but may not have
the means. More than 80
St. Francis College students
are now benefiting from the
McGuire Scholarship.
There was no cost to attend
the event, but all attendees
were encouraged to support
the McGuire Scholarship-
Wilpon Challenge and become
a partner in helping others live
their dreams.
If you would like to join the McGuire team, please call 718.489.5361.
Pitcher Ron Darling: https://youtu.be/95PgtsDNqps and
https://youtu.be/9ayup8XYU3A
New Videos Spotlight SFC Students & Faculty Holocaust Survivor Shares Her Story
February 13, 2018 April 11, 2018
The students and faculty of St. Francis College work together for the common
goal of improving themselves and the world around them. This vibrant diversity
and sense of purpose are showcased in two videos that debuted earlier this
year on the College’s website. The 30-second video also appeared on ESPN3
during basketball games.
“Everywhere we look, we see students achieving their dreams; our faculty
right there beside them, guiding, mentoring, showing them what’s possible,”
said President Miguel Martinez-Saenz, Ph.D. “These videos show the world
what we do every day.” For St. Francis College’s annual Yom HaShoah,
Holocaust Remembrance Day, attendees were riveted
by the incredible story of resilience shared by keynote
speaker, Sonja Maier Geismar. At the tender age of
four, Geismar and hundreds of other Jews fled
Germany aboard the St. Louis, but her journey to
safety was complex.
The more than 900 mostly Jewish passengers
aboard the St. Louis were denied entry to Cuba, and
later rejected from landing in the United States and
Canada. The ship was forced back to Europe where
the passengers were split up across the continent.
More than 250 died at the hands of the Nazis.
Geismar and her family spent eight months in England and then were able to
immigrate to the U.S. before the start of World War II. The transition to life in
America was filled with struggles, but the family succeeded in rebuilding their lives.
A resident of New York City, Geismar was a high school librarian and still serves
as an adjunct librarian. With many of
her generation passing away, she feels
an obligation to speak about the Nazi
era and its impact, particularly in this
time of Holocaust denial and increasing
antisemitism.
St. Francis videos: sfc.edu/2018video
Sonja Maier Geismar:
https://youtu.be/3w2yvTOCf0s
Students and faculty are the stars of SFC’s new videos (clockwise, from
top-left): Adama ’16, Chemistry Professor Gerard Davidson, Marcus ’18,
and students attending SFC’s Self Awareness and Bonding Lab (SABL)
with Psychology Professor Marisa T. Cohen and Assistant Professor
Dr. Karen Wilson.
ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | WINTER 2018, VOLUME 82, NUMBER 1
Jewish Refugees aboard the SS St. Louis in Cuba (United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum; National Archives and Records Administration).
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