HOPE promotes and fosters the development of promising Long Island high school students from the ethnically and racially diverse districts of Brentwood, Longwood and Wyandanch, and strives to support them in pursuing a college education and future careers in the health-care industry.

Since 2005, 220 students have enrolled. Of those, there have been 141 HOPE graduates, all who have been accepted into college.

HOPE program students shadow medical personnel while making rounds in the hospital.

The two-year program begins with a tour of the campus — for many it’s their first college visit — and includes a meeting with Admissions and a conversation about filling out college applications.

The junior year ends with SAT preparation. In 12th grade, students get CPR- and AED-certified. In addition to shadowing Stony Brook faculty, who volunteer for two hours on Tuesdays, they also get to visit the anatomy lab with medical students.

“The University’s approach to higher learning is the realization that the more we invest in students prior to their arrival on our campus as an undergraduate, the more solid their footing will be and more successful they’ll be as they enter the work world,” said Yvonne Spreckels, director of Stony Brook University Hospital’s Department of Community Relations, who has coordinated the program since 2005.

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/sb_medicine/hospital-program-puts-health-care-professions-within-reach-for-local-students/

Students, faculty and staff from Stony Brook Southampton and the Stony Brook main campus celebrated Earth Day on Sunday, April 22 with the annual Beach Clean Up at Warner Island in Shinnecock Bay.

Captain Andrew Brosnan took the crew of 16 out on the R/V Peconic on a beautiful (and long overdue) spring afternoon.

The group filled five bags of trash from the Island. The event was part of the Town of Southampton’s Great East End Clean Up.

Stony Brook Southampton Student Life provided lunch for the participants, who enjoyed the weather as well as the wonderful wildlife of Shinnecock Bay. The group saw around 50 seals hauled out on a sand bar, eight species of nesting birds on the island, and one juvenile bald eagle.

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/earth-day-beach-cleanup-at-warner-island-is-a-success/

On Wednesday, October 10, 40 Under Forty honoree Rahsmia Zatar ’06 returned to campus to speak with students as part of the Alumni in Residence discussion series, hosted by the Alumni Association and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) department.

As the Executive Director of S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, a non-profit focused on youth and gang violence prevention, Zatar spoke with students, not only about her work empowering minority communities, but about her personal experiences with class and race on Long Island.

The format of the Alumni in Residence discussion series offered students a unique opportunity to engage with Zatar in an informal group or individual setting during her visit, providing valuable moments for mentorship.

“Hearing Rahsmia Zatar talk about being Latina on Long Island really put into perspective the challenges that the Latino community faces,” said current student, Anna Correa. “She used her education and background to build up local communities and help minorities throughout Long Island.”

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/alumni/an-agent-of-change-rahsmia-zatar-06-participates-in-alumna-in-residence-discussion/