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Category Archives: Events

Summer 2016 at Trinity

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Trinity College slows down during the summer. But there are a number of programs and events that still happen to make the campus vibrant.

Are you on campus or planning to be on campus this summer? Trying to find out what’s going on at Trinity and around the City of Hartford? Here is a listing of various programs, places to eat around campus, events in Hartford, and more.

 

Programs on the Trinity College Campus

The National Science Foundation-Teaching Experiences for Undergraduates (June 6-July 22)

The HMTCA Summer Writing Academy (June 21 – July 15)

 

Where to Eat Near Trinity During the Summer

“Guide to Eating at Trinity During the Summer” by Jess Voight, T ’17

 

Events in Hartford (and around here too)

Trinity Today

June 2016 Events in Hartford by Real Hartford

 

More…

 

Religious Life

A note from Megan O’Brien, Program Coordinator, Office of Spiritual and Religious Life, Chapel:

We do not have services throughout the summer on campus unfortunately but depending on what the faith background/interest is for the undergraduates on campus, here are some suggestions for places in the area that offer religious services:

Buddhist: Dae Yen Sa Buddhist Temple, New Hartford (https://daeyensa.org/) 

Episcopal: St. John’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford (http://www.sjparish.net/default.asp) 

Jewish: Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford (https://www.cbict.org/) 

Muslim: The Berlin Mosque, Berlin (http://www.berlinmosque.org/) 

Roman Catholic: St. Joseph Cathedral, Hartford (http://www.cathedralofsaintjoseph.com/) 

There are, of course, plenty of other places of worship around the area so they are welcome to explore! 

Want more information, you can contact Megan at Megan.OBrien@trincoll.edu

Loving Community Conversation on Housing Integration

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Photo by Defining Studios, Hartford, CT, 2016

On April 21, the Connecticut Fair Housing Center hosted a panel in Hartford’s downtown on housing integration that included Trinity College Professor Jack Dougherty (middle left), author Lisa Belkin (middle right), and Hartford City Councilwoman Wildaliz Bermudez (far right). Pinch hitting for Professor Jelani Cobb, Trinity Director of Urban Educational Initiatives, Robert Cotto (far left) moderated the panel. The panel served as a public, community conversation on housing integration before the Center’s annual awards dinner.

Before the panel, Professor Dougherty presented an 15-minute introduction to housing and school segregation in the Hartford, CT area based on his research and book-in-progress, On the Line: How Schooling, Housing, and Civil Rights Shaped Hartford and its Suburbs. He offered slides that showed the close connection between housing restrictions that segregated neighborhoods by race and class, which resulted in school segregation.

After the presentation, the panel weaved together Dougherty’s work on housing and schools, Belkin’s account of a housing desegregation case in Yonkers, NY, and Bermudez’s community activism and involvement as an early plaintiff in the Sheff v. O’Neill school desegregation case.

As the CT Fair Housing Center 2016 Loving Civil Rights Award recipient, Lisa Belkin drew on her research and writing of “Show Me A Hero”. The book chronicled the contentious housing desegregation case in Yonkers, NY in the 1980s. An adaptation of the book also recently appeared as a mini-series on the HBO channel.

Throughout the afternoon, the audience of roughly 75 people had opportunities to ask the panelists questions. This generated a great deal of discussion. In the end, comparing efforts in Hartford, CT (school desegregation) with Yonkers, NY (housing desegregation) helped the audience understand each case better, along with the history and persisting challenges towards racial integration of housing and schools.

 

Additional photographs can be found at the CT Fair Housing Center Facebook page here.

The High School to College Transition of Latinos in Greater Hartford on Friday, April 29, 2016 at University of Hartford

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This one-day conference will examine the high school to college transition landscape for Latino/a students in greater Hartford and identify practices that improve their educational experiences, including their graduation and postsecondary enrollment rates. The conference will bring together the minds and perspectives of education professionals, researchers, and community leaders among others.

Register here.

Schedule

9:00 AM Welcome – Dr. Kevin A. Ball, Associate Dean for Research and Community, College of Education, Nursing, and Health Professions

9:15 AM – 9:50 AM Keynote Speaker: Dr. Enrique Sepulveda, Associate Professor and Department of Education Chair, University of Saint Joseph

Critically Engaging Latino Youth Identities in the Transition from High School to College

Panel 1. 9:50-10:50 AM

Examining the role of K-12 education

Moderator: Dr. H. Kenny Nienhusser (Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, UHart); Panelists: Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Leadership of Hartford Public SchoolsDr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, Consolidated School District of New Britain Superintendent Ms. Nancy Sarra

Panel 2. 11:15 AM-12:30 PM

Examining the role of Institutions of Higher education

Moderator: Dr. Josiah Ricardo; (Professor Capital Community College) Panelists: Mr. Robert Cotto (and student participant) Trinity College; Ms. Awilda Reasco, Central Connecticut State University; Director Pre Collegiate Access Services; Professor Madeline Perez (and student participant) University of Saint Joseph.

Lunch 12:30 – 1:30 PM

1:30 – 2:15 PM Keynote Speaker: Dr. Estela Lopez

Best Practices in Supporting Latino Graduation

Panel 3. 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM

Examining the role of Community Based Organizations

Moderator: Dr. Anthony De Jesús, Panelists: Tammy Lorenzo, Career Beginnings Counselor, Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, Paul Holzer Executive Director Achieve Hartford!

3:15 PM – 4:00 PM Closing Panel: Perspectives of Latino Students in Transition

Moderator; Mr. Raul Irrizary, Center for Latino Progress, Panelists, Shakira Padilla, University of Saint Joseph

***For participants who register after April 22nd, breakfast and lunch is not included. However, there is a reasonably priced cafteria on campus.

WHEN
Friday, April 29, 2016 from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (EDT) – Add to Calendar
WHERE
Auerbach Auditorium, Hillyer Hall, University of Hartford – 200 Bloomfield Ave, West Hartford, Connecticut 06117 – View Map

Join us for a Community Skate Night! (April 2, 9, 10, 16)

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Join us for a Community Skate Night!

Rink

Saturday, April 16th, 6:00 – 9:00 P.M.

Koeppel Community Sports Center

175 New Britain Ave.

Trinity College Ryan Gordon/Hartford Wolf Pack Community Scholarship Fund

Learn to Skate Program:

Saturday, April 2nd 10:30am – 11:30am

Saturday, April 9th 10:30am – 11:30am

Sunday, April 10th 2:45pm – 3:45pm

Saturday, April 16th 4:40pm – 5:30pm

To register for the program, please contact Rich Pettit at Richard.Pettit@trincoll.edu or (860) 297-4230 or Julia Rivera at Julia.Rivera@trincoll.edu or (860) 297-4203.

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Challenging the Test: Black & Latino Activists Tell Their Stories

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Join Black and Latino teachers, parents, students, and education leaders to learn about why they and their children are refusing, or “opting out” of various standardized tests in Connecticut. In addition to hearing their stories, we will have time for discussion. Want to learn more about testing and test “opt out”? Check out the background and resources below.

Event photo album. Event video.

Read “Why We Opt-Out: CT Black and Latino Parents Discuss SBAC”, by Laurel Killough on the CEA blog.

Event Details

When: Thursday, March 31, 2016, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Where: Trinity College, Mather Hall, Terrace Rooms A-B

What: Panel and Discussion, Light Dinner for first 30 attendees

Speakers: Shonta’ Browdy, Leticia Cotto, Violet Jiménez Sims, Sean Jaquez, & Anthony T. Berry, Trinity College Director of Admissions

 

Background

In 2011, Real Hartford reported that one Hartford parent refused to allow her child to take the state standardized tests in protest of educational reform policies in the city schools. Since then, the “opt out” movement has grown across the country and Connecticut as thousands of parents and students across the country are refusing to take state tests in protest of educational reforms associated with high-stakes testing.

Black and Latino parents and educators in Connecticut have been at the forefront of these challenges to testing and activism in public education more broadly. While white activism on testing is well reported, Black and Latino test boycotts are less visible as well as their critique of high-stakes testing and related reforms.

In June 2015, Professor Pedro Noguera and colleagues defended parents’ right to boycott testing as a form of civil rights protest for better education conditions. Nevertheless, the U.S. and CT Departments of Education have sought to penalize schools and districts where high proportions of parents boycott the tests.

At the same time, more colleges and universities, including Trinity College, have changed their admissions policies to make tests like the SAT and ACT optional in order to encourage a more diverse group of applicants. In both cases, parents and college administrators have “opted out” of the tests in order to challenge the dominant narrative that standardized tests can adequately demonstrate what children learn and be used for high-stakes decisions.

Sponsored by Educational Studies 310 – Testing: From IQ to Common Core, Urban Educational Initiatives.

 

Resources 

Books, Articles, Essays, and Films

More than a Score, Jesse Hagopian

The CT Mirror, “Feds say too few students took required tests…”; “State sets penalties for schools with high ‘opt outs’ rates”

Organizations

United Opt Out

Fairtest

Network for Public Education

Legislation (in Connecticut)

Connecticut General Assembly, Education Committee

HB 5555, Session 2016: AAC THE MINIMUM BUDGET REQUIREMENT AND PROHIBITING THE INCLUSION OF PARTICIPATION RATES FOR THE STATE-WIDE MASTERY EXAMINATION IN THE CALCULATION OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT’S ACCOUNTABILITY INDEX SCORE.

SB 380, Session 2016 AAC THE EXCLUSION OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE RESULTS ON THE MASTERY EXAMINATION FROM TEACHER EVALUATIONS.

 

Meet the Speakers

Shonta’ Browdy 

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Shonta’ Browdy is a Hartford native and proud mother of two children who currently are being educated in the Hartford Public School system. Her passion is working with the youth both inside and outside of the classroom. For ten years and counting she has advocated for children in Hartford to receive quality educational opportunities. She is ending her 4th and final year of substitute teaching where she learned firsthand the struggles of educating children in a two-tiered educational system. Shonta’ is the Director of P.U.R.P.O.S.E. where she works alongside some amazing parents removing barriers that exists in the lives of children which prevent them from achieving their educational goals. She holds the title of co-advisor of the Youth Council and Education Committee Chair of the Greater Hartford chapter of the NAACP. Another passion that has her excited on the arrival of each spring is leading a community gardening project focused on exposing children to healthy eating all based on a hands-on agricultural curriculum.

 

Leticia Cotto

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Leticia Cotto was born and raised in Hartford and is the mother of three. She is co-founder and co-owner of La Paloma Sabanera Coffee House and Bookstore (2004), a bookstore that specialized in the sale of Spanish language books by and about Latino authors and themes and fair trade coffee from Central and South America. As Branch Manager and Latino Services Coordinator, she has been instrumental in developing adult and children’s programming for the Hartford Public Library that directly reaches the Latino Community in Hartford and the Frog Hollow neighborhood. Amongst those programs are: The first city-wide Domino Tournament in 2008, Spanish Language Book Fair with REFORMA Northeast in 2010, Immigrant Experience documentary 2010, Park Street, Barbour Street and Blue Hills Story Walk 2014 and 2015.

Leticia is a board member for San Juan Center in Hartford and co-chair for the Commission on Refugee and Immigrant Affairs for the city of Hartford. She has extensive experience in working with immigrant communities and has traveled to Nicaragua and Guatemala to help develop ESL classes, computer classes and a small resource library at La Casa Juan Gerardi in Guatemala City.

Leticia holds a BA from Southern CT State University and is presently working on a M.S. in Management.

 

Violet Jiménez Sims

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For 13 years, Violet has been an educator at the college and high school levels. She is a teacher and instructional coach in the ELL department at a CT high school. She holds bachelor, masters, and Sixth Year (CAGS) from the University of Connecticut, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Bridgeport. A mother of two daughters that attend New Britain Public schools, she has been a vocal advocate for dual-language programs and the elimination of the high-stakes testing that is contributing to the demise of public education.

Violet has always been committed to civil rights, multiculturalism, and community service. She is the Immediate Past President (2012-2015) of Altrusa International Inc. of Greater Hartford and a member of the NAACP New Britain branch. She has been an activist for public education and underrepresented populations at the national, state, and local level, including marching on Washington on a “Journey for Justice”, presenting at conferences, giving testimony at legislative sessions, and being published on topics related to educational equity. She is also a member of the selection committee of the Alma Exley Scholarship Program, which promotes diversity in the teaching profession.

Sean Jaquez, Trinity ’19

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Sean Jaquez is currently a first-year student at Trinity College majoring in mathematics and political science. I am from New York City, where I attended Manhattan Village Academy High School, a public school. He has two younger siblings who also have opted out of the exam as well.

 

Anthony T. Berry, Director of Admissions, Trinity College

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Anthony Berry is currently the Director of Admissions at Trinity College. He has been with the College for over 15 years and has a broad range of college admissions expertise. Anthony holds a B.S. in Marketing from Bentley University and an M.S. in Counseling from Central Connecticut State University.