Education

The Bronx Celebrates Dominican Heritage Month; Borough Leaders Honored in Santa Domingo

By SÍLE MOLONEY
  Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson held her annual Dominican Heritage Month celebration on Thursday, Feb. 16, at Grand Slam Banquet Hall, 478 East Tremont Avenue in Tremont, with live entertainment by Folkloric Dance Group/Folklorico and DJ Lex, with special greetings by consulate general of the Dominican Republic, Eligio Jaquez.   Gibson honored various community leaders, including president of the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar & Lounge Association and owner of Mon Amour Coffee & Wine, Jeffrey Garcia; winner of the Best Animated Short Film at Bridge Fest and children’s book author, Luz Maria Mack; president of Dominicanos USA, Eddie Cuesta.   The recipient of the youth


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Op-Ed: Bronxites Will Create New Kingsbridge Armory

By ELISABETH ORTEGA-BAILEY
I live on Aqueduct Avenue with my 4-year-old son, Nori, and my husband, Nelson, close to the landmark Kingsbridge Armory that is now 514,000-square-feet of nothingness, thanks most recently to a failed plan to fill it with nine ice hockey rinks.   I’m 34, in my second year at Bronx Community College, and have been organizing around the Kingsbridge Armory with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) since I was 16 and attending DeWitt Clinton High School.   Nelson and I often joke that in order to live in New York City, you need both a job and a


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Family of Angellyh Yambo Launch Foundation in her Memory on her 17th Birthday

By DAVID GREENE & SÍLE MOLONEY
Angellyh Yambo was a 16-year-old high school student with dreams of becoming a doctor when she was shot and killed as she walked home from school with friends in Mott Haven on April 8, 2022. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, on what would have been Angellyh’s 17th birthday, her family and friends gathered at her mausoleum in Woodlawn cemetery to mark the official launch of The Angellyh Yambo Foundation.   During the emotional event, different colored balloons were released into the air marking the exact moment of her birth, 17 years earlier. Later, the family confirmed that the foundation’s website was


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UPDATE Parents & Supporters of St. Brendan School Ready to Fight as Archdiocese Closes 12 Catholic Schools

By DAVID GREENE, SÍLE MOLONEY & SARA MARTINEZ
Norwood parents are gearing up for a fight to keep beloved St. Brendan Catholic School open following an announcement on Feb. 15 that the Norwood school, founded in 1908, will close its doors at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, along with 11 others across the City. Meanwhile four, additional Catholic schools in The Bronx will merge into two.   The news follows the previous closure of six Catholic schools in The Bronx in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic due to declining income, as reported at the time. Of the twelve impacted schools set to close this year, six


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Ischia Bravo Sworn in as First Woman and First Latina to Serve as Bronx County Clerk

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT
At a ceremony attended by many local elected officials, judicial dignitaries, and well-wishers, Ischia Bravo, former district manager of Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7), was sworn in as the first woman and first Latina to hold the position of Bronx County clerk and commissioner of jurors on Feb. 9. The ceremony took place at Gould Memorial Library on the campus of Bronx Community College in University Heights, with Bravo sworn in by Rolando T. Acosta, presiding justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.   Among those in attendance for the occasion were NYS Attorney General


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Sean Ebony Coleman Leads the Way Serving the Bronx’s LGBTQ Community

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT
  To mark Black History Month, we’re spotlighting the history and contribution of members of the Black community in The Bronx who are positively impacting the lives of others.   In the early 1980s, Sean Ebony Coleman didn’t see much empathy for a community that was being ravaged by AIDS. “A lot of my friends were victims of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, so we were watching a bunch of our friends die [and we were] trying to figure out what we could do better,” Coleman said in an interview with Norwood News. Over time, the epidemic hit very close to home. 


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St. Barnabas High School Choir Performing at Cargenie Hall, Sunday, Feb. 19, at 7.30 p.m.

By SÍLE MOLONEY
It all started last summer when student, Gabrielle Cruz, a member of the St. Barnabas High School (SBHS) choir who also plays the piano, spotted a brochure about a program called “Voices in the Hall” on the desk of SBHS teacher and co-choir director, Sharon Traditi. “We should do this!” Gabrielle excitedly said. “What an experience to perform at Carnegie Hall!”   And so, the idea began taking shape with more students in September getting excited about the possibility of taking to the stage of Manhattan’s iconic performance venue. A phone call to executive director, Steve Petrunak, of the “Voices


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Book Review: “Begin Again, James Baldwin’s America and its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

By JIM FAIRBANKS
  Glaude’s title of “Begin Again” [Crown Publishing, 2020] calls us to renewed action for racial justice. He gives hopeful examples of past Black rights gained, such as the civil rights laws during Reconstruction after the Civil War, and during the Black Power movement of the 1960s. Yet, he writes that each effort was followed by White backlash Baldwin calls the “After Times.”   We are again living in the “After Times” now! This book is not a hopeful story of change; this is a sobering book. Glaude Jr. quotes American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-African civil rights activist, W.E.B.


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World-Renowned, Award-Winning Musicians to Perform for South Bronx Elementary Students  

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Zeta South Bronx Elementary School K-2nd grade students and staff are in for a treat on Monday, Feb. 13, when the South Bronx school will host a special musical performance by Liang Wang, principal oboist for the New York Philharmonic, and Junko Ichikawa, an award-winning pianist.   According to representatives of Zeta South Bronx Elementary School, located at 425 Westchester Avenue, part of the charter school’s whole-child education approach and its commitment to reversing the quality gap, includes providing students with a robust specialty curriculum and programming through which students can explore and discover their own unique interests and passions.


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