The Honors program is in its 50th year! Help us celebrate with special events, programming, and content. To commemorate the occasion, we will be featuring 50 profiles of selected students, alumni, and faculty. Stay tuned for updates!
Tag: alumni
An Honors Marriage
Hello Honors Community,
This is a brief story we just had to share!
Meet Andrew Catauro ’06 (TRF/ITA) and Shannon (Grotzinger) Catauro ’07 (MAG/SOC) . Andrew and Shannon met in the Honors Program on their first day of class for PHI 107, completed what was then “General Honors”, and went on to get married! Andrew works on the acclaimed documentary POV for PBS and Shannon provides social services to homeless men in NYC. They stopped by the Honors Suite before the semester began and asked if we’d take their picture in 304C. They even remembered where they used to sit!
These are certainly the kinds of stories we love to hear from our alumni. Remember that if you have any interesting stories like this one, to let us know so we can share them!
Honors Alumna Educates Through Theater
Last week, Arielle Lever, Honors alumna of the class of 2010, returned to Syracuse with the non-profit CO/LAB to speak to the SU Drama Department about theater in an outreach capacity.
CO/LAB was founded by 4 SU drama alumni, including Arielle, in 2011 and is inspired by and modeled after Syracuse University’s former Young Actors Program, now All-Star Cast. CO/LAB’s mission is to provide individuals with developmental disabilities a creative and social outlet through theater arts.
The non-profit has really taken off since its inception. Starting in the fall of 2011, they have reached over 350 individuals with developmental disabilities ranging from ages 5-79, they have produced 8 shows, and launched a satellite program in Seattle, WA. (Special shout out to the 65% of CO/LAB’s volunteer base that are SU alumni!)
We encourage you to get more of an inside look at CO/LAB and watch their informational trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvucdy9k59M and read about their work on their blog at: www.colabtheatergroup.tumblr.com.
We applaud Arielle, her fellow CO/LAB cofounders, its workers, and participants for the amazing work they do together!
Capstone projects can lead to great things!
Just a little inspiration for those of you working on your Capstone projects!
Recent Honors alumna Adriana Gonzalez-Vega made a film, “Frente Al Mar”, for her Honors Capstone project last year. When it was shown on presentation day, it was clear that not only did Adriana have some serious talent, but that this particular film would be much more than just her Capstone project.
We heard from Adriana recently (she’s been on the independent film festival circuit!) and here’s all the awards that “Frente al Mar” has won. The list is quite impressive!
Here’s a preview of the film itself:
- WINNER – BEST STUDENT FILM, Carmel Art and Film Festival 2012, CA, USA
- WINNER – BEST ACTRESS, Cinefiesta 2012, San Juan, PR
- AWARD OF MERIT -Women Independent Film Festival 2012, Los Angeles, CA
- Official Selection, Montreal World Film Festival 2012, Canadá
- Official Selection, Chicago International Social Change Film Festival 2012, USA
- Official Selection, Boston Latino International Film Festival 2012
- Official Selection, Puerto Rico International Film Festival (Vieques) 2012
Congratulations Adriana!
Honors Alumna, Rachel LeQuire ’12, Chosen for Peace Corps
Hello Honors Community!
Coming to you today with some spectacular news about one of our Honors Alumni, Rachel LeQuire! Rachel has been chosen by The Peace Corps to go to Guatemala and work with The Healthy Schools Program in February ; working with children, teachers and principals in various rural towns. She will be helping with initiatives to educate Guatemala’s youth as well as implementing programs focused on living healthy and sustainably. Until February, Rachel will be in California, soaking in the west coast way of living and checking out what volunteer and work opportunities are out there that will help prepare her for her amazing Peace Corps opportunity!
Rachel sent us a very kind note upon hearing of her acceptance: “I REALLY couldn’t do it without all of your encouragement and guidance. I am forever grateful for everything the Honors Program has given me. What an exceptional program run by exceptional people ; ) If any of your students have questions about applying to the Peace Corps, send them my way!”
Rachel is just one of the many Honors Alumni we are proud to have as part of our community. Please join us in wishing Rachel the very best in Guatemala and remember to take Rachel up on her offer! If any of you out there are interested in the Peace Corps, either email us at honors@syr.edu and we will get you in touch with Rachel OR, for general info, visit http://www.peacecorps.gov/about/.
Honors Alumnus, Jordan Rosin ’11, Produces ‘Butoh Electra’ at the Historic Irondale Center
Hello Honors Community,
We write to you today to share some amazing work by an Honors Alumnus and an important fundraising campaign to help support his work! Jordan Rosin, Class of 2011, is the Creator and Producer of Butoh Electra, a physical theatre performance event that follows the story of Electra, from Greek mythology, whose inner life stood at odds with the world of the walking dead in which she lived.
Last year he and his team put on the show at FringeNYC and the show sold out every performance; being named a highlight of the entire Festival by a range of news outlets including The Village Voice! Now, this August, they have been invited to present Butoh Electra again! This time it will have a two-week run as part of the kick-off to the 2012-2013 season at the historic Irondale Center, an enormous and well-regarded multi-arts venue in the heart of the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY. As the host, the Irondale Center is generously providing the production with:
- a gorgeous space to perform the show
- access to their state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and projection equipment
- box office & front-of-house support
- inclusion in their season-related marketing materials
However, that means the show’s creators are responsible for all of the other major costs associated with producing the show, including, but not limited to:
- costumes
- scenery
- props
- production staff
- marketing
- production materials i.e. copies of the script
The cost of putting on the show will run just about $4,000 in all and this is where we are calling on the Honors Community to support your fellow student and Alum in his amazing, creative venture! With everyone’s help, they can make this production even bigger and better than the last and continue to build towards a more sustainable model of making theatre. So, would you like to support Jordan and the production? Perhaps you still have some questions? Jordan’s team has setup a Kickstarter.com page to make that easy! Just visit -> Kickstarter.com <- and you can choose to “BACK THIS PROJECT”, “Like” the project on Facebook, “Tweet” about it on Twitter, or otherwise share the word with your friends. If you are a local to New York City, you’ll want to donate soon since the first 20 people to pledge $15 or more get a special code for discount tickets to the show!
We congratulate Jordan Rosin and his team for all of their hard work, hope you share in our excitement for them, and encourage you to show your support!