Campus News
Entrepreneur Pitch Challenge Winners
APRIL 27 — From the latest in Italian soccer to a portable water fountain for dogs , St . Francis College student entrepreneurs pitched their best entrepreneurial ideas to a team of experts at the 2017 College-Wide Pitch Contest sponsored by Investors Bank .
“ The Pitch Challenge gives our student entrepreneurs an opportunity to polish their
Sydney Bell ’ 19 . business plans and pitches as well as earn some crucial start-up funds for their proposed
businesses ,” said Eda Sanchez-Persampieri , Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship . “ From more than 50 entrepreneurial pitches , we had to choose the seven best . Any one of them could have taken home the top prizes .” ●
Pinning Ceremony for Nurses
MAY 12 — The St . Francis College hosted its first Pinning Ceremony to celebrate the completion of the undergraduate program in Nursing . More than 30 students were on hand for the ceremony . With their undergraduate course work completed , many students have already passed their nursing NCLEX exams and are working as certified RNs , like Jahira Sepulveda ’ 17 at Visiting Nurse Services and Dillon O ’ Sullivan ’ 17 at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital . ●
Video
— https :// youtu . be / VZ-a5xPz3Hc
Dillon O ’ Sullivan ’ 17 , Jeanine Capuana ’ 17 , Samantha Gosman ’ 17 , Brittany Palmieri ’ 17 .
Second Place winner John Rodriguez ’ 19 , for Hound20 , a portable device dogs wear to give them water . First Place winner Sydney Bell ’ 19 , to help buy equipment for her photography company . Third Place and Audience Award winners Marco Messina ’ 17 and Michael Kantaris ’ 18 for their sports multimedia start-up Italian Football TV ( IFTV ). Also in the photo Investors Bank Senior Vice President Mark Noto and Claudia Vilardo ’ 17 .
New graduates Gabrielle Douglas ’ 17 , Tamika De Coteau ’ 17 , Jahira Sepulveda ’ 17 , and Gabriel Albazambrano at the May 12 , 2017 Pinning Ceremony .
SFC a Leader in Economic Mobility
Students coming from families with low incomes have a great chance of making it big if they attend St . Francis College , wrote the New York Times in an assessment of a major new report conducted by The Equality of Opportunity Project .
Out of almost 600 selective private colleges , the Times writes that students from St . Francis were offered the 19th best “ chance a poor student has to become a rich adult .” The Equality of Opportunity Project found that a student coming from the bottom fifth of incomes had a 49 % chance to reach the top fifth of incomes as an adult .
“ Time and again , a St . Francis education has opened the door to a better future . Studies like this show that we are a proven path to success for those who dream of a better tomorrow ,” said Interim President Timothy J . Houlihan .
The Upshot , a division of the New York Times which concentrates on using data to tell their stories , also writes that St . Francis ranked 13th out of 578 selective private colleges in their Overall mobility index , which “ reflects both access and outcomes , representing the likelihood that a student at Saint Francis College moved up two or more income quintiles .” ●
Go to sfc . edu / terrier for links to reports or visit https :// www . nytimes . com / interactive / projects / college-mobility / saint-francis-college ( subscription site ).
2 ST . FRANCIS COLLEGE TERRIER | FALL 2017 | VOLUME 81 , NUMBER 1