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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 1, 2009 PRESS CONTACT: Dr. Sat Bhattacharya T: 646-643-8543/ 646-643-8563 Email:
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URL: http://www.harlemchildrensociety.org/ Harlem Children Society will take over 400 INNER CITY students and their Families from over 100 Public high schools on a FOUR HOUR Science Boat Cruise on August 6th 2009 from Pier 61 at 12.30 PM Harlem Children Society Organizes the 3rd Harlem Science Boat Cruise 2009 “Taking the Einsteins’ and Mm Curies’ from Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem to the High seas to have fun . . .” New York, NY – On Thursday, August 6th, 2006, OVER FOUR HUNDRED INNER CITY, EXTREMELY POOR high school and undergraduate students from over 100 PUBLIC SCHOOLS and their Families - all from extremely impoverished and under-served backgrounds (95% minority, with over 58% young women), will take to the seas aboard a privately chartered boat. The Spirit Cruise Line vessel begins boarding at 12:30 pm dockside at Pier 61 of Chelsea Piers, and will set sail for a FOUR-hour evening cruise of New York Harbor at 4:30 PM. All students participate in the HCS’s premier Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) Program. Along with invited guests, including students’ parents and mentors, the group will enjoy food, music, dancing, and socializing against a backdrop of the spectacular vistas of the New York City skyline, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge gracing the East River and the Hudson this summer. The students will also have the opportunity to exhibit their various talents in presentations of their own concept and execution in a “Science and Society Showcase.” Above all, the cruise is designed to provide a moment of well-deserved leisure, while making a serious effort at encouraging creative talent for the HCS students, in what is otherwise a demanding summer devoted to their intensive, hands-on science research internships, in which the students are currently fully engaged. HCS students, primarily high schoolers from Inner City Public Schools, are all from extremely impoverished and under-served backgrounds (95% minority, with over 58% young women). HCS sponsors and engages these students in activities and events, cultural and educational – that are innovative at student recruitment in the sciences. Starting with just three students under the tutelage of Dr. Sat Bhattacharya at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the program has since grown to over 850 – over 360 in New York, and increasingly applying its model that Dr. Bhattacharya developed to beyond its shores to – 100 across the country, and over 450 across the globe, mentored by over 1500 scientists, engineers and doctors in over 200 institutions – from Cornell, Columbia, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to NASA. Founded in 2000 by Dr. Sat Bhattacharya, a Molecular Geneticist and Cancer Research Scientist, he spearheads the organization as its president and CEO, as a local grass-root, yet global non-profit organization, in order to give under-resourced and under-served, yet highly motivated high school and university students the chance to develop, hone and harness their skills to ultimately better serve their individual communities. Serving students ridden by abject poverty in the NY region, across the country and increasingly applying its unique model globally, HCS’s innovative program engages students in one-on-one hands-on science research in a myriad of fields in science, technology, math & engineering with accomplished mentors in leading universities, hospitals, research centers, and internationally renowned institutions. To further enhance students’ intensive training program, HCS conducts weekly workshops & a lecture series. Students are exposed to a variety of experts (educators from UNESCO & UNICEF, Nobel laureates, leading scientists, engineers and doctors from a variety of fields and disciplines) invited to speak about their respective professions, illuminating and providing insight into important current issues. They are also required to present their individual projects during the weekly series, employing sophisticated power point presentations to demonstrate their progress in their laboratories and encouraging leadership qualities. HCS also organizes satellite meetings with other HCS remotely, webcasting live throughout the US and beyond. HCS’s intensive summer program culminates in students submitting research papers on their respective work, and subsequently presenting their work in various forums, including conferences, meetings, symposia, and our "Annual International Harlem Science Street Fairs & Festivals” held concurrently in several countries in continents and time zones. Perhaps the jewel in the crown of HCS’ progressive programs, this unique global event connects countries in real time via web casting, as students share their research directly in a public forum, local village or community. The goal is to share the spirit of scientific enquiry, art, culture and the celebration of the human spirit across the time, continental and digital divide. HCS’s redressing of educational and career access in the sciences thus far in America show that 100% of HCS students attend college, 80% majoring in science and math, and over 20% of whom have been inducted into Ivy League schools. Students have received numerous awards and scholarships from the Posse Foundation, the Gates Millennium Scholarship, the New York Times Scholarship Fund and other prestigious institutions. Further, HCS’s innovative program increases recruitment; retention, advancement and nurturing of budding scientists and engineers from otherwise neglected populations. In a time when people are losing interest in science, engineering, and technology careers, HCS hopes to revitalize these fields with some of our most gifted youth from such communities. "We look for the best, brightest, and unpolished diamond in the worst neighborhoods. Maybe that's where the next Einstein or Madame Curie is — the Bronx." Dr. Sat Bhattacharya |
