July 24, 2007
Queens, N.Y. -
Incoming Freshman Shavone Williams to be Featured
Tonight at 5 and 10 p.m. on Fox5
Fox5 (NY) TV News Co-Anchor Rosanna Scotto was on hand at St.
John’s University this morning for an awards ceremony in honor of
scholarship recipient Shavone Williams. Williams, who was
presented with a $1,000 scholarship from the After School All-Stars
of New York (ASASNY) and CampUs program, will attend St. John’s in
the fall.
Photo
Gallery
James P. Pellow,
Ed.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at
St. John’s, served as master of ceremonies, greeting a host of
guests that included representatives from the After School
All-Stars national office in California, the New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA) and several St. John’s University
administrators.
Richard
Sinatra, Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Human Services
and Counseling at St. John’s, and Project Director for After School
All-Stars, and Alan R. Fields, Executive Director of ASANY, both
spoke about the academic and athletic benefits of the project now
in its tenth year, but the true success of the program was
representative in the words and inspiration of Shavone Williams.
She expressed her gratitude to her family, the ASASNY and to
the University and reflected on her personal growth since attending
CampUs and winning a scholarship for college. Six years after
winning the award, Williams has enrolled at St. John’s, is an
aspiring track star and has returned to CampUs as a counselor.
A portion of today’s ceremony and interviews with Shavone
Williams and Dr. Sinatra will be featured on this evening’s Fox5
New York’s 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. broadcasts co-anchored by Scotto and
Ernie Anastos.
For additional information, please contact Elizabeth Reilly,
Assistant Director of Media Relations at St. John’s by calling
(718) 990-5789, or e-mail inquiries to reillye@stjohns.edu.
About the After School All-Stars and
CampUs
After School All-Stars of New York (ASASNY) provides comprehensive
sports programs and academic instruction to inner-city New York
City youth during the out-of-school hours. Inherent in each of
ASASNY’s programs are the following goals: to keep children safe;
to teach them new skills; to build self-esteem; and to develop in
each child that which is unique. Since its founding, ASASNY has
served over 20,000 youth from New York City’s public housing and
homeless facilities, through daily after school programs and
through the After School All Stars of New York’s CampUs.
CampUs is a two-week summer day camp for youth, ages 7-14, held
annually on the campuses of St. John’s University and City College
of New York. CampUs began in the summer of 1997, and has been
historically offered to 1,200 youth annually from NYC Housing
Authority Developments across the five boroughs. The curriculum
includes multi-media computer instruction, reading, writing,
science, sports and recreation. Since 2000, 60% of the youth
attending CampUs have improved their writing ability by 1/3 to 1/2
a grade point. During the same period, Special Education youth
participating in the program showed similar or higher gains.