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Panel on Solutions to Veteran Suicide

Panel of People
Camden County Commissioner and Gold-Star Mother Melinda Kane moderated a panel discussion about veteran suicide awareness at Camden County College on March 12, 2022. The discussion included veterans sharing their stories, lethal arms and storage safety, and information about #988, which is the veteran’s crisis line. The event also included a veteran resource fair with representatives from organizations ranging from the Travis Manion Foundation to Moms Demand Action, the Camden County Office of Veterans Affairs, and more.

“We here at Camden County are committed to fighting the epidemic of veteran suicide through prevention, education and awareness,” said Commissioner Melinda Kane, who serves as the liaison to the Office of Veterans Affairs. “Bringing an array of resources together for one event is a crucial way that we can support our veterans and offer them a safe space to reach out for the help they may need.”

Veteran suicide is a significant challenge for all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, in 2020, there were 6,146 veteran suicides. This was on average 16.8 per day. In 2020, adjusting for population age and sex differences, the suicide rate for Veterans was 57.3% greater than for non-veteran U.S. adults.

New Jersey College Presidents’ Council Statement in Support of Ukraine

We, the members of the New Jersey Presidents’ Council, are outraged and deeply saddened about the horrific unprovoked attack on Ukraine and stand in solidarity with Ukrainians as they defend the sovereignty of their nation.

Despite a strong international outcry and major sanctions being levied against Russia, Ukraine continues to suffer mass casualties and over 2.5 million Ukrainians have already fled the country with more to follow. As leaders of higher education, we commit to offering our support and assistance to Ukrainian students, faculty and community members here in New Jersey. We are pleased to see that the Department of Homeland Security announced the designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months. We know our support must extend beyond that designation.

Our campuses must continue to be true safe havens for students from Ukraine who are studying in the United States as well as scholars who are working and researching here. We also stand ready to welcome Ukrainian refugee students who are fleeing their homeland. It is critical for us to make space for students, faculty and staff of Ukrainian descent whose hearts are heavy with loss and who are hurting for those who share their heritage. In doing so, we must also understand that Russian-Americans on our campuses are not tied to the decisions of their nation’s leaders and deserve to be treated respectfully.

As presidents of New Jersey’s colleges and universities, we understand that this conflict goes beyond politics. This war speaks to and is a threat to humanity worldwide. As such, we will continue to encourage civic engagement and service to others. We will continue to honor our responsibility to lift and amplify the dialogue of equity for all people and justice in all its forms. We will continue to address this and other conflicts through the lenses of history, culture, science and other disciplines to ensure our students have a fundamental understanding of the interdependence of geopolitical relations.

The New Jersey Presidents’ Council and its 55 institutional members call on our fellow New Jerseyans and members of our campus communities to welcome all people displaced by the conflict to ensure their safety, well-being and education. Together, we commit to kindness, compassion and equity in our words, policies, and actions, and we implore everyone to join us in these efforts.

Don Borden
President, Camden County College

Harvey Kesselman, Chair
President, Stockton University

William Austin, Vice Chair
President, Warren County Community College

Eugene J. Cornacchia, Secretary
President, Santi Peter’s University

Ali A. Houshmand, Treasurer
President, Rowan University

Teen Arts Festival 2022

Registration is underway for the 2022 Camden County Teen Arts Festival. The annual event – in person this year – will take place on the Blackwood Campus of Camden County College on April 29, 2022.

The Teen Arts Festival is an annual state-wide event for high school students to be recognized for their interests in the arts and encourages them to continue their creative work. In a typical year, counties hold Teen Arts events in early spring, where students gather during a one-day event to present their work, receive critiques from professional artists, observe the work of their peers, and participate in workshops in their areas of interest with professionals. Submissions are adjudicated and winners at the county level qualify to compete with students from other counties in the statewide Teen Arts Festival in June.

After two years of virtual festivals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Teen Arts planning committee is excited to host an in-person event at the newly renovated Lincoln Hall at Camden County College. Categories of participation include Creative Writing, Poetry, Video & Filmmaking, Visual Arts, Dance, Theatre, Musical Theatre, Vocal Music, and Instrumental Music. Registration and participation is open to all Camden County Schools and teen artists, grades 9 through 12. Students may enter individually or as a school/organization. More information and the registration form may be found at https://www.camdencc.edu/teenarts/.

The Teen Arts Festival is sponsored by the Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission at Camden County College (CCC&HC@CCC). Founded in 1972, the CCC&HC@CCC recognizes the role of the arts and local history in making our communities dynamic places to live and work. The Commission was established by the Board of Chosen Freeholders to act as the designated agency in Camden County to receive and administer the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Local Arts Program and the New Jersey Historical Commission County History Partnership Program. These grants programs provide funding for small and emerging non-profit organizations through the Commission’s re-grant program.

Thank You William G. Rohrer Foundation

The Camden County College Foundation recently received a $50,000 grant from the William G. Rohrer Foundation for scholarship support for students. The scholarship funds will be used to support students in need to reach their academic goals at Camden County College. The William G. Rohrer Foundation has given over $800,000 to the Camden County College Foundation since 2000.

We appreciate the generous support of our students.

Veteran’s Outpost Lounge opens at Camden City Campus

(Camden, NJ) – Camden County College opened a dedicated area for veterans at the Camden City Campus that provides a quiet respite for studying and rejuvenating before and after classes.

“Camden County College takes its commitment to our nation’s veterans and service members seriously, so we are proud to open the Veteran’s Outpost at the Camden Campus,” said Freeholder Melinda Kane, liaison to the Camden County Office of Veterans Affairs. “In addition, Camden County College maintains a Veteran’s Service Center dedicated to assisting veteran students and is a nationally recognized military friendly school.”

The Camden County College Veterans Service Center assists veterans with applications and certifications, including those for benefits available under Selected Reserves, the Montgomery G.I. Bill, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation and Survivors and Dependents Educational Assistance.

“Camden County College recognizes that higher education is a major step in transitioning from military to civilian life,” said Camden County College President Don Borden. “That is why we have a Veterans Service Center that works with veterans to build a successful future and connect them with services on and off campus.”

The college’s veterans center provides Veterans Administration work-study information and opportunities and access to a special on-campus veterans lounges on the Blackwood and Camden Campuses. The center also provides access to a licensed clinical social worker on campus and provides referrals to the Camden County Department of Veterans Affairs and Camden County Mental Health Services.

Camden County College has once again earned the Military Friendly® Schools designation for 2019. Each year, institutions across the country are identified as top choices for providing post-secondary education to veterans and their spouses.

The Military Friendly® Schools list is created each year by the VIQTORY organization based on extensive research using public data sources for more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans and responses to the Military Friendly® Schools survey from participating institutions.

NJ Alliance for Action – 2019 Walter Rand South Jersey Award Recipient John Hanson

Hanson Recognized for Impact on Local Economy
Camden County College Board of Trustees Chair John T. Hanson was presented with an Eagle Award by the New Jersey Alliance for Action during the 45th Annual Eagle Awards Dinner on October 29, 2019, at the Hyatt Regency in New Brunswick, NJ. Hanson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) and PATCO President. He accepted the 2019 Walter Rand South Jersey Award on behalf of the men and women who work at DRPA and PATCO, Chairman Ryan Boyer, Vice-Chairman Jeffrey Nash, DRPA and PATCO’s Board, and the contractors and consultants who support the Authority. An Eagle Award symbolizes the ability to rise above obstacles and to achieve levels of success beyond the common grasp that make the recipient of this award a leader. Hanson was the recipient of the Walter Rand South Jersey Award which is an Eagle Award category given to an individual who is recognized as making a difference in the local economy.

Camden County College commemorates Memorial Day with opening of Veterans Office

Camden County College commemorates Memorial Day with opening of Veterans Office

The Camden County Freeholder Board will hold its annual Memorial Day Ceremony on May 25 at 10 a.m. honoring the memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. This year, the observance will feature the grand opening of the new Veterans Affairs Office on Camden County College’s Blackwood Campus.

“This observance is usually held at the Camden County Veterans Cemetery at Harleigh, but renovations at that site present us with an opportunity to announce that the Camden County Veterans Affairs Office has been relocated from Lakeland to Camden County College,” said Freeholder Melinda Kane, liaison to the Camden County Veteran’s Affairs Office. “The Memorial Day observance will take place in the college’s Presidential Courtyard. After the ceremony, please join us for an open house in the new Veterans Affairs Office in the college’s Wolverton Center. A light lunch will be served.”

Camden County College is located at 200 College Drive in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township. The Camden County Office of Veterans Affairs is located on the third floor of the Wolverton Center. The building, which also houses the library, is fully accessible with ramps and an elevator.
“To honor our heroes this Memorial Day weekend, join us in remembering that this holiday has been designated by this grateful nation to honor our veterans that have fought and died for our country,” Kane said.

For more information on services available to veterans, please contact the Camden County Veterans Affairs Office at 1-800-464-VETS.
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Camden 28 revisit court where they were tried for ’71 break-in to protest Vietnam War

By Kyrie Greenberg on whyy.org
December 6, 2018

Nearly 50 years after breaking into the Camden draft board and destroying records to protest the war in Vietnam, members of the Camden 28 took to the stand in the federal courtroom where they were tried.

This time, it was to tell their story for future generations.

Joan Reilly read the names of those who didn’t live long enough to return to the courtroom that was packed Thursday with high school and Camden County College students.

A lifelong Catholic, Reilly said her faith led her and her sister Rosemary to oppose the Vietnam war, and move from Long Island to join the resistance in Camden.

“It was ordinary people who said ‘not in our name, not on our watch.’ We took great risk and worked in collective action, and I very much believe that’s what helped to end this war,” said Reilly, who was in her early 20s at the time.

“My parents have both died, and they kept the letters I sent to them. Now I can see the fire that burned within me about the injustices I saw happening,” she said.

In the weeks before the 1971 raid, rioting was regular in Camden.

Keith Forsyth, who moved from Ohio to be a part of the anti-war movement, said demonstrators knew the risks. “It was like the Boy Scout motto, ‘Always be prepared.’ We were ready to go to jail,” he said.

In Camden, they met the Rev. Michael Doyle, one of four priests and one Presbyterian pastor charged with felonies related to the raid. Now Monsignor Doyle and pastor of Sacred Heart Church in South Camden, he said he wouldn’t change a thing, though at the time his politics meant few churches would employ him to celebrate Sunday Mass.

“No congressman’s son died in Vietnam because they never got sent to the front. But the poor kids of Camden, they were sent to the front,” said Doyle. “It’s outrageous. And then you say, ‘There’s no point in writing a letter to those [politicians],’” he continued.

As casualties mounted, several draft board raids occurred throughout the country. But the Camden 28 case was the only one where all defendants were acquitted.

Despite evidence that the FBI aided the raid through a paid informant, attorney David Kairys didn’t try to prove entrapment. Instead, the 28 defendants represented themselves as co-counsel, giving each a chance to address the jury directly.

Eugene Dixon said the idea was to appeal to the people, not the law.

“I was just an ordinary working stiff, but, of course, the politics of the war were always in front. And the idea of massive violence being perpetrated on people was one that struck home with me,” said Dixon.

“I loved being on trial,” said Doyle to laughter from the room. “We talked a lot and Judge Fisher, he had a great sense of humor. I was a felon, but he was so nice to me. And to be able to cross-examine FBI agents — imagine that! I was a peasant from Ireland doing that, and I loved it.”

Complementing the event was a screening of a documentary by Anthony Giacchino, which is available online. Giacchino grew up attending church at Sacred Heart and his parents are active in the parish.

“Maya Angelou of Iraq” to visit Camden County College

The Madison Literary Society presents a night of poetry with Faleeha Hassan

Blackwood, NJ – On November 20 at 6:30 p.m. MAD LIT (the Madison Literary Society of Camden County College) will host An Evening of Poetry and Memory with Faleeha Hassan in Civic Hall on the Blackwood Campus.

Faleeha Hassan, known to most in this country as “The Maya Angelou of Iraq”, emigrated from Iraq to the U.S. in 2012 after having fled Iraq for Turkey when her writings landed her name on a “death list.”

Now living quietly with her two children in her adopted home of Washington Township (Gloucester County), the woman who once claimed she could not speak of peace because she had never experienced it, appreciates her newfound suburban tranquility more than her neighbors could ever guess.

MAD LIT advisor and CCC Professor of English Keith O’Shaughnessy states, “We consider ourselves very privileged to welcome someone so widely known and highly regarded a talent to the College. Her work has been celebrated the world over for its vivid testaments both to strife in her native Iraq and the challenges of immigrant life in our own land. Better still, she recites it with an almost mystical grace, force, and poise.”

Refreshments will be served at 6:30 p.m. with the reading and discussion to follow. This event is free to the public.

Credit: sjmagazine.net

Statewide Ballot Question Topic of Event at CCC

www.snjtoday.com

We are just one week away from this year’s Midterm Elections and on Tuesday, officials throughout the state held a series of events in support of the state’s only ballot question.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 30th, Camden County Freeholders joined officials from Camden County College and the Camden County Vocational School District to host one of three events throughout the state in support of the Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act.

The event showcased some of the joint career technical education opportunities offered between community colleges and vocational schools to prepare high school students and young adults for careers in high-demand industries that can be launched without a four-year degree.

To students, the Bond Act would mean helping to increase opportunities to find successful career paths they can enjoy doing.

“The experience I’ve had with my technical school I would want for every student to have as it is our duty to provide our students with proper preparation for their futures,” said Dahmir Gunter, a Camden County Technical School student.

“With additional funding more students and young girls like me will have the chance to find their career, get hands-on training and gain all the amazing benefits of a technical education,” said Tatiana Cunningham, a Camden County Technical School student.

Ballot Question No. 1 asks voters whether they approve or disapprove of the “Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act,” which would allow the state to issue $500 million in bond grants.

The bonds would be used to provide grants to county vocational school districts and school security projects, while also supporting community college programs and upgrading water infrastructure in school districts across the state.

To learn more visit njelections.org.