Campus Currents

Friday, May 6, McCarthy Center Forum, 10:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Celebrate student scholarly work and faculty support by viewing the online program where you can view student presentations. This is a great opportunity to see some of our students' work. Student work will be presented in a variety of formats, including several live in-person oral presentations in the Alumni Room and poster presentations in the Forum. We hope you can join us and support the students' work on campus. There will also be Biology students presenting in the Hemenway Laboratories Atrium, prerecorded presentations, virtual posters, and a showcase of Fashion Design portfolios. A final event program will be emailed out this week, which will include links to the prerecorded presentations and asynchronous poster presentations.

Organized and sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, Scholarship and Service (CELTSS).

Congratulations to the recipients of the awards that were given out during the Student Leader Appreciation Banquet held on Wednesday, April 27th at the Warren Conference Center. The event was hosted by SGA.

Here is the list of winners:

Student Leader Awards
The Motivated Member Award-Bailey Collins, Dance Team
The Harmony Award-Drag BINGO event-SGA, Pride Alliance, FSAB
Student Leaders of the Year Award- Shae Heggs-Szabo, Dance Team
The Rookie Org of the Year Award- The Outing Club
The Rookie Student Leader of the Year Award- Odilia Mendez-Barrondo, Fashion Club
The Legacy Award- Mariah Farris, MISS

Benevolence Awards
The Kathleen Ryan Roberts Advocacy Award- Samantha Collette
The Jaune Quick-To-See-Smith Academic Leadership Award- Emma Sullivan
The John F. Kennedy Award- McKenzie Ward
The Paul T. Murphy University and Community Service Award- Malik Martin

By Branden LaCroix, Publications Intern

When Enzo Silon Surin was growing up in Queens, New York, emotions and vulnerability were signs of weakness in his neighborhood.

“I would look in the mirror and try to be the most intimidating person that I could be,” he said. “And I would practice until one day, I got so good at it, that I even became my own enemy.”

This “reflection exercise” is just one small piece of the backdrop to Surin’s poetry, which pulls from the imagery and chaos of his childhood.

Surin gave a reading of his poetry from his newest book When My Body Was a Clinched Fist as the 2022 Miriam Levine Reader at the Heineman Ecumenical Center April 19.

A Framingham State alumnus, he transferred from New York to FSU in 1997 and majored in psychology and sociology.

Surin said leaving Queens for Framingham brought similar feelings to when his family fled Haiti during the coup in 1986. “And so, leaving home again, meant a lot to me. It left a void in me, but writing became a way for me to really express that...When My Body Was a Clinched Fist is the story of how a young boy found his way in writing that saved his life.” 

Living in Queens, Surin said, “I was trying to figure out a way to stay away from some of the things that were trying to get me in trouble.

“You had to make a decision: Either you participate as far as the violence or you become addicted to it,” he said.

The five poems Surin read – “Birth of a Clinched Fist,” “Elegy for One Sixty-First Street,” “My Body is a Clinched Fist,” “In a Fisted Universe,” and “On Sunday Afternoons in Jamaica, Queens,” – were born from his formative years in New York.

He discussed the negative impact his environment had on his mental health, and how his demographic is often overlooked in discussions of mental health.

He said, “We have a lot more knowledge now about how people struggle, and we need to do a better job in general, collectively, in allowing people to be themselves 100%.”

Surin’s advice to young writers was simply, “If there is something that speaks to you, write about it...You're the change you've been waiting for. You are the voice that we've been waiting for. And you have a new perspective.”

Capstone Exhibitions

Exhibition Three: May 2 - 8 with a reception May 3rd, 4:30-6:00pm

Studio Art and Graphic Design majors in The Department of Art & Music at Framingham State University are immersed in a collaborative, innovative and interdisciplinary learning environment, which focuses on academic excellence in the areas of visual art, design, and art history. The Capstone Experience is designed to support students to work intensively on creating a cohesive body of work in their chosen concentration. Throughout their final year of study students receive feedback on this work from their peers, faculty, and professionals in the field. The degree culminates with a public exhibition in Mazmanian Gallery.

The Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni is holding the next event in its Coffee and Conversation Series on Tuesday, May 3rd at 10 a.m. at the Alumni House, 42 Adams Road.

It will feature a tour of the historic Alumni House and Gardens. House Chair, Deb Adams '69 has done extensive research of the house and put together a descriptive tour. House Committee Members will walk you through our unique Arts and Crafts Style House and will point out its many distinctive features.

They would love to hear your memories of your time at Alumni House.

Shanell Coney has been selected as the inaugural winner of the Stephen J. Lemire MHA Book Award for Leadership. This award will be presented annually to the MHA student who best demonstrates leadership during their course of study at Framingham State University and develops the most innovative ideas about health policy reform through their classwork.

-Dr. Erika Schneider, art history professor in the Art and Music Department, was awarded a 2022-23 Schomburg Short-Term Fellowship at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. She will be spending a month researching Meta Vaus Warrick Fuller and the international origins of the Harlem Renaissance during her sabbatical in the fall.