Annual Report 2017-2018 - 15

IN THE
COMMUNITY
Lieutenant Governor Congratulates Girls Coding
Project Participants. New York Lieutenant
Governor Kathy Hochul visited Buffalo State's
Technology Building on July 28, 2017, to personally
congratulate 28 sixth- through ninth-grade girls
from five Western New York school districts for
completing "The Girls Coding Project Powered by
AT&T." The two-week program, which marked the
region's only all-girl coding program, was designed
to encourage more young women to pursue
technology careers, specifically computer coding,
an industry that is predominately male-dominated.
The project was a collaborative effort between WNY
STEM Hub, AT&T, Buffalo State's Computer
Information Systems Department, the Girl Scouts of
WNY, and General Motors Tonawanda Engine.

Buffalo Beginnings Gives Refugee Children Strong
Start. Twenty-four neighborhood children, ages 4 to
18, participated in Buffalo Beginnings, a free summer
program offered by Buffalo State's Community
Academic Center (CAC) to help young immigrants
transition to life in the United States. The goal was to
familiarize newcomers with the American school
environment while also improving their reading and
writing skills. Children in the program learned literacy
and academic lessons in morning sessions taught by
Buffalo State students. Participants hailed from
conflict-torn countries such as Bhutan, Burma, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Somalia, and
Zimbabwe. The program wrapped up in August 2017.

College Hosts Eclipse 'View and Do.' Buffalo
State's Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium hosted a
Great American Eclipse "View and Do" on August
21, 2017, a free community event celebrating the
first solar eclipse visible throughout the contiguous
United States in nearly 100 years. Designated as an
official eclipse-viewing location by NASA, the
college welcomed hundreds of visitors for an array
of educational and fun activities. Campus volunteers handed out eclipse glasses and introduced
spectators to the effects of ultraviolet rays and the
relative distances between the sun, moon, and
earth. Telescopes equipped with special lenses for
safe viewing attracted lines of eager people, from
toddlers to seniors, who watched the moon slowly
pass in front of the sun.

Bengals Dare to Care Day Volunteers Visit 35
Sites. Students, faculty, and staff members joined
Buffalo State President Katherine Conway-Turner for
Bengals Dare to Care Day on September 16, 2017.
The campus Civic and Community Engagement
Office coordinated the annual day of service that
paired hands-on projects with a wide range of
community organizations. Thirty-five service projects
were available for all abilities and interests, including
sorting donations at a homeless shelter, cleaning up
a lakeside beach, painting the interior of a
downtown market, and planting community gardens.

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Annual Report 2017-2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Annual Report 2017-2018