American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

http://main.acsevents.org/msabc-ecard-pinkribbon.html


Long Island Business Institute has signed up to walk in the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and we are sending you this eCard to brighten your day and ask for your support.We chose to support the American Cancer Society because funds raised through Making Strides find cures, help people stay well and get well from breast cancer, and empower people to fight back today.

When you sign up to walk with our team,

One LIBI, or make donation, you help people:

Find Cures: We fund groundbreaking research that discovers cancer's causes and cures. Stay Well: We educate and empower people to help them prevent cancer. Get Well: We help patients and their caregivers make decisions and overcome obstacles in their personal fight. Fight Back: We help pass laws that defeat cancer and rally communities to join the fight.

Each of us has our own reasons for caring about the fight against breast cancer. Remember your reasons and please choose from the links below to walk or support us with an online donation. We are so grateful to have great people like you around us who care about helping fight breast cancer!

If you would like to make a cash donation or pay by check, you can drop it by my office, Room 303.

Thanks!

Commencement Speeches - Song Tao Zheng

Song Tao Zheng - Salutatorian Speech

Dear President Foote, teachers, families, and friends. Thank you for joining us tonight at the Long Island Business Institute graduation ceremony. Graduation is a time to look fondly upon memories which have been made over the past two years. I am sure all of us have our own memories which we hold close to our hearts and make us smile when we think of them. I remembered that two years ago, when my younger son was ready for kindergarten, I couldn’t wait to go back to school to absorb all of the new knowledge that I had missed for years. One of my friends asked me how I felt because most of my classmates are ten or fifteen years younger than I am and I said I feel great. Their vitalities make me feel like I am so much younger than I really am. My classmates that are ten years older than me inspire me to study harder and do better. Every day is a learning process, no matter how old we are, and knowledge will help us to figure out ways to achieve our goals and fulfill our dreams. I appreciate Long Island Business Institute for providing the opportunity for all of us to continue our education.


I have met so many great teachers at LIBI, and I would like to give special thanks to Ms. Carol Kotliar, Ms. Joanna Wang, Ms. Daisy Tavera, Mr. Daniel Huang, and Mr. Frank Leone. Thank you for your encouragement, and for helping us come this far. Mr. Frank Leone made College English my favorite course. His great sense of humor makes me laugh, the way he teaches grammar is remarkable, and I never got bored in his three hour class. He is the best English teacher I have ever had. Mr. Leone said he is going to wirte a book about grammar; please don’t let us wait too long.

I would like to thank my family. Thanks to my parents for helping me take care of the children, thanks to my husband for his support, and a lot of thanks to my two sons – Aaron and Brendan. They give me the great motivation to study hard, to achieve, and excel. As a working Mom, I challenge myself to do my best at work and school. When I showed my report card to my children, they said: Wow, Mom, you are crazy; you got straight “A’s” in every subject. I know when they say their mom is crazy; they really mean their mom is awesome.

I have seen so many parents studying at LIBI. We work hard to support our families; we study hard to achieve our goals. We are the role models for our children and we set a good example for the younger generation. Congratulations to all of us. Thank you very much.

Commencement Speeches - Peiyu Shi

Peiyu Shi

Today we are joined together to celebrate the graduation of the Long Island Business Institute’s class of 2010. As one of the graduating students, and this year’s valedictorian, I feel very honored and pleased to have this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to all of the faculty members who acted not only as our instructors, but also as our mentors and friends. Your great efforts have helped us become professionals with specialized knowledge, skills and management. I would also like to thank the learning center teachers who were always ready to help us. I especially wish to thank all of the families who have encouraged and supported us while we were working towards our degrees. So, let us say thank you to our beloved family members.


As students, we have been excited about graduation from the second we put on our gowns this evening. As we look into our friends' faces and see ourselves, we also see pride in our accomplishments, hopefulness for success, and anticipation for the future. We can also see how much we've grown within the last two years. When we started our journey at LIBI, most of us were new immigrants and were looking for a new challenge. When I look back on the past two years, I realize that staying focused on all we have learned has changed me both personally and professionally. Although our stories of the past two years might be a little different, I am sure that this experience will prove to be the most memorable, enjoyable and valuable time of our lives. We have not only gained a lot of useful knowledge, but more importantly, we learned how to learn. And once you acquire the skills of learning, you will always be in the process of continuous self-improvement. That is a must in today’s competitive environment. The knowledge, skills, and experiences we have accumulated, and the friendships we have built will accompany and assist us throughout our lives. I am confident that all of us will have a successful careers and a wonderful future.

Last but not least, I want to again thank all of the faculty members who have put their time and energy into making all of this possible. Congratulations to the Class of 2010!

Thank you!

Commencement Speeches - Natalie Block

Natalie Block - Salutatorian Speech

        Good evening and welcome to all the administrators, staff, family, and friends who have gathered here to celebrate the culmination of our collective achievements. Congratulations to all of my fellow graduates – we did it. We passed the 225! Yeah! I am honored to stand before you today as a representative of the LIBI Class of 2010, and on your behalf I will take a moment and thank all of the people in our lives whose faith in us never wavered. Some of you may cringe at my use of the word faith, but I am not here to preach to you. I use the word faith because it represents inner strength, a necessary skill that we all have shown to acquire in arriving here today. We know that luck or chance had no part in helping us achieve our goals: only strength, determination, and inner strength have the power to do that. We are the faithful who never gave up. We are the faithful who never stopped believing in ourselves. We are the faithful that set goals for ourselves and had the courage to take the necessary steps to achieve those goals. Now it is time to take that faith - inner strength and build on its power as we join a group of very uniquely skilled professional individuals known as court reporters.

Today we celebrate the accomplishment of passing all of our tests with a proficiency rate of 95% or better, and we will use the strong work ethics we have built to go out and become successful professionals.

While many graduates today face the prospect of the unknown when they leave their schools, we – the faithful - can be confident that our career choice was the right choice, and all our preparation was not in vain due to the fact the court reporting profession was listed in the Bureau of Labor Statistics to be one of the fastest growing professions today, with an estimated growth rate of 25% by the year 2016. Let’s go graduates, get your fingers moving and make that money!

Our strength, determination, and faith in ourselves to complete the mission would not have been achieved without the aid of our deeply devoted staff of teachers and administrators who were always available to aid us. Although, I cannot individually mention all the wonderful teachers we have at LIBI, I would like to share with you some of the personal experiences that I have had:

My first teacher was Ms. Sumner, who is also known as the Case Catalyst Queen because she knows every minute detail about the Case Catalyst program, but she is not limited to that; she excels in her knowledge of everything necessary to be a proficient writer. Her guidance is what enables the student to build a secure foundation of work ethics essential to becoming a successful reporter.

Another familiar face to all of us is Mrs. Magarelli, aka court reporter, mother and part-time dancer. A lot of the students will enter her Transcription Production classroom thinking “this is going to be so easy; everyone knows how to punctuate a sentence, right?” But you quickly learn there is much more to know about editing a transcript for it to be done correctly. With her unique teaching methods, she accomplishes this, leaving the student fully equipped to appropriately punctuate with a comma or a dash. But tell me, when did they stop writing alright as one word?

As we move through the speed classes we are always waiting with anticipation the day we finally enter the 160-180 class. This is the class where, for some unknown reason, many seem to get stuck; and the teacher of this class needs to be creative, innovative, and encouraging to keep the student moving on. One of those teachers is Mrs. Dellecamelie, who between running a household – possibly two, raising a teenager with raging hormones and a toddler that loves to ride the trains, still finds the time to devote countless hours to her students even after they have left her classroom.

Finally, we reach the end, the finish line, the coveted 225 class. Ahhh,… a sigh of relief as we enter this class, but that doesn’t mean we have any time to slow down. Absolutely not as we quickly discover there is a huge difference between 180, 200, and 225 and are once again calling upon our inner strength, dedication, and devotion, to guide us to the finish line. To aid us on this journey we are met by Mr. Gennaro and Mrs. Santucci, who are themselves working reporters and have a plethora of knowledge they share with the students.

We certainly have worked really hard perfecting our speed and accuracy, but let’s not forget that in addition to learning a new language with a 95% rate of proficiency at the speed of 225 words per minute, we have also acquired a well-rounded background of academics. One of those classes would be the Internship class, and I am confident this would be a favorite choice for all of the students. Ms. Rizzo and Mrs. Fevola - both successful working reporters, teach this class. I had the pleasure of being taught by Mrs. Fevola who I will refer to as “the icing on the cake” because she combines all the skills we have achieved thus far into a mix, blending and molding, and the end result being a recipe for success. You can’t help but to be drawn by her enthusiasm for the profession, and her sense of commitment to the student.

All along I have been speaking of inner strength and the gift that brings when we pull from it, but I will now share with you a moment of weakness that I had when I started the program as it relates to the devotion of our teachers to push us to reach our goals. My biggest fear was taking the medical terminology class because it requires gaining a whole new level of knowledge, and I just didn’t think I would be up to the challenge; that is until I met Mrs. Cooper. She uses her pharmaceutical experience to convey the message that this information will open doors for us as we begin our journey into the workforce, and I eagerly awaited the new knowledge that I would gain each week. She taught me, and I know many of you, to believe in ourselves and we will gain strength and be rewarded for that newly gained knowledge.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the devoted presence that seems to be in our school, both day and night, and that presence would be Ms. Houston. She is not only Campus Director, she currently maintains a teaching position in the school; and to this day continues to have an “open door policy” for all the students, while completing all of her other duties. I know I speak for all of the graduates when I say that Ms. Houston is truly devoted to the achievement of success for all of her students, and we are grateful and fortunate to have her presence.

For each of us, there are people in our personal lives that supported us through our struggles to reach this accolade today, and I join you in thanking them for their love and faith. I know that without the love and support of my husband and children and their unwavering belief in me, I would not be standing here before you today. I will leave you with a hearty good luck and best wishes to all.

Commencement Speeches - Tina Morena

Tina Morena - Valedictorian Speech 

GOOD EVENING.

I would first like to welcome all fellow graduates, faculty, spouses, parents, and guests to the Long Island Business Institute’s commencement ceremony for the class of 2010. WOW! I could NOT WAIT to hear those words – and by the looks on all of my fellow graduate’s faces, I am certainly not alone!



Let’s take a moment to think back to the people and the times that shaped us these last few years. Every teacher deserves an acclaimed “Thank You” for helping us reach our goal of graduation. Without their incessant support and guidance, we would not be sitting here today. The love and support of our families and spouses have been so greatly appreciated. I wish to extend my gratitude and gratefulness to all of you present today. The very people who have made a difference are right here – right now. The greatest gift any of us could have received is having the people who influenced all of our lives, here, to witness this tremendous milestone. With your undying support, you have been our advocates in this arduous journey.



I am extremely proud and deeply honored to be given the opportunity to address all of you during this momentous celebration. Each and every one of you deserves the greatest congratulations. We have all paid a price to be here; effort, frustration, sweat, tears, and now – triumph-- into our time at Long Island Business Institute. We should all be incredibly proud of ourselves and each other.



Many of life’s failures derive from those who did not realize how close they were to success when they made the distressing decision to simply give up. YES, you might lose faith along the way, and YES, you might lose your enthusiasm – but you just have to keep on trying.


Tonight, we celebrate our successes after all of our hardships, struggles, and perseverance. We reminisce the challenges that stood before us and we savior the victories that came upon our hands. It was not so long ago when we dared to dream and not so long ago when we dared to take the first essential steps toward its fulfillment.



Along the way, we have met a plethora of trials, but our burning desires to reach our goals have kept us from straying or giving up. Along the way were many uncertainties, but we all found the right path to take because persistence, passion, and patience are the secrets to success. For those of us graduating, this day marks the culmination of a period of courage, commitment, and proficiency. It is important that we share a moment to reflect and appreciate the enormity of our fine accomplishment.



Fellow graduates, we need to be thankful for each other. The friendships that we have made here will continue to last. We have helped each other to SURVIVE these past years and in other ways, we have helped each other to SUCCEED these past years. I wish all of you continued success and happiness in the future and the satisfaction of knowing that whatever you do, you will do it well. We have every reason to look forward into the future with hope and excitement. Fear NOTHING and fear NO ONE. And always remember that each of you are unique, your soul to own.



No more will we hear the dreaded questions, “When are you going to finish school? How much school do you have left?” But instead we will now hear, “Are you working? Did you find a job yet?”

These are questions we have all heard time and time again. At times, we thought we would never be sitting here today. But we WILL succeed because there IS NO OTHER OPTION. The choices we have made and the choices we will advance forward will ultimately define us.

I know that a bright tomorrow awaits us. Let us get there by making the most of what we have today. NEVER be afraid to try and NEVER be afraid to dream.

There is a good reason why a graduation is called a commencement ceremony. It is because graduation is not the

end – it’s only the beginning.


Right now we are like birds just learning to fly. We may fall once, and we may fall twice, but we will not ALWAYS fall. We WILL learn to fly and once we do, the skies are limitless.



Thank you and Congratulations to all of you.

ABK Inaugural Induction - Flushing Campus

The Flushing Campus held its inaugural induction of the Alpha Beta Kappa National Honor Society on Friday, April 9, 2010 at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel in Flushing.




Joined by LIBI administration, faculty, staff, and their family members, 36 Flushing students were officially inducted into the Gamma of New York chapter. President, Monica Foote and Chief Academic and Student Services Officer, Stacey Johnson presented each inductee with their official framed certificate of membership from Alpha Beta Kappa.



Guest speaker, Assemblywoman Grace Meng commended the students on their outstanding academic achievements and dedication to education, family, and community. These scholastic standouts held their heads high as they took the official ABK oath, which was administered by the Assemblywoman.



These selected elite students will always serve as an inspiration to our current students. Their achievements will also serve as a tremendous tribute to our instructors and staff for many years to come.



Congratulations to all of the LIBI Flushing inductees on their achievement.

Dear LIBI Community

As the Summer wears on and our enthusiasm for parting with winter slowly turns to complaints about the endless heat wave, I am once again reminded how the human spirit is rarely content. In many ways, these transitory feelings of satisfaction are what fuels the phenomenon we call "progress" - a word that has become part of my everyday outlook since I arrived at LIBI nearly two years ago.




Serving as your President has been immensely fulfilling. LIBI has made remarkable progress over the past two years and I am proud to report that more academic innovations and co-curricular initiatives are being planned and are underway to help ensure the College's success well into the future. I am tremendously proud of our achievements and convinced that, despite the current economic crisis, LIBI will continue to thrive and evolve.



I have come to view LIBI's progress as a journey toward change – moving forward and transcending boundaries to realize our vision to become a college that continually strives to do more and to be more. We are not only making notable strides toward a multitude of academic goals, but we are also continually making every effort to reach out to and connect with the local communities around our campuses. I invite you to take a moment to read through the stories featured in this issue of the LIBI Log and to learn more about the progress we are making. I am proud to say that this has been another quarter of excitement and another quarter of records at LIBI. I want to extend an especially warm invitation to all of our alumni to visit the campuses and to get involved in all of the “LIBI Cares” initiatives and programs currently underway.



Enjoy the rest of your Summer!





Monica W. Foote

President

LIBI SUCCESS STORIES

        

          Claudia Saenz enrolled at Long Island Business Institute in May 2006. As a native of Columbia she wanted to improve her English and gain her associate degree as well as her GED. Claudia graduated with honors from LIBI in 2008 with a degree in Office Technology with Medical Office Option. Showing her commitment to improving herself and continuing her education, in May 2009 Claudia enrolled at Mercy College to continue her education and to work on obtaining her BS in Organizational Management. Claudia’s dedication and her experience in organizing, following through and staying on task helped her achieve her degrees. She is a good inspiration to many students that are interested in continuing their education. She graduated in May of 2010 and we were proud to see her at the Mercy College.

Homeland Security Professor Presents in Las Vegas

Professor Yvette Aguiar who recently joined the Long Island Business Institute Homeland Security program was selected by the prestigious Contingency Planning and Management (CPM) organization to appear at their 2010 West Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. CPM is an organization dedicated to business continuity and disaster planning. Since the September 11, 2001 events, strategic contingency planning has moved from reactive planning to the proactive, safeguarding approach. Organizations need to ensure that they are prepared for unexpected and unusual occurrences that threaten their staff and operations.




They include fires, explosions, terrorists threats, manmade or natural disasters, and criminal acts. Professor Aguiar’s training presentation was well received. She presented on the military risk management model – CARVER plus Shock. The risk management model was recently declassified by the U.S. Military for use by both public and private business sectors.



Professor Aguair is a candidate at North Central University. She holds a Master and B.S. degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She also holds the coveted security distinction, Certified Protection Professional (CPP). Recently, Professor Aguiar had the distinct honor of being designated a delegate, and will be presenting at the 2010 World Business Continuity Management Conference in November.

The Career Services Office present "Land that Job"!

The LIBI Office of Career Services sponsored its first ever student conference, Land That Job, on Saturday, May 22nd. This job preparedness conference gave students and alumni the opportunity to listen to two dynamic professionals and gain insight to all aspects of pursuing employment after graduation. “Land that Job” took place just a few days prior to our Spring Career Fair as a way to motivate and prepare students.




Michael Coritsidis, Job Ready Strategist/Career Coach, was our first guest speaker. His presentation, “7 Steps to Employment Success,” was extremely informative. Michael describes his program as a “business, how-to guide approach to seeking and retaining employment. The system provides specific answers to specific job related prep questions and is targeted to the unemployed, recent graduates, those contemplating a career change and those worried about job security.”

Our second guest speaker, Erica Hyams, PHR and Human Resource Business Partner for ADP Resource provided helpful knowledge and strategies for acing the job interview. Because of her experience working in human resources, she was able to touch upon all of the different aspects of both the hiring and firing processes within a business. After her presentation, Erica helped LIBI students improve their resumes, and also provided mock interview opportunities. The Alpha Beta Kappa National Honor Society sponsored a “Dress for Success” sale during the student conference. With donations coming in from various staff and faculty members of both campuses, the sale was a great success. Thank you to all faculty and staff who contributed to the sale.

On Thursday, May 27th, representatives from 11 local businesses attended our Spring Career Fair. Some businesses who were present included, New York Life, MetLife, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Border Patrol. Students were prepared with resumes in hand and dressed to impress as they circulated the room and networked with the business associates. The N.Y. State Troopers, FDNY, and U.S. Army were also in attendance. The overall turnout which included current LIBI students, as well as graduates was approximately 100. The event was a big success and we look forward to the next career fair this fall.

“The Spoken Word Perishes – The Written Word Remains”

          Congratulations Stacey Burns, winner of the Spring Semester Essay Contest at the Commack Campus. The topic of this essay was: “Discuss the importance and value of the court reporter’s transcript to the legal system.” It was quite obvious from her submission that Ms. Burns devoted a great deal of time researching this subject and writing her essay. She provided an interesting background of the history of court reporting and gave a thorough analysis of how the deposition transcript is used in the legal system also by the attorneys representing the plaintiffs and the defendants. She also demonstrated how very important the transcript becomes when a case reaches the Court of Appeals. Ms. Burns concluded her essay with an interview of an attorney who noted the many ways he utilizes the court reporter’s transcript. He also stated the importance of memorializing the exact words of individuals who are deposed as their words often come back years later to either make or break the case.

Blood Drive - June, 2010

        
            On June 14th, 2010 the Long Island Business Institute held its second and very successful blood drive. Students, staff and faculty all throughout the Flushing campus came out to support and donated 1 pint each totaling 31 pints. With those 31 pints of blood, a potential 93 lives will be saved. In New York State and New Jersey alone, there are an estimated 2300 pints that are needed daily. High school juniors and seniors donate the most blood in the United States. During the summer months, there is usually a shortage of blood due to the summer break. In September, LIBI will host its 2nd annual LIBI Blood Drive. If you were unable to come out during the spring or would like to help potentially save three lives, then please make sure that you donate next time.

AUGUST is Safety Month at LIBI

Students, faculty or LIBI staff who observe or have knowledge of violation of this policy should immediately report it to a member of senior management or by using safe@libi.edu to send an anonymous e-mail. All reports will be taken seriously and investigated, if warranted. If an investigation is deemed necessary, LIBI officials handling the investigation will request the cooperation of all incident-related individuals. An employee or a student who believes there is a serious and direct threat to the safety and health of other members of the LIBI community should immediately call 911 and notify a senior LIBI administrator.

Amish Trip

On Saturday, April 24th, we had an exciting trip to Lancaster County. This was the first time I had ever gone to the famous Amish County, so I had never seen Amish people before. It was an amazing experience for me. I had previously read about the Amish, but I did not believe that they were real. However, having now seen them, I know that they do,indeed,exist.




I really enjoyed our trip because it offered me the opportunity to see many new and different things from what we are used to in Queens. I saw that the Amish have a completely different way of life than most other Americans. Even though we were not part of their community, they were still very friendly toward us. I also learned that the Amish tend to work together with their families on their farms. They plant crops on their land, and they raise all sorts of farm animals. They also raise money by selling all sorts of interesting hand-crafted items as well as homemade foods.

Even though they live far from each other, Amish people help each other quite often. For example, when a new family needs to build a house, the entire town gets together and helps out. However, the most interesting thing about Amish houses is that they do not have electricity. In fact, the Amish do not use any new technology. They have their own small world with their own schoolhouse and their own people. I think Amish life is easier than the life we lead. They are more peaceful than we are.

 

I would like to thank the school for offering us such a well organized and exciting trip.

by Palwasha Niazmand