Gala on the Hudson

BMCC’s 22nd Annual Scholarship Gala, held at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on Manhattan’s West Side, raised over $435,000 in funds that will directly support the BMCC Scholarship program. 

The event brought together over 330 attendees from among the BMCC community—faculty, staff, and students—as well as CUNY and other college presidents, corporate sponsors, benefactors and numerous supporters.

The evening featured a Cocktail Reception, Silent Auction, and dinner. The BMCC Singers provided entertainment during the Reception, and Whole Foods Market donated lavish table centerpieces.

Honorees included Robert J. Mueller, Retired Senior Officer, The Bank of New York Mellon, member of the Battery Park City Authority and of a number of corporate and non-profit Boards—including that of the BMCC College Foundation—and Jessica Schell, Senior Vice President for Digital Strategy and Business Development at NBC Universal. 

Support from within—and beyond—the BMCC community

Master of Ceremonies Jim Axelrod, a national correspondent for CBS News, introduced the Honorees and other speakers, including BMCC President Antonio Pérez.

“BMCC’s mission is to make higher education accessible to all with the ambition to attain it,” said Pérez. “Most BMCC students are the first generation in their families to attend college, and two-thirds are women. Our mission to provide a step-up to these students is crucial, because jobs requiring an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience in coming years.”

Pérez also acknowledged special guests CUNY Senior Vice Chancellor Jay Hershenson; CUNY Trustee Wellington Chen; CUNY College Presidents Russell Holtzer of New York City Technical College; Eduardo J. Martí of Queensborough Community College and William Pollard of Medgar Evers College; Robert Messina, President of Burlington County Community College, and former BMCC President Joshua Smith.

Elizabeth Butson, Chair of the BMCC Foundation Board, gave heartfelt thanks to Gala Co-Chairs Margery Thomas Mueller; Christine Larsen, who was last year’s Honoree, and BMCC alum and scholarship recipient Aubrey Sibanyoni.

Honorees and speakers share personal insight

Honoree Robert Mueller—a BMCC Presidential Medal winner and who, along with co-Honoree Jennifer Schell, was this year’s recipient of the BMCC Award of Excellence—was touched and surprised to discover his wife, Margery had placed a full-page congratulatory notice to him, in the Gala program booklet. Rather than reflect on his extensive philanthropy and highly successful business career, Mueller reminisced about his early days getting to know the BMCC community, speaking of his respect for the students and employees of the College, including the security guards.

Honoree Jessica Schell, commenting on the emerging skills today’s college graduates are expected to possess, said the amount of information people are exposed to in today’s highly digitized world makes for an intake experience comparable to reading War and Peace—Tolstoy’s famously long epic novel—every five days. She also touched on students’ experience by noting social media’s potent ability to instantly make or undo a product’s success, superseding the role of marketing and advertising campaigns in more traditional media.  

Student Speaker and Out-in-Two scholar John Fernandes told of his positive experience as part of BMCC’s diverse student body, describing himself as “an Indian born in Kuwait,” and explaining that his name reflects the influx of Portuguese missionaries to India, over a century ago. He described the powerful experience he has had at BMCC, being a peer mentor to a student from Rwanda, saying, “We exchanged war stories. He was looking for someone to talk to, but more than that, he wanted to find someone who would listen to him.”

Funds raised create much needed student scholarships

At the close of the dinner and presentations, Student Ambassadors circulated through the dining tables, holding microphones for individuals who pledged large donations, often in the name of a loved one.

These $5,000 gifts were donated by Dr. Patricia Wilkinson, a retired BMCC mathematics professor; Leonard Riggio, founder and chairman of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and his wife Louise Riggio; Gala Honoree Robert Mueller, in the name of his wife Margery Thomas Mueller; Christine Larsen, in the name of her grandfather, Chris Larsen, Jr.; Jim and Julie Johnson, in the names of Julie, Leslie and Simon Johnson, and Larry Levine, in the name of his mother, Mary Levine.

In addition, Jay Hershenson, CUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for University Relations
announced for CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein a gift in the name of the late Ernesto Malave, a BMCC alum from 1981 who served as Chancellor for Budget and Finance of The City University of New York.

The Silent Auction, for which various individuals throughout the BMCC community had donated original artwork, celebrity-signed posters, hand-crafted jewelry, dinners to fine restaurants and other items, inspired giving to the very last minute of the Gala.

Those proceeds and others from the event, including gifts provided by RR Donnelley, Craig Hatkoff, Neil Schroff/Polaris, Resnick & Sons, the Rudin Family and other donors, support the BMCC Scholarship Program, which enables high-achieving students grappling with financial need, to successfully complete their education.