GAMMY SMITH APPLE

[Editorial note: On February 17th GAM will go to a high school to encourage students to consider college, encourage them to hold a signature GAM charity event and to bestow honors on them for joining in on our GAMes. This excellent adventure was charted for us by our Commodore Alyssa D’Amico. This is the simple story of how we got GAMMY Smith Apples.]

At one of our GAM meetings, Judge Gregorek suggested that we engage our old high schools in our GAMes. I thought that contacting a high school that I had attended, The Smith School, would be great. When I called my old high school and told them what GAM is and what we had in mind, they were excited about it. 

In a follow up interview, Judge Gregorek and I shared the GAMarray Gazette, GAMbill and Treasured Moments, along with information about college. We explained what GAM is about and how it can help students. We all agreed that I would return on February 18th to make a presentation to the students.

The Smith School is a private school on the Upper West Side, serving 7th to 12th grade. We intend to run a little contest to get the students involved and interested in GAM. I look forward to making the speech and seeing all my old teachers! And that’s how GAM and The Smith School decided to shine together in the Big Apple. Would you like to plan something fun with your old high school or with your college peers? GAM it!

By Alyssa D'Amico

Here We Grow Again: GAM Starts Research Branch, GAMA

The Fall 2010 semester marked yet another milestone for Great American Mentoring (GAM) as the club relaunched its research branch, GAMA, employing students for marketing research in various areas.

Christopher Gionnatta is shown above in the center
 wearing a white shirt. He is surrounded by other
associates of GAM.

One of the projects, Codename: JABNOT, is led by Project Coordinator Christopher Giannotta, a Computer Science major at the Manhattan campus of NYIT, who joined during the middle of the Fall 2010 semester.  JABNOT (Just Another Bag...NOT) is a play on the crux of the case involving a lawsuit where a major airline paid a record judgement for the death of a stray dog named Floyd that they argued was just another bag.  Floyd was virtually baked to death in the cargo hold of the plane, which sat delayed on the runway, in the summer of 1988 in Arizona, where temperatures rise over 110 degrees.  The airline relied upon its self-serving ceiling on compensation for lost or damaged baggage (then $1,250) as applicable to traveling pets.  Professor Gregorek took over the case in 1994 and contended that the term “baggage” in airline transportation did not mean to the ordinary consumer a dog, cat, or other companion animal.  What the research team is now involved in is finding out the impact the case has had on other animal welfare cases and whether or not anything has changed, hopefully for the better. 

Commenting on what he has learned from the case, Giannotta expressed that he further understands the importance of animal welfare and the legalities behind the fair treatment of animals, and that activism is an important aspect of that understanding.  The various skills that Giannotta credits having already learned from working on the GAMA project include investigating and gathering research data, coordinating and communicating effectively with fellow researchers, and working in/as a team (this being his first real-world group project).  

Be sure to be on the lookout for the next great opportunity that GAM has for you!  Come Aboard

"GAM it!" In 2011

As the Spring 2011 semester begins, I would just like to welcome everyone back from winter break. This is going to be yet another productive and prosperous semester for Great American Mentoring and I'm excited to get started. We have been hard at work planning fun and exciting events with much opportunity for you. For those of you who are new to the club, Great American Mentoring, also known as GAM, is a "mingling and mentoring" club designed to develop and strengthen our member’s “business sense and social grace.” The Spring 2011 officer corps includes Captain (President) Christopher Engel, Commander (VP) Yosr El-Azhary, Lieutenant Navigator (Secretary) Chloe Pitterson, and Lieutenant Purser (Treasurer) Gabriel Almonte. As part of GAM’s commitment to its members to provide a platform of free expression, GAM publishes its monthly magazine, The GAMarray Gazette. In it, you will find information on upcoming meetings and events as well as the views, opinions, and creativity of your fellow student. The Fall 2010 semester marked yet another milestone for GAM as the club launched its research branch, GAMA, employing students for market research in various areas. If you are interested in joining, or would like more info about who we are and what we do, please email GAM.nyit@gmail.com, or check out our website at GAMship.net.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Award

Celebrations:  Hindu (upper left), Jewish (center top), Muslim (bottom left),
Christian (center bottom), Fayon Pellew (right photo).

GAM’s Cultural Celebration

It was during the summer of 2009 that Professor Gregorek first came to me with the idea about the cultural celebration. I liked the idea as soon as I heard about it.  It was to be an event highlighting four religions:  Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There is a lot of information to be said about those four religions so I thought of four common themes that they all share but practice differently.  They were births, maturation, weddings, and deaths.  We also decided upon presenting the holy books and the major holidays of each religion. The presenters were students who wanted to share their religion.  We also incorporated presentations from students about the influence of each religion on the United States.  In addition to presentations from students there were also professionals invited who gave presentations on doing business internationally with different cultures and on using etiquette when interacting with those cultures.  In order to make the cultures that students spoke about more palpable we also added music, food, and clothing of each religion.  It was a great way for students to get to know each other effortlessly because they were talking about something that is so much a part of themselves and their identities.  --Fayon Pellew (B.S., Business Administration, 2010)

[Editorial Note:  GAM's Commander Fayon Pellew was nominated for and received the Martin Luther King Jr. Award.  Apropos to note on his national day of observance.  You can read more about GAM’s Cultural Celebration online.]

Experiential Education Supervisor Recognition Award

Judge Gregorek:  "This honor is twofold:  to have been selected for the Experiential Education Supervisor Recognition Award; and to have been nominated by Christopher Engel (B.A. Management, May 2011)."

"Three years ago Christopher answered the call and began his leadership of Great American Mentoring--a club he helped me establish, earning awards for excellence each year.  Drawing upon the lessons in GAM, Christopher and I accepted the challenge of growing the School of Management's Professional Enrichment Program.  Christopher will graduate with numerous awards, certificates and other accolades."  

"While on paper I have been Christopher's supervisor, he is my teammate.  I am honored to have worked with him.  Speaking for my teammate and I, we choose to exercise this opportunity to tell everyone that our success was facilitated with the support and guidance provided by Career Services' Internship Certificate Program administered by Amy Bravo, Director of Experiential Education.  It ensured we kept up with the best of NYIT, providing us with consistency and feedback.  Consistency and feedback are the two ingredients that make a supervisor and an intern successful."

Michael J. Gregorek is a retired judge, who has been teaching philosophy, history, business law and more as an Adjunct Assistant Professor for NYIT for over ten years.  In 2007 he received the Presidential Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Adjunct Teaching.

Christopher Engel is a senior graduating in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Management.  He is the president of Great American Mentoring.  For AY2009-10 he received awards for Outstanding Club President and Outstanding Student Leader.