Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, Noted Author Frank McCourt, and Poet Bob Holman Featured Speakers at New York Public Library Awards Ceremony

New York, June 10, 2003 -- The New York Public Library is proud to announce the 21st annual celebration of the Minerva Awards. More than 100 graduates will gather at this event, named for the Roman goddess of wisdom, where they will be honored for their superior academic accomplishments. These students, the cream of the NYC high school crop, will be recognized by special guest speakers including NYC Department of Education Chancellor Joel I. Klein, Author Frank McCourt, Poet Bob Holman, and New York Public Library President Dr. Paul LeClerc. In addition, there will be a special appearance by the Library’s Honorary Chairman, Brooke Russell Astor. The ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 10, at 3:00 p.m. at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

This year’s collection of success stories includes students from diverse ethnic, economic, and racial backgrounds, each with unique interests both inside and outside of the classroom. Many of the valedictorians are not American born. Their birthplaces include: Jamaica, Taiwan, China, the Ukraine, Lithuania, Belgium, Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Nigeria, India, South Korea, and Mexico.

Although the Class of 2003 valedictorians have indeed achieved academic excellence, many of them have faced huge obstacles and challenges in the course of their young lives. Some have come from distant lands, having left behind family and friends; some have had to overcome communication barriers while struggling to learn a whole new language;  some have had to deal with the death of a parent or divorce; still others have overcome learning disabilities.  One thing they all have in common: they have stayed on course and have great hope for interesting futures: Andriy Mykhaylovskyy, from Brooklyn, is a New York Times Scholarship winner and wants to be a physician or medical researcher. Paulina Sepúlveda, who is attending Stony Brook in the Fall, has won three scholarships and wants to start her own company. And Jodian Hudson, who lost her grandmother during the week of the New York State Regents exam, has been accepted at NYU and says ”I want to become a pediatrician and part-time astrologer."

"We give out these Minerva Awards not just to recognize what the valedictorians have already done, but to encourage them to do even more as they leave high school," said Paul LeClerc. "We want to assure them that academic accomplishment is recognized and valued. Judging by the number of valedictorians who have achieved top honors while overcoming obstacles, it is evident that they have the determination to succeed in all of their future endeavors."
 

Bob Holman is the co-editor of Aloud! Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Henry Holt), winner of the American Book Award. Mr. Holman helped to reopen the Cafe in 1989, and ran the Poetry Slams there through 1996. He is currently collaborating on Praise Poems, a book of poems and photos with Chuck Close. He has toured the world with his "amazing traveling word show," and is Artistic Director of the touring company Real Live Poetry.

Joel I. Klein is the Chancellor of the NYC Department of Education. Previously, he was Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, Inc. He has served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1993, he served as Deputy White House Counsel to President Clinton. He was appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General by the President in 1997. Prior to joining the Justice Department, Mr. Klein practiced law in Washington, D.C. for 20 years.

Frank McCourt taught writing in the New York Public School system for several years, but waited until he had retired to pen his first book, 1996's award-winning Angela's Ashes (Scribner). The critically acclaimed volume remained on bestseller lists for more than two years, and garnered McCourt both a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1997.

In addition to receiving certificates of merit, students will be presented with two tickets each to the New York Mets baseball game on Tuesday, June 24; a collection of books donated by six publishers: ‘Tis, by Frank McCourt (Scribner), Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, by Bob Holman (Henry Holt); The American Heritage College Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin, Company); The American Dream (BOOKSPAN); Carnegie (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.); and Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry (Random House, Inc.).

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Contact: Debbie Bujosa, 212-704-8600

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