SJNY’s Academic Center for English Language Studies (ACES) launched the 2023 ACES Reader during an event on Thursday in the Brooklyn Campus’ Tuohy Hall parlors.
Dozens of members of the University community gathered for the release of “Questions Without an End,” listening to the student writers of the essays read excerpts from their pieces.
The book is a compilation of pieces crafted by first-year students in the ACES program. Its title is inspired by freshman Barbare Sturua’s thought-provoking essay.
Sturua was among the seven first-year students who read during the event. She was joined by her classmates Prakriti Budhathoki, Hatouma Doucoure, Escarlet Hernandez, Sambidha Bhandari, Aarohi Poudel and Himanshu Ghimire.
Ana Mestas, a second-year student, wrote the preface to the Reader; her narrative essay appeared in last year’s Reader.
Essays from first-year students Livia Azevedo, Jill Van Eijsden, Cristal Ventura and Bezawit Gebremichael are also included in the “Questions Without an End.”
“The ACES Reader launch is a very special event for our program. It’s an opportunity for the SJNY community to get to know our students, and their experiences — about which the students wrote quite openly — and a rare chance for faculty and staff to witness the work that goes on in the ACES classrooms,” said Emily Cementina, assistant director of ACES. “The student contributors worked hard to take these essays through a series of drafts, and it was an absolute joy to hear their final versions read aloud.
“We’re really proud of how the pieces turned out, and we were happy to see that so many members of the St. Joe’s community came out to celebrate the students’ accomplishments,” she added.
Below are some photos taken at the April 20 event.
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