On
Tuesday, April 24, the GS Dean of Students Office hosted the first
annual Student Leadership Awards Ceremony in the GS Student Lounge.
Over 60 GS students were recognized for their participation in student,
social, cultural, and other organizations at Columbia. These students
are members of campus-wide organizations such as the Archery Team,
Columbia Buddhist Meditation Group, Columbia Libertarians, Columbia
Queer Alliance, Columbia University Producers’ and Directors’ Club,
Committee on Instruction, Dramatists, Earth Coalition, Gay Health
Advocacy Project, GS Formal, GS Student Council, HEOP, Honor Society
Steering Committee, JTS Student Council, Marching Band, Orientation,
The Owl, The Observer, Peace Games, Pizmon, Sigma Delta Tau, Ukrainian
Society, and the Volleyball Club. Of the 63 students who received
certificates from the Dean of Students Office, several were additionally
honored with the GS Spirit Award.
Yitzchak
Zablocki
Yitzi received the GS Spirit Award for his work with the Columbia
Producers’ and Directors’ Club (C.U.P.D.C.), which he co-founded
and currently serves as president. Born in New York City and raised
in Israel, Yitzi spent three years working and training as a film
and video producer during his service with the Israeli Army. After
military service, he worked with TV networks as an editor and advisor.
He returned to New York City to work on On the QT, which stars James
Earl Jones and will be released soon by Mainline.
Yitzi
was “not fulfilled with [his] education.” He knew he wanted to study
film, and, despite the attractive allure of N.Y.U.’s film school,
chose Columbia for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, Columbia’s
curriculum emphasizes film theory, thus complementing the extensive
technical training he received while enlisted. Once here, he and
Erik Courtney, GS ’00, formed C.U.P.D.C. as a resource for film
students. C.U.P.D.C. offers weekly meetings that feature technical
instruction, demonstrations, guest speakers, screening nights, as
well as access to the film division’s equipment, inclusion in its
insurance coverage, and, through funding from the GS Student Council,
$100 toward the cost of each student’s film. The GS Student Council
also bought C.U.P.D.C. an XL1 digital camera. Yitzi says that the
first goal of C.U.P.D.C. is to make films, and he sees Columbia
as a very good place for student filmmakers. Yitzi is finishing
his second year at GS, and says that he is “hooked on GS.”
You
can learn more about C.U.P.D.C. at www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cpdc.
Elizabeth
Capone-Newton
Elizabeth received the GS Spirit Award for her work with the Gay
Health Advocacy Project (G.H.A.P.). Elizabeth has long been a non-traditional
student. As a high school sophomore, she convinced her parents to
school her at home so that she could her work as an HIV peer educator
and support-group coordinator in her hometown in Maine, and also
to allow her to take classes at the local college.
Elizabeth wanted
the same flexibility from her college, and GS fit the bill. She
had similar criteria for her work-study position: she specifically
wanted to work in either health, social justice, or both. She found
the perfect spot at G.H.A.P.
G.H.A.P. was
founded in 1985 and, according to Elizabeth, Columbia was the first
school to offer HIV testing on campus. G.H.A.P. provides physical-
and mental-health services, such as HIV testing, counseling, education,
and support groups, to the entire Columbia community. Last fall,
when Elizabeth began her work-study position, she trained to be
a peer counselor for the HIV testing program, and has volunteered
her own time in addition to her work-study allotment. Two other
GS students were honored for their work with G.H.A.P., one of whom
joined Elizabeth as a work-study student this spring.
You can learn
more about G.H.A.P. at www.health.columbia.edu/ghap.
