5 to be honored at CCRI ‘Changing Lives Celebration’ Dec. 12 at Rhodes

Posted 11/21/13

The CCRI Foundation will honor five outstanding community leaders while raising funds to help even more students achieve their dreams at its seventh annual “Changing Lives Celebration” next …

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5 to be honored at CCRI ‘Changing Lives Celebration’ Dec. 12 at Rhodes

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The CCRI Foundation will honor five outstanding community leaders while raising funds to help even more students achieve their dreams at its seventh annual “Changing Lives Celebration” next month.

The celebration fundraiser will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12 at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston. It will feature music, hors d’oeuvres and buffets, awards, raffles and a cash bar.

Tickets cost $100. Reservations can be made online at www.ccri.edu/foundation or by calling 333-7132 for more information about sponsorship opportunities.

Senator Hanna M. Gallo and Representative Jospeh M. McNamara are being honored as education champions. Sondra V. Ahlijian Pitts ’66 and Thomas E. Pitts Jr. are being honored as community champions and Carousel Industries is being honored as business champion.

Gallo ’76, ’81 represents District 27, which includes portions of Cranston and West Warwick. First elected in 1998, she serves as chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Education and is a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce. She formerly served on the Board of Regents and the Commission on Civic Education.

Gallo, a graduate of the Community College of Rhode Island, was the first member of her family to attend college. She fully explored her interests at CCRI, majoring in the liberal arts. She said her professors encouraged her to try new things and that she first became interested in politics at this time and wanted to be involved in the community to make a difference.

Gallo first started doing this not as a legislator, but as a parent. She returned to CCRI to earn a business degree for a career change, graduating in 1981. Later, her daughter developed a hearing deficit that inspired Gallo to research speech pathology and consider it as a career.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders from the University of Rhode Island in 1995 and a master’s in speech-language pathology in 1997. She now works as a speech language pathologist for the Cranston School Department, helping children to overcome speech impediments and improve their oral communication skills.

In 1998, Gallo saw another opportunity to serve her community when a Senate seat opened up in her district. As a senator, she said she always works to help Rhode Island students.

“No matter what college you go to, it’s important to further your education so you can open the door to opportunity,” she said. “CCRI is one of the best places to start.”

McNamara represents District 19 in Warwick and Cranston. First elected in November 1994, he is the chairman of the Health, Education and Welfare Committee.

In 2012, McNamara was the sponsor of successful legislation that requires a background check for people seeking to participate in mentoring programs. His Statewide Virtual Education Act was signed into law last year to promote the use of virtual courses as part of public education in the state. He is a member of the New England Board of Higher Education.

He was one of two House members to receive the Rhode Island Hospitality Association’s Hospitality Ambassadors of the Year Award in 2012, being cited for his legislation affecting trans-fats in foods. Also in 2012, he was honored with the Thomas A. Lamb Home Advocacy Award by the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care; the Tracey A. Kennedy Leadership in Advocacy Award by the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Heart Association; and was recognized by the American Cancer Society for Lifetime Achievement in Tobacco Control.

McNamara has a long history of service through his involvement with a number of organizations. He is a member of the Irish Social Club, the former president of the Governors Golf League and is a member of the Warwick Firefighters Association. He also previously served as an explorer adviser for the Boy Scouts of America and the Committee Chairman of Pack 4. Additionally, he is involved with Save The Bay, the Gaspee Day Committee, the Wyman P.T.A and the Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scouts.

McNamara is a retired educator, previously serving as director of the Pawtucket School Department’s Alternative Learning Program. He received his Master of Education degree from Providence College. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Boston University and graduated from Pilgrim High School in Warwick.

High school sweethearts Tom and Sondra Pitts ’66 met at Cranston East High School. During her senior year, Sondra’s classmates voted her “Ideal Cranstonite.” During Tom’s senior year a year later, Tom’s classmates voted him “Most Likely to Succeed.”

She went on to CCRI and became a member of the first graduating class, thereafter earning her bachelor’s degree in education. He went on to Yale University, graduating magna cum laude with a major in political science and economics in 1969. They married in June of that year.

More than 40 years later, Sondra and Tom are still fulfilling their high school superlatives. Sondra is a member and past president of the CCRI Alumni Association, and the two made the gift enabling creation of the Alumni Association Student Development Center at the Knight Campus. Tom, a retired attorney, assists CCRI as an adviser to the president and as a staunch supporter of his wife’s volunteerism. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Community Preparatory School in Providence, which educates third- through eighth-graders of diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We value education,” said Sondra. “The more educated a person is, the more productive a person will be and the more they can contribute to society.”

Through her role in the Alumni Association and as a CCRI Foundation trustee, she has seen the challenges of students trying to make ends meet and the difference a scholarship can make to a student who is forced to choose between paying bills and putting gas in the car.

“CCRI is unlike a lot of places. It’s all about opportunity,” Tom said. “But that opportunity is only as good as a student’s ability to come here. It’s tragic to see an opportunity lost due to an inability to pay.”

During the college’s Imagine Campaign to support academic excellence, they made a $100,000 gift toward a scholarship in their name to continue to make education accessible. Now Sondra, who served on the campaign steering committee, is co-chairwoman of the committee charged with planning CCRI’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2014-15.

Their loyalty is not just to serving the college, but also the community in which they live.

Sondra taught Armenian language, culture and history for Providence’s Sts. Sahag & Mesrob Armenian Church for 22 years and serves on the committee organizing the church’s 100th anniversary in 2014. She also was principal of the Armenian school from 1999 to 2004. Sondra volunteers her time for the Armenian Historical Association, Rhode Island Academic Decathlon, Audubon Society of Rhode Island and Skills USA.

During his career, Tom has been a member of various bar associations, a board member of the Lawyers Alliance for New York and a member of the board of the Armenian Students Association. He also served on the board of trustees of Sts. Sahag & Mesrob Armenian Church. In 1998, he was inducted into the Cranston Hall of Fame.

Headquartered in Exeter, Carousel Industries is a technology solutions integrator focused on helping customers solve IT problems that drive continued business growth. The company’s solutions address many areas, including voice, mobility, visual communications, data networks, unified communications and managed services. What sets Carousel apart is its consultative approach, deep technical expertise and extensive industry partnerships. As a growing business, Carousel is often looking for new employees with strong technical skills, and several of the recent technical and accounting hires have come from the Community College of Rhode Island.

“Our experience is that everyone who comes to us from CCRI has strong communication skills … whether they’re in finance, accounting or a technical role,” said Richard Houlihan, technical director at Carousel Industries. “We find that they’re able to work in a team or group environment and we find that the business etiquette is there right out of college and as soon as we hire them. That’s not always the case with college-age employees or new hires that we bring in.”

The company has hired 20 CCRI alumni in the last year, mostly to work as technicians and field engineers. These are graduates skilled in technologies such as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), video and data infrastructure. Other CCRI hires have worked in accounting.

Although Carousel has an international reach, it is staying connected to its local roots through community service work and a close partnership with CCRI. Carousel has worked with CCRI on several executive education programs, including an A-Plus training program in the spring of this year and a CCRI workshop on management skills called the “Three R’s of Management.”

As the technology industry continues to change, Houlihan said his company would stay abreast of new trends as well as keep CCRI informed about what modern businesses are looking for in new employees. In short, Carousel is committed to keeping up with the ever-changing technology industry just as CCRI is committed to keeping up with the ever-changing employment needs of businesses.

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