STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
Brooklyn’s worker of the month!
BOROUGH WIDE
Three cheers for Michael Muir,
a construction worker who was recently
recognized by a nonprofit organization
for his outstanding dedication
to the job on June 11.
Muir received the “Brooklyn
Worker of the Month” honor from
Building Skills New York — a
nonprofit that helps provide underserved
New Yorkers with well-paying
employment opportunities. Muir
appealed to the organization last
year, and they helped him find a job
in the construction trade, he said.
“I’m helping to build the future
of Brooklyn one brick
at a time,” he
said. “Thank you,
Building Skills,
for giving me the
opportunity to be
on the front lines
of building hundreds
of affordable
housing units in
the borough that I
know and love.”
In 2018, Building
Skills helped
connect 235 city
workers with
jobs in construction
and related
fields, according
to the organization’s
leader, who
praised Muir as
the model for his
organization’s goals.
“It is incredible to see how Michael
took a job opportunity and is
taking the skills he’s learned to further
his career,” said David Meade.
“Jobs in the construction industry
don’t just represent a paycheck, they
are a tangible path to the middle
class.”
Muir — who works for Rockaway
Contracting on the Fountain
Seaview Development Project, an
affordable housing development in
East New York — called his interactions
with the organization seamless.
“I walked in on a Monday, and
thanks to Building Skills, I got a job
two days later,” he said. “I received
my first raise just six months into
the job.”
Muir is only the second recipient
of the “Brooklyn Worker of the
Month” award, which the organization
plans to give out each month going
forward.
Standing O salutes Michael Muir
on the honor, and Building Skills
New York for its work on behalf of
New York’s workers!
— Aidan Graham
BOROUGH WIDE
They scrawled their way to the
top!
Three grade-school kids nabbed
high honors for penmanship at a
city handwriting contest earlier
this month.
Fifth-grader Mehrangiz Ahtamova,
sixth-grader Vladyslav
Grynyk, and eight-grader Jessica
Vazquez entered the city’s inaugural
Zaner-Bloser Handwriting
Contest back in February, writing a
single sentence— “The quick brown
fox jumps over the lazy dog” — as
clearly and gracefully as possible.
And after months of waiting, the
contest fi nally named the Brooklyn
youngsters three of 11 winners on
June 3, and they accepted medals
and certifi cates recognizing their
prowess with the pen during a ceremony
at their Borough Park school,
The Magnet School for Math and
Science, two days later, where the
contest’s head wordsmith praised
the budding scribes for their superior
scribbles.
“Writing by hand is an essential
skill for literacy development
in children of all ages, and this contest
offers students and teachers an
opportunity to celebrate perseverance,
excellence and confi dent communication,”
said Lisa Carmona,
COURIER L 50 IFE, JUNE 21–27, 2019 M BR B G
Zaner -Blos er
president.
G i o v a n n i
Blaise, of St. Edmund
Elementary
School,
was also recognized
for his stellar
handwriting,
fi nishing fi rst
among all seventh
graders.
Zaner-Bloser
has hosted a national
handwriting
competition
for the past 28
years, but this
was the fi rst
year the contest
hosted a separate
event for
students in New
York City, where
local schools are
putting a renewed focus on penmanship,
according to Carmona.
“New York City Schools has been
encouraging schools in recent years
to reintroduce or include handwriting
instruction,” she said. “With
that renewed focus, this year felt
like the perfect time to engage more
students from New York City into
our nationwide contest.”
— Elizabeth Winn
PROSPECT HEIGHTS
Three cheers for Brooklynite
Kristen Palmer, a
graduating high-schooler who
was recently awarded a $5,000
college scholarship!
The Municipal Credit Union
awarded Palmer the 2019 Anna
Mae Massy Memorial Scholarship,
given each year to union
members and their immediate
family who graduate high school
with outstanding academic and
extracurricular achievement.
Palmer, who was selected from
an original pool of more than 350
applicants, will use the funds
when she attends college next fall
at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, where she plans
to study computer science.
A resident of Prospect
Heights, Palmer is graduating
from Poly Prep Country Day
School later this month.
At school, Palmer serves as
the president of the Girls Who
Code club, and participates in
the Science Olympiad club. She
also works as a peer tutor and
competes on the fencing team.
Outside of the classroom,
Palmer has interned at the NYU
Tandon School of Engineering,
and worked at the Innovation
Space Summer Camp, where
she counsels young children on
the basics of engineering. Palmer
also volunteers with multiple
nonprofi ts, including her work
as a web designer for the human
rights organization Rockaway
Women for Progress.
Palmer is one of 22 recipients
to receive scholarship money
from the MCU, which awarded
$71,000 this year, and nearly $1
million since the program began
26 years ago.
Standing O salutes Kristen on
the scholarship, and the Municipal
Credit Union for its generosity!
— Aidan Graham
WINNER: Giovanni Blaise was selected as champion of all New York City seventhgraders.
St. Edmund Elementary School
They’re the top in New York City!
SCHOLAR: Kristen Palmer was
awarded a $5,000 college scholarship
by the Municipal Credit Union to
attend the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. Municipal Credit Union
HONORED: Brooklynite
Michael Muir
was honored as
“Brooklyn Worker
of the Month” by a
leading nonprofi t
on June 11.
Building Skills New
York
Mehrangiz
Ahtamova
Vladyslav Grynyk
Jessica Vazquez