FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com november 12, 2015 • The Queens Courier 3 Photos courtesy of George Mirtsopoulos Whitestone holiday lights installed, community plans festivities BY ALIN A SURIE L asuriel@queenscourier.com/@alinangelica It seems like the holiday season is starting earlier and earlier each year, but a little extra Christmas cheer never hurts. The Whitestone holiday lights have already been installed in the downtown area in the vicinity of 150th Street, and community groups are organizing efforts to fund the display and other holiday initiatives. A lighting ceremony is reportedly planned to illuminate the display sometime in the beginning of December, although the official date has yet to be announced by organizers. According to We Love Whitestone President Alfredo Centola, this is the second straight year that the Whitestone area will have holiday lights. The lights returned to the area in 2014 after a hiatus of several years. Centola said half of the funding for the lights was provided by the Whitestone Merchants Association through the Queens Chamber of Commerce and the office of Councilman Paul Vallone. The We Love Whitestone civic group and the Whitestone Volunteer Ambulance provided additional support along with Palazzo Home Center building supplies, with Joe Palazzo in particular being a major force in organizing the efforts. The groups are working together to collect the remainder of the funding for the lights, which are not yet fully paid off. Several local merchants have pitched in so far. “It’s a wonderful thing to see the merchants in the community come together yet again and bring back for the second year in a row a true Whitestone tradition,” Centola said. Anyone interested in donating funding for the Whitestone holiday lights can send an inquiry to welovewhitestone@gmail.com. The group will also be collecting non-perishable food items in its Nov. 18 meeting for use in a local food pantry. The Whitestone holiday lights were installed on Oct. 30. Second lady Jill Biden visits LIC’s LaGuardia Community College By Anthony Giudice agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport It was a (vice) presidential affair on Nov. 4 at LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC) in Long Island City, as the second lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, visited high school and college students to speak about the importance of community colleges at the school’s Heads Up America open house event. Dr. Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is currently a full-time professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College and believes that community colleges are “one of America’s best-kept secrets.” “Dr. Jill Biden is here because of her passionate belief in your future,” said Dr. Gail Mellow, LAGCC president. “She knows that if we’re going to have an America that is strong and effective that what we have to do is really think about education, your education.” Biden has used her experience as a teacher and her position as second lady to host the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges with President Barack Obama in 2010, and travel across the country as part of the “Community College to Career” tour to highlight the many successful industry partnerships between community colleges and employers in 2012. “Community colleges can offer you an affordable route to a fouryear college and a good paying job,” Biden said. “As second lady, I’ve traveled all across this country and I’ve visited a lot of community colleges so I know what makes community colleges so special.” The Heads Up America open house event at LAGCC is one of more than 80 open houses being held this fall at community colleges across the nation, informing students and teachers alike of the benefits of the Heads Up America initiative. “That’s why we’re are here today, because of you, because of the students,” Biden said. “President Obama and I believe all students, new and returning, should be able to graduate ready for the new economy without being saddled with decades of debt, because it’s so hard to get ahead when you start off so far behind. So earlier this year the president announced his plan to lower the cost of community college to zero. The idea is simple: if you’re willing to work for it, the first two years of community college is free.” This is the main concept of the Heads Up America initiative. Over 9 million students per year would benefit from two free years of community college, according to Biden, allowing them to focus on their school work and not have to worry about spending so much money on tuition. The Heads Up America initiative THE COURIER/Photo by Anthony Giudice Jill Biden, visited high school and college students to speak about the importance of community colleges. would save a full-time community college student $3,800 per year. For more info, visit http://headsupamerica.us/.
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