Iona Students Sing and Sign National Anthem at Community Event
On Saturday, May 11, several students donated their time, service and voices to support the Westchester/Rockland Walk4Hearing, living Iona's mission of fostering engagement and service to the community.
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - As a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service, Iona students contribute more than 70,000 service hours annually to various communities. On Saturday, May 11, several students donated their time, service and voices to support the Westchester/Rockland Walk4Hearing, living Iona's mission of fostering engagement and service to the community.
The annual walk, sponsored by the local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HHLA), raises money for greater accessibility for people with hearing loss. Iona students volunteered to kick off the event with the singing the Star Spangled Banner. They also sign-interpreted the national anthem and photographed the event. The Westchester/Rockland Walk4Hearing took place at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park in Yorktown Heights, New York.
Last fall, Iona College’s American Sign Language (ASL) Club and Speech Club students volunteered and participated in the NYC walk and raised over $5,000 for the cause. As a result of the strong showing, the HLAA called on Iona students to assist at the Westchester/Rockland walk this year.
This relationship grew directly out of a community partnership with HLAA through an Audiology service-learning class taught by Michelle Veyvoda, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, assistant professor of Speech Communication Studies.
The students involved were ASL Club members Julie Stohr, Caroline Doherty, Olivia Santos, and Nicole Genser and The Ionian photographer Daniel Macri. All five students are in the class of 2021.
"I am so proud of our Gaels for their contributions, especially volunteering during finals week. They are excellent examples of how our Iona student body uses their passion and their education to move the world," noted , associate professor and chair of the Speech Communication Studies Department.
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2024 national list of “The Best 389 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.