Three Rivers Alum Creates Endowed Scholarship in Honor of her Grandmother

Three Rivers Community College Director of Student Activities Alycia Ziegler recently established The Blanche Berté Illenberg Memorial Scholarship in honor of her grandmother.  Alycia explained that although her grandmother had only a high school diploma, she always advocated for education and continuously supported Alycia along her own educational journey. This new scholarship will be managed by the Three Rivers College Foundation.

Blanche Berté Illenberg spent her entire life giving to others and 20 of years of her career working with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Some of Alycia’s earliest memories of her grandmother were of her welcoming people into her home over the holidays. In addition to a career in public service, Blanche was a volunteer EMT & EMT instructor and a member of her local orchid society. She survived lymphoma three times, and Alycia believes that this was a contributing factor to her grandmother’s passion for helping others around her.

Alycia received her associate degree from Three Rivers and understands the positive impact that financial support can have on a student’s life. Three Rivers is an institution that values community and because Blanche shared these same values, Alycia felt that establishing an endowed scholarship was the best way to honor her grandmother. A guiding principle that Blanche repeated to Alycia that helped shape her into the person that she is today is that “helping people in need is not giving a hand out, it is giving a hand up.” Alycia plans to increase this endowment to the point that it will provide a deserving student with a full tuition and fees scholarship.

For more information about scholarships and the TRC Foundation has to offer, visit www.threerivers.edu/scholarships or call 860-215-9043.

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Hartford Poet Laureate to deliver Commencement address at Three Rivers on May 22, 2019

Three Rivers Community College is pleased to announce that Frederick-Douglass Knowles II, Hartford Poet Laureate and associate professor at Three Rivers, will be the keynote speaker at the College’s fifty-fourth commencement ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, May 22 at 5 p.m. outdoors on the campus green.

“Frederick-Douglass’s community activism, appointment as Hartford’s inaugural poet laureate, and close ties to Norwich made him a natural choice for Commencement Speaker,” said Three Rivers President Mary Ellen Jukoski. “We are honored that he will be speaking and fortunate to call him one of our own.”

Frederick-Douglass Knowles II is a poet, educator and activist involved in community education. He is the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Hartford. In this role, he promotes awareness and appreciation of poetry, spoken word, and writing in Hartford; and endeavors to instill pride in the community. His collection of poetry, BlackRoseCity was featured at the 2018 Association of Writers & Writing Programs. Knowles’ works have been featured in the Connecticut River Review; Sinkhole Magazine; Poems on the Road to Peace: A Collective Tribute to Dr. King Volume 2; The East Haddam Stage Company of Connecticut, The 13th Annual Acacia Group Conference at California State University, Lefoko magazine, and Fingernails Across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV/AIDS from the Black Diaspora by Third World Press. His poem “Mason Freeman Cuts Jenkins Down,” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Knowles is also an Associate Professor of English who has taught at Three Rivers for 11 years in the English and Communications Department. He also teaches classes at a local prison as part of the Three Rivers Community College Second Chance Pell Grant program. In addition to serving as the Three Rivers representative on CSCU’s Students First Consolidation Committee, he co-founded the Men Against Domestic Violence Artistic Expression annual event which consists of music, poetry readings and performances, and a live artist painting.  Knowles also chairs the TRCC Community Involvement Committee.

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Rhonda Spaziani honored with Janice Fletcher Memorial Award by the Jordan Porco Foundation

The Jordan Porco Foundation will honor Rhonda Spaziani, instructor and former Director of Student Programs at Three Rivers Community College, with the Janice Fletcher Memorial Award. This award was created to recognize a Fresh Check Day coordinator who embodies the same spirit and commitment of Janice Fletcher, the former Director of Counseling at Lasell College, who passed away last July. Spaziani will receive this award at the eighth annual Jordan’s Journey Gala on March 23, 2019 at the Hartford Marriott Downtown. Learn more about this event and purchase tickets at jordanporcofoundation.org/gala.

Upon hearing about the award, Rhonda Spaziani said, “I feel that Janice and I are truly kindred spirits in our love of Fresh Check Day and what the Jordan Porco Foundation does for all students. Thank you in every way. I am touched beyond words. My heartfelt thanks to you and Janice’s family. I will keep fighting the good fight in honor of her memory, to keep our students safe and healthy on campus, and in life.”

According to the Jordan Porco Foundation, Spaziani is a deserving recipient of this award. She has worked in the CSCU system at Three Rivers Community College for over 20 years in admissions, advising, counseling, student life, and instruction. Her favorite event of the year is Fresh Check Day, a program of the Jordan Porco Foundation. Fresh Check Day is mental health promotion and suicide prevention event that includes expo booths, peer-to-peer messaging, multiple campus departments and groups, free food, and giveaways. It aims to create an approachable atmosphere that encourages students to engage in dialogue about mental health and build bridges between students and mental health resources available on campus, in the community, and nationally. Three Rivers hosted their first Fresh Check Day in 2014, when only ten schools participated in the event, and has hosted it for five consecutive years, with their sixth Fresh Check Day scheduled for September 25, 2019. The impact that Spaziani has made at the College is one of inclusion, community, support, and the value of mental health.

In addition to introducing Fresh Check Day to Three Rivers as an annual event, she directed the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant, which led Three Rivers to be the first community college in the nation to receive the JED Campus Seal. Spaziani also chairs the collaborative TRCC Mental Health & Wellness & Suicide Prevention Advisory Board and has co-facilitated several Mental Health Awareness Professional Days on campus. She is a strong advocate for increasing campus holistic wellness initiatives and works tirelessly to decrease the stigma of seeking help.

Spaziani often takes time out of her busy schedule to talk with students in need, offering them life advice and general support. One student shared, “I can say without a doubt that Rhonda (fondly titled the ‘Great Spaziani’) is my hero. [She] has impacted my life on a thousand different days in a million different ways.”

Spaziani continues to do amazing things for mental health and suicide prevention on campus, but her ultimate impact can be seen in the students and those she has touched with her spirit and resiliency, making her a fitting and deserving recipient of the Janice Fletcher Memorial Award. She will receive this award at the eighth annual Jordan’s Journey Gala on March 23, 2019 at the Hartford Marriott Downtown. Learn more about this event and purchase tickets at jordanporcofoundation.org/gala.

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