Inaugural CUAA Holiday Party!

Copied from Legacy website, cualumni.org

The Alumni Association held its inaugural Holiday Party in the Great Hall and Great Hall Gallery on December 11, 2013.

Alumni, faculty, administrators, and students attended the free event to mix, mingle, and get a chance to see “Mechanic to Millionaire : The Peter Cooper Story” on the big screen in the Great Hall.

“Those in this audience have special interest in this 19th Century inventor, educator and philanthropist who still speaks to us,” John Leeper, President of the CUAA, said in his remarks introducing the film and it’s filmmaker Janet Gardner A’65. Produced by The Gardner Group, the documentary chronicles Mr. Cooper’s life of invention and philanthropy, as well as “his vision of social justice.” The film was honored with a “We the People” award from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a CINE Golden Eagle.

After the screening the Producer-Director Gardner and Associate producers Keith Yeager and Mitsuko Brooks A’04 conducted a short Q&A with the audience.

Taking a break from finals, students were invited to participate in the festivities. Literally scheduled to start after class, the student dance club: “CooperNOVA” closed the night with a short dance number with “Clarity” as their soundtrack.

Greeting attendees at the entrance were Co-chair of the Events Committee, Margaret Matz AR’ 83 and the members of the student club Stitch n’Bitch (Alexa Reghenzani – AR’15, Lauren Januhowski A’14). Hand-made goods were available for sale to support The Annual Fund. Arnea Ferrari AR’99 and Robert Tan AR’81 walked away with the two baskets that were raffled off at the end of the evening.

The Events Committee had its work cut out for itself. Not only was this the first CUAA Holiday Party in memory (if any alumni have photos of a previous one please send to us via alumni@cooper.edu). The committee set out to make the party free of charge to attendees, obtain sponsorships, and donations for the annual fund.

Over one-hundred attendees were counted, with approximately fifty in attendance for the screening in the Great Hall. The Events Committee is already taking notes and planning for next year.

Special thanks to are in order to the event’s coordinator, Kelly Occhiuzzo Zack A’90, who donated food from her family run restaurant, Goldie’s of Valley Stream, as well as balloons for the festive decor of the party.

Special Acknowledgements

The Cooper Union Alumni Association is deeply grateful to the following individuals and companies for their donations that made this event possible:

• Carol Wolf A ’84 (Graphic and Animation donations)
• The Gardner Documentary Group, Janet Gardner A ’65 (Complimentary screening of “Mechanic to Millionaire”)
• Goldie’s Restaurant, Kelly Occhiuzzo Zack A ’90 and Family – (Food Donations)
• Industry City Distillery, Rich Watts A ’08 and Dave Kyrejko A ’07 – (Beverage Donations)
• Milestone Architecture PLLC, Margaret Matz AR ’83 – (Decorations)
• Duggal Visual Solutions (Printing Donations)
• Oskar Blues Brewery (Beverage Donations)
• Washington Commons – Prospect Heights, Brooklyn Beer Garden (Beverage Donations)
• Sara Foley IDE’07
• Sean Cusack BSE’98
• The Cooper Union Alumni Association Executive Committee Members (Donated A/V, security, space rentals)
• Stitch N’ Bitch!
  • Alexa Reghenzani – AR’15
  • Lauren Januhowski A’14
• CooperNOVA
  • Maureen Anyanwu – ChE’17
  • Lauren Bernales – EE’15
  • Kevin Kim – CE’16
  • Michael Luke – CE’14
  • Isha Patel – CE’14
  • Alexa Reghenzani – AR’15
  • Derek Toub – Master’s EE
  • Brian Wong – CE’16