**PRESS RELEASE**

Brooklyn N.Y. - Hundreds of immigrant senior citizens gathered at Kingsborough Community College to sing songs from the United States and from their own home countries in a celebratory concert and awards ceremony held at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn this past week. They are part of an innovative program at Kingsborough that has graduated thousands of senior citizens from throughout the borough over the last three years.

The program entitled What a Wonderful World is part of the English Literary/Civics program provided by Kingsborough Community College in conjunction with the Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island. The funding for the program comes from a grant from the New York State Education Department.

This year’s program included songs sung by the seniors including such American greats as; God Bless America, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Hello Dolly, Jingle Bells, Oh Suzanna, The Star Spangled Banner and When the Saints Go Marching In.

Since its inception the program has served more than a 1000 immigrant Senior Citizens from a wide variety of countries, who now live in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Kensington, Brighton Beach, Midwood, Flatbush, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Sunset Park and Park Slope. During this time the students have completed a seventy-two hour course, consisting each week of four hours of English instruction and two hours of American Culture through music.

Senior citizens from four senior centers this year were provided with English as a Second Language training as well as U.S. Civics training in order to become citizens of the United States. One of the unique qualities of the program is that the seniors learn the English language by singing American songs.

“Many of the senior citizens find it difficult to learn another language so late in life. Singing songs is a natural way to introduce the language to them without the pressures of the standard English as A Second Language Program”, said Dr. Regina S. Peruggi, the President of Kingsborough Community College. “They lose many of their inhibitions and aren’t as self conscious when they sing.”

New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in a congratulatory Proclamation to Kingsborough and the Jewish Community Council of Coney Island encouraged all the participants to seek U.S. citizenship and continue on in their studies of U.S. culture. Many of the senior students have already obtained U.S. Citizenship through the completion of the course and the counseling provided by the program, and more than seventy more are in the process of gaining U.S. Citizenship.

“The singing of these songs, during these times, by immigrants hoping to become U.S. citizens is a perfect opportunity for all of us to reflect upon the benefits of democracy,” said Dr. Peruggi.

A special instructor in Arts and Culture, for this unusual method of teaching was hired by the college to work with the senior-students on these songs as a way to teach English and to introduce them to the culture of the United States.

Dean Saul W Katz, the head of the acclaimed Continuing Education Program at Kingsborough and Rabbi Moshe Weiner, Director of the Jewish Community Council, one of the leading providers of critical care services to Senior Citizens in New York, both felt that the collaborative nature of the program was the key to its success.

“ By working together with Rabbi Weiner and his excellent organization, Kingsborough was able to outreach to many people throughout the borough who either because of lack of mobility or illness would not normally have access to these types of educational opportunities.” said Dean Katz. “I can’t thank Rabbi Weiner, the local political leaders from the area who supported the endeavor and Kingsborough’s President Peruggi enough for helping to bring this type of program to fruition.”

“ What is truly amazing is when you see the look in their eyes and when they raise up their voices in song,” said Frank Milano, the Director of ESL Program in Kingsborough Continuing Education Program. “At Kingsborough we serve thousands of students each day with English as a Second Language skills, but these seniors are truly something special. Imagine having to learn a new language in your seventies and eighties and trying to memorize U.S. History and Civics in order to obtain U.S. Citizenship. But these senior-students persevere and bring an enthusiasm and eagerness to learning that is really remarkable.”

Many of Brooklyn’s political leaders attended the graduation ceremony and offered their own voices to the songs and congratulations to the graduates. For many of the students this was the only graduation ceremony they had ever attended in their lives and they brought children, grandchildren and other family members to the ceremonies.

“ I am amazed at how many people are here ,” said Associate Dean of Continuing Education, Linda Nahum. “ I think it is wonderful the pride displayed by these graduates and their families when they sing these American songs and learn about our wonderful country. I am so proud of this program and the service it provides to immigrants. It really expresses what Kingsborough, as the only community college in Brooklyn, is all about.”

The four senior centers that participated in this year’s program included the Surf Solomon, Prospect Hill, Harbor Hill and Kings Bay YM-YWHA. The program is now in its last year of its three year grant. For further information on Continuing Education and ESL programs available at Kingsborough you can contact the Office for Continuing Education at (718) 368-5051 or go to the Kingsborough website at www.kingsborough.edu.

Kingsborough Community College (KCC) located in Brooklyn, New York, serves more than 20,000 credit students and 15,000 continuing education students each year. Kingsborough is located on a 72-acre waterfront campus in Manhattan Beach, on the southern peninsula of Brooklyn. Founded in 1963, Kingsborough is one of twenty colleges in the City University of New York (CUNY) system, the third largest system in the United States.