The Human Hybrid Odyssey,” written by Aaron McDonald, Kimathi Witt Sr. ’12, and illustrated by Kawsu Jatta. The book can be purchased wherever books are sold as well as on the website, https://www.thehumanhybrids.com, with other associated merchandise.
Kimathi Witt Sr. ’12 began studies at the Ammerman campus in January 2010 as a returning adult to learn about Radio, Television, and Film under the tutelage of Professors Bernstein, Terry, Hedstrom, and Starr. After receiving A.A.S. in May of 2012, he continued studies and finally received MFA in December 2018, then MBA in December 2022. During that process he founded TopKi Productions which is a real estate focused production service although I take on various types of projects.
The Human Hybrid Odyssey is the first of many volumes to follow. It was published in January 2024 and the softcover ISBN is 978-1-304-76156-9.
His scheduled book signing is March 26 from 5:30pm to 8pm at the Sachem Public Library. The second is at the Trek Long Island Exhibition on June 1st and 2nd in Hauppauge. Be sure to join Kimathi Witt, Sr. there.
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Milton and Rubi met at Suffolk County Community College Eastern campus in the Spring of 2014 during Milton’s last semester and Rubi’s first semester. The two met while participating in the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) Club. During that semester the two began to meet each other, and it didn’t take long for them to notice how compatible they were. When Milton first asked Rubi on a date, their similarities continued to reveal themselves.
After graduating from Suffolk County Community College, and as fate had it planned both moved on to finish their bachelor’s degree at Long Island University, CW Post Campus. The couple continued through college together, through all the late study nights, the midnight pizza slices, midterm weeks, finals weeks, and finally graduation. They did everything together, taking classes, studying together, exploring campus, and even finding their first jobs together. Throughout the years the couple did a lot of growing and celebrating together. They both helped and supported each other get through school and achieve all their goals.
Rubi mentioned “I don’t think my college experience would have been as good as it was if I didn’t have him, we got to celebrate so many crucial milestones together”. As the couple continues to build their future together, their college experience holds a special place in their heart. Both remain connected with Suffolk County Community College and volunteer time when possible.
The two tied the knot in September 2023 and continue to share their love for each other, celebrating their first Valentine’s Day as a married couple.
Share your updates to alumni@sunysuffolk.edu
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How two Amazonians joined forces to close the gender gap in amputee soccer
After bonding over shared experiences, Joan Bolanos Martinez and Cliff Donathan established an organization to empower women with limb differences through amputee soccerA to Z News December 20, 2023
December 3 was International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), proclaimed by the United Nations. At Amazon, we celebrate inclusivity and the contributions of persons with apparent and non-apparent disabilities, and are recognizing IDPD under the theme United in Action, Advancing Accessibility for All throughout the month. Learn more here.
In recognition of IDPD, we’re highlighting two Amazonians who established an organization that empowers women with limb differences through amputee soccer.
Amazon Financial Analyst Joan Bolanos Martinez, a native Venezuelan, played soccer his whole life. But after he lost his leg due to a medical complication in 2007, he had to learn a new way to play the sport he loved.
Joan was introduced to amputee soccer in 2015 after moving to the United States.
“I felt scared because I thought I was too fragile. I remember thinking, ‘what if I break a bone, or what if I fail?’ But it was also really exhilarating, and I remember feeling happy,” he said.
By his third time playing, he was hooked. “I felt seen again, I felt valuable again. I knew this was an avenue for me.”
Cliff Donathan, principal security advisor at AWS, used to take his daughter, Amie, to Seattle Sounders games when she was just 4 years old. She was a natural athlete and competitor, and even though she was born with a rare disability that caused her left femur to stop growing, she dove into the sport.
“I used to coach her in soccer when she was little, and I was real with her. I’d tell her that she’d be the slowest on the field just given her prosthetic, and to grow her competitive edge, we’d just watch hours of soccer on YouTube,” he said.
Amie played able-bodied soccer for six years until she made the difficult decision to leave the sport.
“As the players got faster on the field, Amie felt like she was holding them back,” Cliff said.
Amie soon took to competitive golf and just as colleges were looking to recruit her, she was introduced to amputee soccer and knew she wanted to pursue it.
Amie went on to become one of the youngest members of the U.S. National Amputee Soccer team, and in 2022, competed as one of only two women in the World Amputee Football Federation World Cup. More recently she was inducted into the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) museum where her jersey and crutches are hung on the wall among greats like Mia Hamm.
Amie, pictured here on the left, playing amputee soccer. On the right, is a photo of her being inducted into the FIFA museum, holding her jersey.
Cliff and Joan’s paths crossed when Joan was working for the American Amputee Soccer Association (AASA). They not only bonded over shared experiences, but they bonded over a subtle paradox—while amputee soccer never had a gender requirement and was developed to be inclusive, it was still a male-dominated sport.
Amie herself experienced gender discrimination.
“Amie was about 15 years old playing with 30-year-old men, some of whom would pull her aside and say, ‘you don’t belong on the field,’” recalled Cliff.
Joan also was no stranger to the gender gap. He recognized that it had been more than a decade since a woman joined amputee soccer—that woman being Amie. As a board member for AASA and also working full time at Amazon, Joan made a push for the organization to focus on making the sport more accessible for women. After a failed attempt, he resigned.
Both Amazonians with a shared mission, Cliff and Joan established the United States Amputee Football Federation (USAFF) in January 2023 to elevate and empower all women with limb differences through the support, growth, and inclusion of amputee soccer.
With the goal to hold their first camp on International Women’s Day in March, Cliff and Joan had only two months to set up 501(c)(3), create a website, find a facility, and more.
“In the middle of all of that, my manager Hart Rossman said he wanted to donate to USAFF to help fund women traveling to the event. This meant a lot, and helped legitimize our organization,” said Cliff.
Since then, Cliff and Joan have held camps around the world including in the Ukraine, Mexico, and Colombia to raise awareness of amputee soccer, introduce people with limb differences and their families to the sport, and build partnerships with local organizations that support people with disabilities.
They achieved another milestone when FIFA accepted Cliff and Joan’s proposal to set up a presence at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia, where they could spread awareness of amputee soccer and USAFF’s mission.
A group photo of USAFF volunteers taken at the Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia. Cliff is pictured second to the left, while Joan is fourth from the right. Amie is pictured in the middle.
While there, Joan had the opportunity to participate in interviews with NBC and Telemundo. But the most meaningful moment to him was experiencing seven-year-old, Sam, light up when he saw amputee soccer.
“We gave Sam’s mom a pair of crutches when we first met them at the World Cup. They came back the next day and his mother said, ‘Sam, has been jumping around with the crutches, kicking the soccer ball since yesterday.’ And he did that for the next four days that we were there,” said Joan. “It’s small, yet transformational moments like this make this all worth it.”
Joan pictured here in the middle with FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer Sarai Bareman to his left, and Sam to his right at the Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia.
Cliff shared a similar moment when he saw the joy that came to eight-year-old Maddie’s face when she was introduced to amputee soccer at one of their camps in Texas.
“I watched her go tell her parents that these are her people, just like my daughter did,” recalled Cliff.
Since then, FIFA has expressed interest in inviting Cliff and Joan to all their World Cup events and deepening their relationship with USAFF. Cliff and Joan have also worked to spread awareness of USAFF at conferences around the country, and even had a presence at AWS re:Invent this year where they connected with executives and business leaders who are interested in getting involved in their organization.
As far as their hope for those who experience amputee soccer through USAFF?
“We just want people with limb differences to know they have an opportunity to continue to play a sport they love, and not be excluded from it,” said Joan.
At Suffolk County Community College Joan served as a Senator in the Student Government, a Peer Mentor, Carmen E. Ortiz ESL Scholarship, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and SUNY Chancellor Award.
Suffolk County Community College Alumnus Robert ‘Hoot’ Gibson ’66 participated in special ceremony at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. Watch video of the restoration and relocation celebration for the iconic F-14 Tomcat, “Felix 101,” from Grumman’s Bethpage Plant.
Newsday article highlights “Gibson graduated from Huntington High School and, in 1966, received an associate degree in engineering science from Suffolk County Community College, he said in an interview. He later earned a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering from California Polytechnic State University.”
Learn more about Robert “Hoot” Gibson ’66
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Suffolk County Community College Alumni Association Congratulates
Deborah Hauser ’94 Appointed Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2023-2025
Sunday, June 25, 2023 3:00 PM
Walt Whitman Birthplace Association 246 Old Walt Whitman Road Huntington Station, NY 11746
For Immediate Release
Babylon, NY, June 17, 2023 — Deborah Hauser of Babylon, NY was named Suffolk County Poet Laureate for the 2023-2025 term effective June 1, 2023. Suffolk County has had a Poet Laureate since 2003. Hauser succeeds Dr. Richard Bronson and will be the county’s 11th Poet Laureate.
Hauser is the author of Ennui: from the Diagnostic and Statistical Field Guide of Feminine Disorders (Finishing Line Press) of which poet and author Erica Wright says: “While important, feminist theory is rarely charming, Hauser brings charm to the subject of repression. Wordplay is combined with research and the poet’s particular brand of insight . . . this long poem is immediately accessible. It also constitutes one of the most disarming chapbooks I have read in quite some time.”
This appointment is a full circle moment for Hauser who has been an active member of the poetry community since 2007 when she attended a workshop taught by the county’s first Poet Laureate, George Wallace, at Walt Whitman Birthplace. Hauser also spent many years studying with Judy Turek and Paula Camacho at a workshop held at the Farmingdale Public Library as well as taking post-graduate classes at the 92nd Street Y, New York University, and The New School.
An alumna of Suffolk County Community College, Hauser holds a Master’s Degree in English from Stony Brook University. She has taught literature and writing at both schools. Her poems and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Ms. Magazine, Women’s Review of Books, Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Bellevue Literary Review, and CALYX. Her work explores the intersection of poetry and activism and is influenced by feminism, but often contains a bit of humor and whimsy.
She has featured at the Northeast Modern Language Association, New York University, Newman University, KGB Bar, Walt Whitman Birthplace, and Bowery Poetry Club and has presented her academic work at conferences including the Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference and graduate conferences at The City University of New York and Stony Brook University. She curates and hosts a monthly reading series at Jack Jack’s Coffee House for the Babylon Village Arts Council with funding from Poets & Writers Inc. and is the Secretary of the Suffolk County Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), a board member at the Long Island Poetry and Literature Repository, and an editor at Poetrybay.
Hauser appeared before the Suffolk County Legislature on June 6, 2023 to have the resolution designating her as Laureate approved. She read “After,” a poem with a modern twist on Cinderella and what really happens after “happily ever after.” The position will give her the opportunity to promote poetry and support poets in the local community.
“Everyone enjoys stories of double lives and secret identities. Children have Superman; intellectuals have Wallace Stevens” writes Dana Gioia. Hauser leads a double life on Long Island where she works for The Hartford; the same insurance company that Stevens worked for. She lives in Babylon with her spouse and two cats. She also enjoys running, yoga, music, and theater.
A celebration and reading will be held at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, Huntington, NY, June 25 at 3 pm. Upcoming appearances and readings include The Muse Exchange at Neir’s Tavern, Woodhaven, NY, July 12; The Gazebo, Oceanside, NY, July 24; Babylon Village Arts Council Art Walk in Babylon, NY, September 16; Arts on Terry, Patchogue, NY, September 17; and the Word Festival, Oceanside, NY, October 14.
The 2023 North Fork Pride celebration will take place on Saturday, June 24th from 12n-5p for the first time ever in Greenport! Join thousands in celebrating Pride at the first-ever North Fork Pride Parade, Festival, and Tea Dance.
For Suffolk County Community College questions contact Christine Miceli , MS, LMHC micelic@sunysuffolk.edu
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The Stephanie House Residential Shelter has a new Director, Thalia Olaya, who stepped into the role in January. Although this position is new for her, Thalia is well versed with The Retreat, having first started as a member of its Teen Leadership Council in 2010. Throughout her schooling and beyond, she stayed connected with the organization and discovered a passion for helping others in the process.
As a teen leader, Ms. Olaya spearheaded fundraisers, led outreach tables, and spoke at events, including at Latino Parent Nights at East Hampton High School, where she graduated. Her experience as a Teen Leader left a lasting impression.
While in college, she volunteered with the Retreat’s Legal Advocacy department learning how to help clients navigate the family court system. “Being a legal advocate really sparked my interest in law even more,” she said. “I just saw so many injustices going on.” After graduating college, she decided to go to law school and spent the year in between schools working as an administrative assistant at The Retreat’s shelter.
Following graduation from Hofstra Law, she worked for Assemblyman Fred Thiele as a legislative aide, before becoming The Retreat’s Shelter Director in January 2023. In this position, Ms. Olaya oversees general operations of Stephanie House, manages staff, and most importantly, ensures clients’ needs are being met.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to interact directly with survivors and the opportunity to hear their stories and see their resilience, it’s something that has meant a lot to me,” said Ms. Olaya. “Also the opportunity to change someone’s life and be a part of their healing process. It’s something that I love to do. It’s work that really matters. You feel like you have a purpose. There’s something bigger than just me, I’m here for the clients, I’m here to be of service in their darkest hours…it’s really a gift, and a privilege, and an honor to be able to do that every day.”
The Retreat’s emergency shelter provides housing for up to 18 adults and children. Comprehensive services are available to all residents and include counseling, legal advocacy, educational programs, and case management. Nonresidential clients, who make up the majority of Retreat clients, access all services through the East Hampton, Riverhead, and Hauppauge offices.
A to Z News December 20, 2023
Amie, pictured here on the left, playing amputee soccer. On the right, is a photo of her being inducted into the FIFA museum, holding her jersey.
Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Eta Gamma Alumni Chapter 