Kingsborough Class of 1966 Reunion

 

                   Kingsborough’s 1st President Jacob Hartstein

 

Kingsborough Community College (KCC) and its Office of Alumni Relations is reaching out to all alumni from its first graduating class in 1966, to welcome them back home to attend a reunion. KCC will be holding a 50^th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at 6:00 pm in there, newly renamed, conference center overlooking Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean the Lighthouse at Kingsborough Community College, (formerly the MAC Rotunda).

The college has already formed a committee of dedicated alumni from the class of 1966 to plan and organize the event but is still searching for many members of the class who have yet to be found.

“We have up to date addresses for approximately half of the graduating class of 1966,” said KCC Alumni Director, Laura Glazier-Smith ’87 “but we will need people’s assistance in reaching out to the other half who have lost touch with us over the years.”

In 2004, Michael Sedar, an alumni from the class of 1966, described the college of 1964 when the 1^st class entered in a letter –

“Back in September, 1964, along with a group of fresh H.S grads from all over Brooklyn, I entered into CUNY’s newest institution of higher learning – Kingsborough Community College. As I recall, there was about 500 eager young students – some starting their higher education here because they weren’t accepted into other colleges because of lower grades, others because of financial considerations and, probably the largest reason for the young men, an academic deferment from the Selective Service System that saved them from being drafted into the U.S. Army with a sizable chance of being sent to Vietnam. Back in 1964, the Manhattan Beach Campus was still owned by the U.S. Government who developed the land into a Coast Guard base. In the beginning, Kingsborough had two campuses – Mid-Brooklyn and P.S. 98 on Avenue Z.  I believe that Mid-Brooklyn was a Masonic Temple that was leased to CUNY because of the size of the first class. P.S. 98 was a former elementary school that was given over to CUNY and was where I and most of the other students spent the first year of our college lives.”

“In the spring of 1965, the school offered financial aid to lower income bracket students and that included me. The base was transferred to CUNY and it was the job of us student workers to clean up the place that had really been vacant for at least 10 years. We had to sweep up the streets, pile up all the wood (driftwood, old stairs and assorted furniture), and assorted other tasks while workman converted the former military barracks into usable classrooms and offices. In September, 1965, 2 large buildings acted as the college. All students then came from P.S. 98 to the “Manhattan Beach Campus” along with a new group of freshman. There was a library, science labs and even an athletic field all amongst a bevy of empty military warehouses, Quonset huts and barracks.”

“Kingsborough gave me a sense of myself and my individuality.  It allowed me to pursue interests I didn’t even know I had.  It was a great academic experience and it was fun,” said Leda (Pankin) Favale, an alumna from the Class of 1966.

“I look forward to this reunion to reconnect and catch up with my fellow classmates who shared this unique experience of being in the first graduating class of KCC.”

“This will be a joyous, inspiring and great celebration of one of the best community colleges in the United States and we hope to have as many members of the original graduating class in attendance as we can,” said President Herzek.

If you are a graduate of Kingsborough’s Class of 1966 or happen to have information as to a class members whereabouts please contact us at Laura.Glazier-Smith @kbcc.cuny.edu