For the last four years, winter break has meant taking another college course for a select group of St. Francis College students; but you won't hear them complaining. The classroom this winter was the underwater ecosystem, beaches and National Parks of the Virgin Islands.

Management students at St. Francis College worked their way to the top once again, placing in the top five percent in the online Glo-Bus international business simulation.

In her third year as Information Technology professor at St. Francis College, Esther Klein has crossed the digital divide from a lifelong PC user to being on the cutting edge of Apple technology. She now teaches students to program applications for the Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Dr. John Motley, Director of the St. Francis College Choir for 14 years passed away May 22 after a long illness. In the 1960's, as Director of Music for the New York City Public Schools, Dr. Motley formed the All City Concert Choir. For two decades, the group sang at venues like Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center; for dignitaries including President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Pope John Paul II and Mayors Abe Beame and John Lindsay; and with musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and opera singers Marian Anderson, William Warfield and Camilla Williams.

The balconies of the Howard Gilman Opera House were bursting with pride at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) as more than 350 members of the St. Francis College Class of 2011 celebrated their graduation May 18.

Former Special Master to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, Kenneth R. Feinberg came to St. Francis Tuesday, May 17 for a special luncheon with some of St. Francis College's prominent legal alumni hosted by Joseph Philip Forte '69.

An amazing turnout of more than 300 alumni and friends of St. Francis College, spread out over more than 50 years, came out to the College's Anthony J. Genovesi Center on Friday, May 6 to renew old bonds, support the College and help honor fellow alumni for the 2011 Annual Alumni Reunion Dinner.

Students, faculty and leaders of St. Francis Xavier School and St. Francis College gathered on a sunny, Tuesday morning, May 3, to celebrate the partnership between the two institutions. The goal of the partnership is to share the higher education resources of the top ranked St. Francis College with the students of St. Francis Xavier.

From today's education leaders to the leaders of tomorrow, St. Francis College celebrated its 127th Charter Day with a convocation dedicated to the importance of teaching and learning on April 29 in the College's Founders Hall.

"I think other societies use social media as a tool, but here we take our freedoms for granted, and we use things like Facebook only for personal gratification," said Jeannette Raymond '14, the winner of the $600 first prize at the 2011 Annual Delaney Speech Contest held on April 19. "So many of my peers don't understand what's going on in the world. I'm not sure the civil rights movement would succeed if it happened today, even with so much information out there."