Bronx Community College (CUNY)
Presenters: John Rosa and Justin De Jesus, Bronx Community College
Project: Innovating STEM Education and Community Engagement at Bronx Community College
Description of the project: The President of the veteran’s club was apart of FIRST robotics in high school competing on a robotics team where he learned stem skills to include coding, 3d printing, and engineering principles. He used these skills and applied them to his current work and now he has bridged a relationship with Bronx community college with our make space and the FIRST robotics community stem center located in the Bronx. The first community stem center works with local high schools teaching the students about robotics principles and how to work as a team and each year the students compete in various robotics competitions with other high school robotics team from New York city and across the country and the world. Bronx community college is building a maker space for all students and faculty to provide a tool where if someone has an idea they can bring it to life so to solve problems they find in the community. This relationship was fostered to provide opportunity for both the high school students and students of Bronx community college.The college students studying stem and engineering will mentor and guide the students at the stem center creating an internship opportunity for them while the high school students will work with the college on various stem projects to get the experience to be competitive for stem programs-once they go on to college. In the works we are working to have these projects and possibly classes be credit bearing for the high school students so if they follow the route of stem they will have to fake less classes saving them money for the college students having this internship opportunity to work at a stem center teaching AutoCAD principles and coding and other disciplines makes them competitive for the job market and gives them hands on experience and is a way to give back to the community.
Biographies: John Rosa is from Brooklyn, New York and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1984. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1984 to 1988.
He graduated with a Masters Degree in Education from Hunter college in 1995. He was an ESL Instructor at Bronx Community College in The English Department. He was The Assistant Director of Admissions in The Admissions Office at Bronx Community College. He is currently The Coordinator of The Veterans Office at Bronx Community College.
In 2013, Justin enlisted in the United States Navy, serving as a Cryptologic Collection Technician. In this role, he collaborated closely with multiple Department of Defense intelligence agencies, contributing to complex intelligence collection and mission support operations.
Following his military service, Justin transitioned into higher education and is currently attending Bronx Community College, majoring in Cybersecurity and Networking. He remains deeply committed to supporting fellow veterans in their academic and personal transitions. He serves as an executive member of the college Veterans Club, working alongside Diante, the acting club president, and holds the role of Veterans Peer Mentor, where he provides guidance, advocacy, and support to student veterans navigating higher education.
Justin De Jesus combines military intelligence experience, emerging technical expertise, and community-focused leadership, positioning him as a dedicated professional.