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BOROUGH PRESIDENT TO WARMLY WELCOME HOME BROOKLYN'S ANTARCTICA EXPLORER

Photo by Amelia D’entrone Pictured (from left to right): UPROSE Executive Director Elizabeth Yeampierre, Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, Crystal Domenech, Mrs. Domenech, Borough President Marty Markowitz,

On January 22nd, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez welcomed home Crystal Domenech, the Sunset Park teen who recently returned from a two-week exhibition to Antarctica.

Selected by Congresswoman Velázaquez as one of five New York City teenagers (representing each borough) to head south, Domenech joined 75 students from the U.S., Great Britain, Australia, South Africa and Argentina on the Polar Star icebreaker ship. From December 16 to 30, the young explorers studied the environment and climate change, played with whales and visited penguin colonies on the frigid continent. The expedition was sponsored by the Canadian organization Students on Ice, and the trips of the five New York City students were funded by philanthropist Harold Snyder.

Domenech, who graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in Sunset Park last year, has been a volunteer for UPROSE (United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park) since she was 13, when she helped found the Environmental Enforcers (now known as Youth Justice), a youth environmental group. This year, she will continue to work with UPROSE while she applies to colleges for next fall.

UPROSE is dedicated to youth, family and community empowerment in the working-class neighborhood of Sunset Park. In 2001, it successfully led the opposition to the placement of two power plants in the area. UPROSE co-sponsored the evening's event.

"Crystal's hard work has made Brooklyn a better place, and like so many Brooklynites before her, now she's starting to change the world," Markowitz said. "She has made our borough proud with her enthusiasm for environmental justice and community youth organizing. And I'm sure the warmth she brought to Antarctica from Sunset Park melted a polar icecap or two."

Markowitz and Velázquez presented Domenech with a proclamation acknowledging her contributions to Brooklyn and New York City.

Congresswoman Velázquez was instrumental in securing the funds for the five New York City students to participate in the Antarctica expedition, and has been a strong supporter of empowering the City's youth.

"At 19, Crystal Domenech has done what many people only dream to achieve in a lifetime," Congresswoman Velázquez said. "Given her energy and commitment, it was easy for me to nominate Crystal for the trip to Antarctica. By embarking on this life-altering journey with her peers from countries all over the world, Crystal traveled from one end of the earth to the other in an effort to gain a new and deeper respect for the environment in which we live."