NEHRA Annual Diversity Dinner draws 450 to Marriott Copley Place

Local students honored with prestigious awards; Rosalyn Taylor O'Neale delivers keynote

BOSTON, February 24, 2005 - Over 450 members of the Greater Boston business community and family and friends gathered Thursday night, February 24, at the Marriott Copley Place for the Northeast Human Resources Association Annual Diversity Dinner. The evening featured student scholarship awards, a keynote speaker, and exhibits.

The Norma Kornegay Clarke Scholarship Award, in the amount of $2,500, and the Medallion Award, in the amount of $1,000, were presented to two high school seniors who have demonstrated academic responsibility, performed community service, offered a helping hand to fellow students, and promoted harmony among diverse groups.

This year's Scholarship Award recipient was Qingni Lin, an honors student at Boston Latin School. In 2003, Lin founded an art program for fourth and fifth grade students at Farragut Elementary School. In addition to her volunteer work at the school, Lin is the editor-in-chief of Boston Latin's school magazine, The Register. She has volunteered at the DNA Diagnostic Lab at Children's Hospital and the Office of the Inspector General of Massachusetts, and last summer she was a volunteer at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. A consistent honor roll student, Lin is a National Merit Scholarship Commended Student and a National Honor Society inductee.

The Medallion Award recipient was Shaneka Davis, a student at Monument High School in Boston. Davis is the highest-ranking student in her senior class and is also committed to her community. As president of the South Boston Education Complex National Honor Society, Davis coordinated a volunteer program at the Marion Manor Nursing Home. She is also a member of the UMass-Boston Urban Scholars Program, an Imani Dream Chaser, and a trained peer mediator. Outside of school, Davis is active in her church youth group and is a rescue team member, talking at drug rehabilitation clinics once a month.

The evening's keynote speaker was Rosalyn Taylor O'Neale, a nationally known diversity consultant and speaker who has served as Executive Vice President of Diversity Initiatives at MTV Networks. She is founder and CEO of Barnes, O'Neale & Associates, a diversity education and consulting firm based in Long Beach, California.

In her talk, O'Neale addressed the topic "Who Me? Diversity Leadership Skills for Everyone," which explored innovative ways to engage heads, hands and hearts in diversity leadership in an organization. Throughout her talk, O'Neale provided interesting ideas and user-friendly tools to enable everyone to play a part in creating a diverse and inclusive environment in their respective organizations.

Prior to the dinner, attendees had an opportunity to browse resource tables from the evening's sponsors and view a special exhibit entitled "The Shared Heart - Affirming Images of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young People."

BostonWorks was a major sponsor of this event.