Brookhaven Lab's April Gray Honored by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs
May 17, 2005
UPTON, NY - April Gray, an administrative specialist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been honored with the National Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award - the most prestigious award given by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. At the Mid-Island Chapter's 47th Annual Founders Day Luncheon, held at the Hyatt Regency Wind Watch Hotel in Hauppauge, Gray received a plaque from the association that cites her "For her meritorious community service, her deep concern for and participation in all activities advancing the status of women."
Gray was praised by the association's Mid-Island club as a modern-day Sojourner Truth (c.1797-1883), an abolitionist and women's rights advocate who, after she was freed from slavery, traveled the country speaking out against discrimination and inequality. She also helped emancipated slaves to find lodging and employment.
Gray has been tutoring high school students in Brookhaven Lab's High School Cooperative Program - a program designed to introduce local high school students to a professional business setting - for 25 years. The program recruits interested students from local high schools for paid positions, in which Brookhaven staff mentor them in either a scientific or business-related field, depending on the student's interest and aptitude. During the school year, the students spend half-days at the Laboratory, and they work full-time in the summer. Some of these students may have become Lab employees.
"My goal is to not only enhance students' business skills, but to point them in the right direction in terms of life skills," Gray said. "We talk about the importance of commitments and ethics. We discuss home life, dating, anything that is important to the students, and whatever I can give them to help in their career and in life, I do."
Gray is currently involved in the BNL/Longwood School District Mentoring Program, giving up her lunch break once per week to go to a local elementary school to offer support for at-risk children. She has brought in two young women from a home for unwed mothers to Brookhaven Lab for mentoring. She has also sponsored children from
Little Flower Children's Services for the Laboratory's Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, and, on her own time, she has mentored several children from Little Flower, usually picking them up on Sundays and spending the day with them. Gray, who has three adult children, a stepson and a grandson, includes the Little Flower children in her family celebrations during the holidays and other special occasions.
Gray has volunteered for the former Back Pack Program, a program that provided after-school activities for homeless children, and she is currently a volunteer with the Southampton Youth Bureau, chaperoning dances and other activities. In 2004, she received two Town of Southampton Citizen Achievement Awards: one for participation in a 15-week Parent Leadership Initiative Program, which empowers women to become advocates for children, and another for her productive work with the Southampton Town Youth Bureau.
Gray joined BNL in 1974 as an office assistant in the Physics Department. Since then, she has worked for six scientific departments and support divisions, although she has remained in the Fiscal Division for the past 18 years. For her work at the Laboratory, Gray has received a Brookhaven Award in 2004, mainly for her service as a member and past president of the Lab's Affirmative Action Advisory Committee and the Employee Relations Committee. She also was chosen for Spotlight Awards in 2004 and 2005, awards given to Lab employees for exceptional service in fulfilling a particular short-term project.
In 1992, Gray received the Woman of the Year Award from the Brookhaven Business and Professional Women's Club. She is a member of the Town of Riverhead's Anti-Bias Task Force and a board member of the Peconic Community Council.
NOTE TO LOCAL EDITORS: April Gray is a resident of Baiting Hollow, NY.
2005-10323 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
