Rhonda Spaziani of Three Rivers Community College Honored with Janice Fletcher Memorial Award

Norwich, CT – The Jordan Porco Foundation will honor Rhonda Spaziani, instructor and former Director of Student Programs at Three Rivers Community College, with the Janice Fletcher Memorial Award.

This award was created to recognize a Fresh Check Day coordinator who embodies the same spirit and commitment of Janice Fletcher, the former Director of Counseling at Lasell College, who passed away last July. Spaziani will receive this award at the eighth annual Jordan's Journey Gala on March 23, 2019 at the Hartford Marriott Downtown. Learn more about this event and purchase tickets at jordanporcofoundation.org/gala.

Upon hearing about the award, Rhonda Spaziani said, “I feel that Janice and I are truly kindred spirits in our love of Fresh Check Day and what the Jordan Porco Foundation does for all students. Thank you in every way. I am touched beyond words. My heartfelt thanks to you and Janice’s family. I will keep fighting the good fight in honor of her memory, to keep our students safe and healthy on campus, and in life.”

According to the Jordan Porco Foundation, Spaziani is a deserving recipient of this award. She has worked in the CSCU system at Three Rivers Community College for over 20 years in admissions, advising, counseling, student life, and instruction. Her favorite event of the year is Fresh Check Day, a program of the Jordan Porco Foundation. Fresh Check Day is mental health promotion and suicide prevention event that includes expo booths, peer-to-peer messaging, multiple campus departments and groups, free food, and giveaways. It aims to create an approachable atmosphere that encourages students to engage in dialogue about mental health and build bridges between students and mental health resources available on campus, in the community, and nationally.

Three Rivers hosted their first Fresh Check Day in 2014, when only ten schools participated in the event, and has hosted it for five consecutive years, with their sixth Fresh Check Day scheduled for September 25, 2019. The impact that Spaziani has made at the College is one of inclusion, community, support, and the value of mental health.

In addition to introducing Fresh Check Day to Three Rivers as an annual event, she directed the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant, which led Three Rivers to be the first community college in the nation to receive the JED Campus Seal. Spaziani also chairs the collaborative TRCC Mental Health & Wellness & Suicide Prevention Advisory Board and has co-facilitated several Mental Health Awareness Professional Days on campus. She is a strong advocate for increasing campus holistic wellness initiatives and works tirelessly to decrease the stigma of seeking help.

Spaziani often takes time out of her busy schedule to talk with students in need, offering them life advice and general support.

One student shared, “I can say without a doubt that Rhonda (fondly titled the ‘Great Spaziani’) is my hero. [She] has impacted my life on a thousand different days in a million different ways.”
Spaziani continues to do amazing things for mental health and suicide prevention on campus, but her ultimate impact can be seen in the students and those she has touched with her spirit and resiliency, making her a fitting and deserving recipient of the Janice Fletcher Memorial Award. She will receive this award at the eighth annual Jordan's Journey Gala on March 23, 2019 at the Hartford Marriott Downtown. Learn more about this event and purchase tickets at jordanporcofoundation.org/gala.

Remembering Janice Fletcher
Janice Fletcher was the Director of Counseling and dedicated Fresh Check Day coordinator at Lasell College in Newton, MA. Known for her kindness, positive attitude, and nurturing nature, she devoted 25 years to both students and staff of the Lasell community. Sadly, Janice passed away after a courageous battle with cancer on July 6, 2018. Janice spearheaded two successful Fresh Check Days at Lasell College before her illness required her to take leave. In that time, her energy and enthusiasm for life left a mark in the hearts of the Jordan Porco Foundation staff. Janice’s husband, Tom, shared, "Janice loved Lasell's Fresh Check Day--arguably more than any other single day in the Counseling Center's calendar.  In fact, once she got sick, she and I looked ahead for months in planning her radiation and chemo schedule to make sure that neither treatment would interfere with the April Friday reserved for Fresh Check Day!" The Janice Fletcher Memorial Award was created in remembrance to recognize a Fresh Check Day coordinator who embodies the same spirit and commitment of Janice Fletcher.
 
About the Jordan Porco Foundation
The Jordan Porco Foundation’s mission is to prevent suicide, promote mental health, and create a message of hope for young adults. They accomplish this by providing engaging and uplifting peer-run programs. Their programs strive to start a conversation about mental health that reduces stigma while encouraging help-seeking and supportive behaviors. The Jordan Porco Foundation is named in memory of the co-founder’s son, Jordan. Jordan died by suicide in 2011 as a college freshman. What started as two grieving parents’ vision, has grown into a nationally respected Foundation that helps tens of thousands of young adults across the country. Learn more at jordanporcofoundation.org.
 
About Three Rivers Community College
Three Rivers Community College is an accessible, affordable, and culturally diverse two-year college located in Norwich, Connecticut, with an off-campus instructional center at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton. Knowing that the educational goals of its students are as diverse as their backgrounds, Three Rivers provides a broad range of credit and non-credit liberal arts, sciences, nursing, engineering, manufacturing, career and technical courses.  The student population consists of more than 4,300 enrolled students each semester. To learn more about what Three Rivers has to offer, visit www.threerivers.edu.