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Retired Major Joseph
Bernadel
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| Joseph Bernadel (right)
appears next to artist Salusa |
Joseph Bernadel was born in Haiti and completed his primary and
secondary schooling at the institution St. Louis de Gonzague. He
emigrated to the United States in 1975 and joined the United States
Army. He rose from the rank of private to that of major. He retired
from the US Military in 1997 after 22 years of worldwide sensitive
military assignments, which included positions as Attache Militaire
in Haiti and Mozambique. He is fluent in five languages: Creole,
English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Bernadel is co-founder of Toussaint L'Ouverture High School for Arts
and Social Justice in Delray Beach, Florida, a charter high school
that opened in August, 2001, serving Palm Beach County students of
diverse backgrounds. He is the first person of Haitian ancestry to
have opened a public school in the United States.
The educator serves on several Boards of Directors for influential
organizations in South Florida, including the Palm Beach County Alliance
for Charter Schools, the Haitian/Multicultural Task Force for the
Palm Beach County School District, the Delray Beach Downtown Redevelopment
Committee, and the World Centers of Compassion for children (an initiative
of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams).
Joe Bernadel holds a Bachelor of Science in Administration from
the University of Hawaii and has completed his graduate studies
at the University of Florida in Latin Americana dn Caribbean Affairs.
His current professional priorities are to build institutions honoring
the presence and contributions of the Haitian people in South Florida
and to enhance their welfare through education, political advocacy
and economic opportunities.
Ms. Siliana Joseph – 10th grade
Siliana Joseph is a 10th grade student at the Toussaint Louverture
High School for the Arts and Social Justice in Delray Beach. She
arrived in Delray Beach in 1996 from the Artibonite
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| Siliana Joseph standing
outside the Toussaint Louverture High School |
Valley in Haiti. Her dream is to go to college and become a pedriatician.
At school, she is a model student who takes pride in helping newly
arrived Haitians get acclimated to their surroundings. On a normal
day, she will go to school, then do her homework and visit her sisters,
often taking her nieces and nephews on walks to the park. At home
she does a lot of the cleaning and cooking for her father and brothers,
but does have some time to hang out with her cosmopolitan friends
who come from many different countries: the Bahamas, Mexico, Brazil
and Jamaica. In her spare time, Siliana also volunteers at the Milagro
Center, a community center not far from Osceola Park, teaching younger kids arts and
music. Last summer she traveled back to the Artibonite Valley to
visit family and friends.
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