On April 23, Fordham Club hosted their annual festivity, Bronx Celebration Day — an event filled with local vendors and performers with the goal of showcasing the best of the Bronx.

Hundreds attended throughout the afternoon for premier entertainment, delicious food and small businesses touting their best products. The event had tremendous success, highlighting the beauty of a reciprocal relationship between the university and its beautiful home.

Fordham Club is described as “an honor society, a fraternity and an advisory group,” with some of the best and brightest seniors at the university. The club exists as liaison between several channels, such as the Bronx, the university’s diversity effort and the wellness of the student body. Each individual committee works to improve relations and make a lasting impact in the wake of their impending graduation.

Isabella Iazzetta, FCRH ’22, spoke fondly of her time seeing the event come to fruition. Because it was a huge undertaking, planning began in the fall semester. The club consulted with the leaders of the Bronx Night Market, members of the Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID) and former Fordham Club president, Brian Daaleman, FCRH ’19. Iazzetta cites William “Bill” Colona from the Fordham Road BID as a “mentor.”

He “[ensured] we had everything all set on a legal front and [left] all the detailed coordinating and planning to the club,” said Iazzetta. Colona is also assistant vice president of Government Relations, Federal and Urban Affairs at Fordham. The entire Bronx Collaboration Committee of Fordham Club hit the ground running to make this year’s Bronx Celebration Day, an event which was last held in 2019, happen. Fordham administration lent a helping hand to find performers, while the Bronx Night Market spearheaded the food vendor search. It was truly a synergistic experience, as everyone played a part in making the event happen. Reflecting on the big day, Iazetta said that it “makes [her] heart sing.”

“After so many months of planning it was so cool to watch the tents and tables finally get set up on the plaza,” she said.

The day gives Iazzetta, as well as all the members of the Bronx Collaboration Committee, an enormous sense of pride. Seeing how the Fordham community responded and turned out for its home borough was inspiring as they “[walked] through the plaza, [stopped] at the vendors and [watched] the performances.” It was a true testament to the university’s commitment to honoring the Bronx and its rich artistic, cultural and historical importance.

There is also an atmosphere of sadness with everything concluding.

With the spring 2022 semester on its last legs, these seniors are about to take their final bow from the university and their home for the past four years.

“That’s the one bittersweet thing about Fordham Club being a group of seniors. Many of us spent a lot of our time working, volunteering in and enjoying the Bronx through our four years here, so in a way it was sort of like a goodbye. I guess that’s exactly what it was meant to do: celebrate every aspect of what the Bronx is,” said Iazzetta.

One thing is for sure: The legacy of the class of 2022 is not going to be forgotten. With the world slowly getting back on its feet after a rocky two years, Bronx Celebration Day is sure to be a tradition carried on by future iterations of Fordham Club for years to come.