Lehman College is saddened to confirm that one of its students, Sera Janneh, a sophomore majoring in psychology, perished as a result of the fire at the Twin Parks North West apartment building on Jan. 9. Several additional Lehman students list the Twin Parks tower as their address and the school is are working to confirm that they are safe.
“Our deepest condolences to the Janneh Family and all of those who have lost friends and loved ones in Sunday’s fire,” Lehman said in a statement. “Our hearts are among those mourning in the Bronx today.”
Her younger sister Aisha Janneh is currently intubated with hopes of recovering from her injuries.
One of Janneh’s instructor’s, Anne Rice, shared some thoughts about her.
Rice, an associate professor of Africana Studies at Lehman, said she was “devastated by Janneh’s needless death” and that the two of them had connected on being one of seven girls in their families.
She mentioned Janneh loving Parliament-Funkadelic, especially George Clinton and Janis Joplin, she was an old soul; art by Basquiat; and poetry by Ntzoke Shange: “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.”
“Sera was a wise and incandescent soul,” Rice said. “I was just watching a video she made for my class in which she talked about her plans to become a child psychologist, she was majoring in psychology and minoring in early childhood education. Whenever there is a problem, she said, “I think of a solution” using “my wildest imagination.
“She spoke of wanting to share her learning with her siblings and the other children she would meet in the classroom. She loved music, art, poetry and African American history. Janneh approached the topics we studied in African Literature with compassion and practicality, and I thought of her as a very special student, someone who I would hear from and about in the coming years.”
Please support this family. Sera was my beautiful student at Lehman College. https://t.co/6lAyO9MO5i. .
— annerice (@annerice) January 13, 2022
A GoFundMe was crated to help her family, which so far has raised more than $57,000.
The College has posted a resource page with information on student emergency grants and other resources available to those affected by the fire that can be found at https://www.lehman.edu/twin-parks/ along with a list of organizations accepting donations for the families.
Virtual counseling services for students are available through Lehman’s Counseling Center by contacting counseling.center@lehman.cuny.edu or 718-960-8761 to schedule an appointment. https://www.lehman.edu/counseling-center/contact-us.php.
Employees have access to confidential counseling through the Employee Assistance Program. Please contact Human Resources at 718-960-8181 for more information or contact CUNY’s EAP at 1-888-993-7650 or www.deeroaks.com.
