Torchbearers
A torchbearer is an inspiring leader of a
movement, and that’s exactly what CFI-NYC volunteers are. They are the
working limbs of this organization, and without them we would not exist.
Torchbearers organize events, pass out flyers,
represent us at our info tables, give their constructive feedback, bring
people of like-minds together, and many other things that make us the
community that we are today. We could not be doing this without their
help. They are not just volunteers, they are Torchbearers.
Dena Roth
Dena Roth holds a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts Education from Hofstra University, and is currently working towards a master’s degree in sex education and human sexuality. They began volunteering for CFI-NYC in 2012, and is involved in the secular and skeptic communities in New York City. Dena is an activist and advocate for better public education and promoting critical thinking and reason among students and children. They co-organize CFI-NYC’s Queer Humanists, and Beyond Faith: An Ex-Christian Student Support Group.
Marc David Barnhill
Marc David Barnhill is an educator and activist
based in New York City. He teaches English and Critical Thinking at New
York University and the City University of New York, and his work sees
literacy, skeptical inquiry, and social justice as inseparable and
mutually informing concerns. He serves as Faculty Advisor to the Bronx
Community College Secular Humanist Club, one of the most prominent
secular student groups in New York. He is an active member of various
humanist and secular organizations, including New York City Skeptics,
the American Humanist Association, Harlem Humanists, and Center For
Inquiry-New York City, with whom he has worked to organize a number of
campus events. He has been a presenter and panel participant at the
Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism and SkeptiCamp NYC,
serves on the NECSS Organizing Committee and on CFI-NYC’s Volunteer
Advisory Board, and is a recipient of CFI-NYC’s Freethinker of the Year
award. He also organized the weekly Reasonable Running Group in Riverside
Park.
Scott E. Weiner
Scott E. Weiner received his B.A. from Cornell University in Philosophy and Psychology and earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy at SUNY-Stony Brook with several years of doctoral research at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany. He is currently a learning strategist and corporate trainer for pharmaceutical/bio-tech companies, creating and implementing solutions to address training needs and communications challenges. Scott has has been a CFI-NYC Torchbearer for several years serving on the Volunteer Advisory Board, and was awarded CFI-NYC’s Volunteer of the Year award in 2011. He volunteers at several other organizations, including Gilda’s Club.
Scott Berjot-Stafiej
Scott Berjot-Stafiej has acted as a Torchbearer and community
builder for CFI-New York City since 2009, serving on the Volunteer Advisory Board. He holds an MBA in Change
Management from Southern Illinois University and has contributed to
various New York-based secular blogs such as Rationally Speaking and the Gotham
Skeptic. Scott co-organizes Nerd TV. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Corey Farach
Corey Farach earned his bachelor’s
degree in psychology from Florida Atlantic University in 2009. He now
lives in
Brooklyn and volunteers for secular non-profit organizations such as The
Impossible Music Sessions, advocating the free expression of music; and
CFI-New York City, advocating reason, science and secular values, serving on its Volunteer Advisory Board. Corey
has volunteered for CFI-NYC since 2009, and was awarded our Freethinker
of the Year award in 2010.
He co-organizes Nerd TV.
Gary Gibson Jr.
Gary
Gibson Jr began working as a volunteer for CFI-NYC in 2012
and is involved with several secular and skeptic groups in New York City
including Black Atheists of America and Harlem Humanists (CFI-Harlem). He is an
activist and advocate for scientific literacy, promoting critical thinking, reason, and equality.
He is an unabashed physics enthusiast and plans to attend school to
study physics. He co-organizes CFI-NYC’s Skeptics on the Mic Karaoke
and Potluck in the Park during the warm months of the year.
He is also a secularly inclined Hip-Hop artist know as Gifted
Anomaly (G.A.) He lives in Bronx, New York.
Emily Dijkstra
Emily earned an associate’s degree in the liberal arts before becoming a
student at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. There, she is
working toward a B.A. in Sociology, with a concentration in the
sociology of religion/irreligion. She is the founder and president of
the Amherst College Humanists, a secular on-campus group supported in
part by CFI. Emily served as the Center for Inquiry—New York City Intern
during the Summer of 2012, assisting Executive Director Syd LeRoy, in
all daily endeavors and lending a hand in advancing CFI’s mission of
promoting science, reason, free inquiry and humanist values in New York
City. Originally from Long Island, NY, she became involved with CFI-NYC
in 2011 & continues to volunteer, proudly carrying the title, CFI
Torchbearer.
Geoffrey M. Golia
Geoffrey M. Golia, LMSW is a clinical social worker and advocate for
secular values and social justice. He holds a current, full-time
position as a Social Worker & Case Planner at a social service
agency in the Bronx. He is also the Social Media Manager of the Clinical
Social Work Journal and a Junior Research Scientist at New York
University’s Silver School of Social Work—where he received his
Master of Social Work degree in 2012. He received a Bachelor of Arts
degree from Eugene Lang College at the New School University in 2005,
with a concentration in Social and Historical Inquiry. He, along
with Dena Roth, co-facilitates CFI-NYC’s Beyond Faith: An Ex-Christian
Student Support Group. Geoffrey is particularly
interested in helping atheist, agnostic, and Secular Humanist people who
have left, or are in the process of leaving, religious communities. He
lives in Brooklyn, NY with his partner, Caitlin, their cat, Henry, and
their dog, Frankie.
Raymond Arnold
Raymond is an organizer for several communities in NYC, including a local chapter of THINK,
a self-improvement group for people who want to have a big impact on
the world. He also runs CFI-NYC’s Open Mind Open Mic, an artistic space
for developing and sharing humanist performance art.
Michael Rosch
Michael Rosch holds a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University and a
Master’s Degree in Media Studies from New School University. He’s been
volunteering for CFI-NYC for several years, and is an activist and
advocate in the secular and skeptic communities in New York City. He is a writer and filmmaker as well as the co-founder of stopjenny.com, a website devoted to dispelling the myths and misconceptions perpetuated in the popular media concerning vaccines.
Michael Compton
Born and raised on Staten Island, New York’s forgotten borough, Michael
Compton graduated from St. John’s University with a BA in Communication
Arts. In the three years that followed, Michael wrote freelance film and
book reviews for Fangoria Magazine, contributing to their 300th issue
alongside Werner Herzog, Robert
Englund, and Cherie
Currie. Expressing a widespread interest
in law, community relations and criminal justice, Michael
currently works as a police officer in the NYPD. Despite an education at
a Catholic institution, not to mention a fundamentalist Protestant
upbringing, Michael identifies as an atheist, secular naturalist and
proud skeptic. He organizes CFI-NYC’s Cerebral Cinema.
