Scarsdale Honors Munguia

B.K. Munguia '75 and her husband Jon Mark will be honored with the Scarsdale Bowl by the Scarsdale Foundation for their years of service in Westchester (Scarsdale 10583 photo)

For their many years of service to the Scarsdale and Westchester communities, the Scarsdale Foundation announced in January it will honor YWAA board director B.K. Munguia '75 and her husband former Scarsdale mayor Jon Mark with the Scarsdale Bowl. They will be joint recipients. The Foundation has given out the Bowl annually since 1943.

The award is given to a Scarsdale resident, who, according to the Foundation, "has given unselfishly of time, energy and effort to the civic welfare of the community." They will receive the Bowl at a Foundation dinner in Purchase, Apr. 22.

Munguia is being honored for decades of service in Westchester, including her volunteer work at Scarsdale Heathcote School, the Scarsdale School Board, the Girl Scouts, and the Scarsdale Teen Center (where she served as president until its recent closing). She also chaired the Scarsdale Citizens Non-Partisan Campaign Committee.

Mark served two terms as a Village Trustee and as mayor of Scarsdale. He is vice president of the Westchester Reform Temple and has had leadership roles on the Scarsdale Citizens Nominating Committee, the Scarsdale Forum, and the Non-Partisan Campaign Committee.

Munguia's community involvement has not been limited to Scarsdale. The Foundation is recognizing the scarsdale for Scarsdale-related contributions, but she has also been involved in Yale alumni activities for many years. Currently a YWAA board member and vice president, she has led many projects and events involving Yale, Yale alumni and Yale students.

In recent years, she has organized Yale music events in the area, including inviting a cappella singing groups from Yale to perform in Westchester. Last year, she, along with Dan Leonard '76 and Sara Levine, helped organize the Sunday Songfest in Chappaqua, which featured Yale groups the Spizzwinks and the New Blue. (She sang with the New Blue, when she attended Yale.)

Munguia and YWAA board member Regina Possavino '01 have invited Yale a cappella groups to sing at the Teen Center in Scarsdale, including a 2015 Spizzwinks concert. She helped organize another Spizzwinks concert at the Center in 2013.

Also for YWAA, she has joined Maggie Favretti '85 in helping her coordinate the Scarsdale Community Garden for Yale Day of Service events. 

In 2014, she hosted a YWAA music evening-under-the-stars event in Scarsdale Park, featuring the Westchester Band playing popular music and jazz. And she assisted Merrell Clark '57 in 2013, when he organized a Yale night at Caramoor that featured a concert by the Orchestra of St. Luke.

Munguia has hosted and housed Yale students who have done YWAA-sponsored summer internships, including Natalie Warren '17, who worked at Camp Success at Westchester during the summer, 2014. She has been involved in the annual YWAA Book Awards that recognize outstanding Westchester high school students.

Along with Rich Fabbro '76, she helped to host YWAA-sponsored lectures at the Scarsdale Library, where Yale professors have come to Westchester to speak on current topics of interest. And she has participated on the YWAA debate committee, which organized the annual debate competition that has included the debate squad from Yale, other Ivy League schools and participating high schools.

Jane Veron '86, who has been a YWAA board member, has served on the board of the Scarsdale Foundation since 2014.