Rinaldi Family Donates Additional $10,000 to Support PSC Students

The Prairie State College (PSC) Foundation is honored to announce it received a $10,000 donation from Dr. Jacqueline Rinaldi, mother of PSC Professor Paul Rinaldi. Along with Professor Rinaldi and his sister, Tina Banas, the family established the Nicholas & Jacqueline Rinaldi Prize in the Arts which encourages recipients to pursue their creative voices. The latest donation increased the endowment to over $24,000. 
 
The Rinaldi Award in the Arts, which was established in 2021, was created in honor of Paul’s late father Nicholas, who passed away in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. Nicholas was a recognized poet and novelist with reviews in the New York Times. Nicholas wrote Bridge Fall Down (1985), The Jukebox Queen of Malta (1999), Between Two Rivers (2004) and The Remarkable Courtship of General Tom Thumb (2014).

Passion for the arts in the Rinaldi family has been limitless.  Both Nicholas and Jacqueline taught at Fairfield University and were in education for decades. Jacqueline continued teaching until last year when she finally retired at the age of 89.

“Both of my parents spent a lifetime in education, " Paul said. “We’re a family that really believes in the transformational power of the arts to lift people up. That’s always been my focus in terms of working with my students.”

Professor Rinaldi brought a wealth of knowledge and experience with him when he arrived in Chicago Heights in 2000. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fairfield University (Connecticut), attended Graduate School at UMASS, and earned his MFA in painting and drawing at the City University of New York (Brooklyn College). He taught at American University in Cairo (Egypt) prior to accepting the job at Prairie State College. Now in his 25th year of teaching at PSC, he’s made a lifetime of memories at a place far from his Eastern United States roots.
 
“I didn’t know I would stay this long. I’m not from the Midwest. I didn’t have any connections here. I stayed because it is such a wonderful community that I feel blessed to work with such a group of committed individuals across the college,” Paul said. “This is really a college that is driven by a mission that has a very strong faculty, and our students really are blessed to have the resources that are available here. And I just say, if you put in hard work and are serious about what you are doing, there are no limits to where you can go.”
 
Paul teaches Drawing I, Drawing II and Art Appreciation and has been present to award the Nicholas & Jacqueline Rinaldi award each school year at PSC’s Humanities Day each year since 2023.
 
“My father and my mother both really helped to shape my view of the world, looking to help others, raise people up and to help the underserved,” Banas said. “It just all fits. Paul is out there making a difference with his students. It’s a nice connection to know all the hands touching these young people that are navigating through life and doing well.”
 
Now with the increased donation, they’ll be able to help and influence more students than before.
“I hope to see continued engagement in whatever direction or project the students have started out with,” Jacqueline said. “I see it as an opportunity for enormous empowerment to receive an award like this. It ties into the community, so much of life. It just enhances their ability to think about themselves.”