“I might write 250 or 500 words a day,” says Writer and Literature major Aaron Thorpe, “but when I’m really into it, I’ll finish a story in a day.”

In 2012, Thorpe was a winner of the 8th Annual English Department Faculty Writing Award. Presented by English Professor Page Delano, he closed the award ceremony with a reading from his short story, “Natalie & Bo,” which he describes as having “dark humor,” and tells of a young man who considers an unorthodox solution to his depression.

“Now I’m working on length and structure,” says Thorpe, who grew up in Queens and Brooklyn, after his family moved there from Jamaica, and “always loved telling stories.”

Editing: “No easy task”
President of the BMCC Writer’s Guild, Thorpe co-edits the student literary magazine, The Guild, and “manages that very active club, no easy task,” says one of his professors, Guild advisor and fiction writer Lara Stapleton.

“The Guild cultivates all kinds of student writing,” says Thorpe. “Students share their work, critique each other’s work, and we create a foundation for student writers.”

Editing The Guild has been an object lesson in group dynamics. “I try to get past my own personal taste,” he says. “In each work, I try to find something I like, and sometimes it’s hard. There are often pieces one person likes but no one else does, and we talk about it.”

Thorpe makes copies of the magazine available at BMCC expos, and visits groups around campus, inviting fellow students to submit.  “We try to make the magazine open to all students,” he says.

The magazine’s student editors are guided by English faculty advisors who are writers, themselves, including Lara Stapleton, Ivelisse Rodriguez and Robert Masterson.

“They give us tips, especially on selecting the work, and on how to structure the magazine,” Thorpe says. “The first issue, we organized by theme. The second one was more random, but we did separate it by genre.”

Well known guest writers share expertise
Thorpe recently attended one of the Writer’s Guild’s regularly sponsored workshops led by Craig MuMs Grant, a poet and performer known for his hip hop career and role on the cable series, Oz.

“He echoed the sentiment I’ve been feeling lately, how to transition from one genre to another,” says Thorpe. “He also discussed uninhibited creativity, playing around with words. We did an activity with prompts that got me really thinking about language. I realized, ‘Language is malleable’. I enjoyed that a lot.”

Another Writer’s Guild event this semester featured NYC slam poet Jon Sands, Director of Poetry Education Programming at the Positive Health Project (a syringe exchange center in Midtown, Manhattan), a CUNY adjunct lecturer and Youth Mentor with Urban Word-NYC.

Sands’ experience as a performer and writer—he has represented NYC multiple times at the National Poetry Slam, where teams from all over North America and Europe compete for the national title—inspired students who are building their foundation as writers at BMCC.

“The exercise he gave us was so cool,” says Thorpe. “It was using stream of consciousness techniques, and also focused on how to begin a piece of work. One of the things he stressed was, ‘Read, read, read’.”

The importance of reading was a concept Craig MuMs Grant focused on, as well, Thorpe says.

“MuMs described it as, professional basketball players need to watch games so they can learn their craft, so writers, if they’re serious, need to read. I’m really into the Beat writers now, that whole period of writing history.”

Eventually, he hopes to earn a bachelor’s degree in writing. “I want to become a journalist, writing narratives, and creative non-fiction,” he says, “but I’ll still do poetry, fiction and screenwriting on the side.”

Thorpe is already writing plenty, “on the side.”

“I just finished a story last night, just under 1,000 words,” he says. “I sent it to The New Yorker, which is kind of a joke, but why not? I felt like I had nothing to lose.”

Karen DeSoto is an on-air legal consultant for NBCNews.com, CNN, and The Today Show, but this semester, she was a special guest at BMCC.

DeSoto recently spoke to BMCC students about her transition from shy New Jersey high school student, to in-demand lawyer. Her visit was part of the Latino Voices Forum, an event facilitated by Students in Free Enterprise Club (SIFE) in collaboration with BMCC’s Hispanic Heritage Month Committee.

SIFE President Steven Aguilar introduced DeSoto, who met with students in a large classroom on the main campus.

“Women like you have powerful voices in society,” said Aguilar about DeSoto. “Now is the perfect time for students to become leaders like you—both at school, and in their families.”

To the students, Aguilar said, “We can learn a lot from Karen DeSoto. She’s a great role model for Latinos everywhere.”

New Jersey’s stand-out lawyer
DeSoto, who is Puerto Rican, surprised the audience by immediately announcing that she decided to become a public defender when she witnessed her brother being teased.

Her elder brother, she explained, was dark-skinned and she was “so light-skinned that no one ever believed that I was Puerto Rican. I cannot tell you how many people say, ‘I had no idea you were Puerto Rican’.”

Growing up in a more middle-class New Jersey neighborhood, DeSoto was “the only minority in school” and passed an IQ test with flying colors, which “surprised” her teachers.

These incidents inspired DeSoto to attend law school at Temple University, where she “faced all sorts of discrimination.”

“When I entered college, 95% of the students were not Hispanic,” she said, acknowledging times are different now. “I am proud of my Hispanic heritage.”

Over the years, DeSoto has emerged as one of the New Jersey’s most powerful attorneys, handling many criminal defense, civil rights, and employment discrimination cases.

Find “humorous quips”
DeSoto’s career was also inspired by the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. “He was just so involved, and influential, in election law. He made it as far as he did without being in jail permanently.”

The rest of her speech reminded students about volunteering; giving back—and taking advantage of networking opportunities.

“As much as I got knocked down throughout my career, for wanting to do the right thing, in my darkest times, I’d volunteer,” explained DeSoto, who was recently honored by the City of Bayonne Youth Center for her charitable contributions. “When things got hard, changing the focus to someone else can help turn things around—for you, and others.”

Additionally, DeSoto said, she got her on-air start on Court TV when a friend asked her to step in for another lawyer who cancelled her on-air appearance.

From that opportunity, other TV gigs and opened up, and now DeSoto’s appeared on more than five major news networks.

And lastly, DeSoto made BMCC students chuckle when she also credited Bugs Bunny as an inspiration.

“He taught me how to have a humorous quip at any given time—it can change a tense situation,” she smiled.

Engage in the world
“Karen DeSoto spoke with students in an honest, open and truthful voice about the challenges that await them in the workplace,” said Juan Lopez, BMCC Professor and co-advisor of SIFE. “She encouraged students to read a newspaper ever day and to be engaged in the world around them.”

SIFE President Steven Aguilar agreed.

“Ms. DeSoto discussed the many ways she fought against discrimination and corruption,” he said. “She also answered questions from the audience. I really appreciated her candid honesty and how she reminded us to always help someone in need.”

BMCC student Evelin Silva was in art class one morning recently when Lynda Caspe stopped by on an unusual recruiting mission.

A highly regarded artist and sculptor who teaches in the Department of Music and Art, Caspe explains: “I was casting some sculpture at  the Modern Art Foundry when I noticed a class there, which surprised me.”

Located in Astoria, the Modern Art Foundry has cast the works of many of the world’s foremost sculptors since 1932.  Caspe called the Foundry’s vice-president and learned that scholarships provided by the Fantasy Foundation Fund enabled a select group of New York City art students to study at the Foundry and have their pieces cast in bronze, a complex and costly process that would otherwise be beyond the means of most students.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Caspe contacted the Fantasy Foundation Fund to ask if BMCC students were eligible for the scholarships.  “They told me it was late in the selection process, but  there were two openings left,” she recalls.  “I had 24 hours to get them two students.”  And that brought Caspe to Evelin Silva’s art class.

Casting call
“I was extremely intrigued,” Silva says.  “While I’m an art student, I’m more of a sketch artist, but I’ve always wanted to study sculpture, work in clay and get my hands dirty. I knew I had to take advantage of this opportunity, even if it meant missing work,” says Silva, who was one of the two students selected for the scholarship.  The other was Vanessa Medina.

The scholarship, Caspe is quick to note, isn’t about financial aid.  “The students don’t receive money.  The Fund underwrites the hiring of a teacher, the use of classroom space, and the bronze-casting of the students’ sculpture, which they create in clay.  It’s an exceptional opportunity.”

In sculpting a mother and child,  Silva shunned a literal approach.

“I deliberately made the mother imperfect, because that’s what mothers are—imperfect, unique, and gentle,” she explains.  “I feel proud of what I learned from the experience—and proud of what I was able to produce at the Foundry.”

Navigating through different personalities—and understanding one’s own—relates to a person’s success in business.

That’s why Senior Career Counselor Kimberly Chu administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, aka personality test, to students accepted into this year’s Goldman Sachs BMCC Leadership Program.

“We organized the groups in order to balance out personality types,” says Chu, who coordinates the program. “The students learned a lot about teamwork, and we guided them through the processes of conflict resolution and understanding each other’s communication styles.”

“Modern thinking” in problem solving
Over 115 students applied to the rigorous program, and 22 were selected to participate. They met weekly during BMCC’s club hours, and each group was assigned a company to represent—Apple, Ford, Nike, Nintendo or Starbucks.

Students rotated within their groups, taking on the role of Chief Executive, Administrative, Financial, Operations and Communications Officers. As a group, they problem-solved around business challenges caused by economic recession, rising gas prices and other situations.

Best of all, they were guided by corporate executives from Goldman Sachs who have first-hand experience with factors the students were analyzing.

“The workshop leaders provided a series of scenarios that forced us to work together to find solutions for real problems companies face,” said Business Administration major Djanai Smith.

What she calls “modern thinking,” or taking into account a company’s integrity on a social and environmental level, was useful to her team, said Smith, who wants to work someday in marketing, “in a green industry where people are focused on being socially conscious.”

“We realized, you can’t just think of the bottom line, and shareholders,” she said. “You have to consider stakeholders, too, because the world is getting smaller, with the Internet and social media, and companies are more aware of their footprint and how they appear to the public. Consumer perception is more important than ever.”

Coming from another angle, Miguel Ibarra, also a Business Administration major, “was impressed by the complexity of the operations and supply chains of the companies we looked at.”

Kyle Forbes, an aspiring music industry executive, was struck by the intensity of working in a small group, solving tough—albeit theoretical—business challenges. “The psychological ownership of being responsible within our team surprised me,” he said.

“We were always emailing each other, setting up meetings and going over everything. There were times I would eat and email at the same time, and the whole team would email late at night.”

Success “must be proven”
At the end of the two-month project, each student team presented its strategies to an audience of executives from both Goldman Sachs and BMCC, in a conference room at the sweeping, waterfront offices of Goldman Sachs in Lower Manhattan.

Coming from a human resources, management, operations, public relations or finance perspective, team members outlined steps to offset challenges to their company, assessing impact on their profit margin, employee morale, product quality and other areas.

“Success is not an entitlement. It must be proven every day,” said Miguel Ibarra in his role as a Starbucks chief executive.

“We’re not just providing a product, we’re providing an experience,” he added. “It’s not as simple as ‘Profit equals revenue minus expenses’. You have to also take culture into account, and that’s why we introduced green tea to our menu in Asian countries.”

Justin Wong, in another executive role, addressed public relations challenges to the company he represented, recommending that it employ a third-party arbiter, and revise its code of ethics.

Each team took 15 minutes, and was careful to meet its time limit. The students introduced each other and sat at a panel, taking turns at the podium, narrating the colorful visuals projected behind them.

Executive feedback
After each presentation, members of the audience asked questions: “Have you looked at your key competitors? What are they doing, that you’re not doing?”

They also offered suggestions such as funneling profits back into the communities in which the companies operate, and complimented the students’ efforts, describing them as “polished,” and “very thorough.”

Kimberly Chu—introduced by BMCC Dean of Student Affairs Michael Hutmaker as the “heart and soul” of the project, on BMCC’s side—noted how much the students benefit from sitting down with the Goldman Sachs executives, who generously provide their time and effort on a weekly basis.

“I’d really like to thank the executives at Goldman Sachs who worked with our students this year,” she said, “especially Chanel Dennis, Diego Bonet, Chris Doyle, Karl Karunakaran, Cristina Michaels, Lauren Schwimmer, and Lauren Tsuchiya.”

Chanda Gibson, a VP at Goldman Sachs and workshop leader in the program over the years describes it as “an important part of our commitment to the Lower Manhattan community. We are proud to be celebrating our sixth year with BMCC, as we are deeply committed to supporting the communities where Goldman Sachs’ people live and work, and we look forward to next year’s program.”

Editor’s Note: Students who participated in the program were Joesne Araujo Passos, Dong Chan Lee, Nicola Collino, Michael Dolce, Rinna Duarte, Jhoselyn Escobar, Guy Gerald Fabre, Galit Felner, Kyle Forbes, Jian Hang Xiao, Espita Hoque, Qianyan (Catherine) Hu, Juan Ibarra, Miguel Ibarra, Sadman Islam, Bridget Lehnert, Cigdem Metin, Derek R. Pretlow III, Luca Rossato, Cindy Salazar, Sutrisno Tan, Justin Wong, and Seong Wook Kwak.

When The Women’s Forum— a community where preeminent New York women leaders of diverse achievement come together to make a difference—was granting 2012 education scholarships, Bibechana (Bibi) Basnet decided to apply for one.

Thank goodness she did.

Last semester, Basnet, a Business Administration major who grew up in Nepal, was named a 2012 Women’s Forum Education Fund Fellow, and received a $10,000 scholarship. (The other BMCC student who received a 2012 fellowship was Shannon Barrows.)

“The Women’s Forum inspires women from all over the world to fulfill and achieve their dreams and goals,” says Basnet.

“Second chance”
Basnet, who currently attends Columbia University where she’s majoring in Economics—was a standout scholar at BMCC. She enrolled in college later in life, after facing some personal obstacles back home in her native Nepal.

She views BMCC as her “second chance.”

“I previously worked as a flight attendant for Qatar airline, which taught me patience and discipline, and also helped me to ‘zone in’—skills I brought with me to BMCC and Columbia,” she explains. “I loved the job, but felt I needed more; I needed my degree.”

Mentoring and leading
“In my scholarship essay, I wrote about life in Nepal and how I wanted to establish a firm ground for myself after BMCC,” she said. “Additionally, I wrote about the education I received at BMCC. The professors are so vibrant and embrace diversity. They’re outstanding—and I stand by this statement even now, as a Columbia student.”

Basnet also outlined her volunteer activities. At BMCC she was an active member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and was an Each One, Reach One mentor.

“I was paired with a mentee for three semesters, which was very inspiring and motivating for both of us,” says Basnet. “These leadership experiences were part of my stepping stones to success.”

Extension of goals
English Professor Jane Clark wrote a letter of recommendation for Basnet’s scholarship.

“What sets Bibi apart is her sense of obligation to the larger community around her.  Her goals are not limited to herself, but extend to those less fortunate than she has been,” says Clark. “Bibi worked and attended school full time, but she still found time to tutor others.”

She adds: “Her dedication to helping classmates, even as she struggled herself, prefigures a career that will fulfill her dreams, as well as enable others to achieve theirs.”

Ethnic Studies Professor Nicholas Ofiaja, who wrote a Columbia University recommendation for Basnet, calls her work ethic “outstanding.”

“Bibi also worked for the Office of Accessibility and would help students in my African Civilization Class with their note-taking and assignments,” said Ofiaja. “Their grades improved thanks to her assistance.”

Moved by Gandhi
After she completes her studies at Columbia, Basnet hopes to return to Nepal to establish a school for young women.

“Women have come so far, but in some ways, still have to fight for their place in the world,” she says. “I want to help other young women realize that no matter how rough the roads may be, keep striving forward to make your dreams come true. I draw inspiration from the Mahatama Gandhi quote, ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’.”

Deslyn Andrews and Winnie Feng Xia Hu each look forward to a life of giving back.

Scholarships will help them achieve long-deferred dreams.

COPE provides BMCC students with a wide net of services—from academic support to help finding childcare

Deslyn Andrews was 19 when she arrived in New York from her native Grenada, joining her mother, who had emigrated earlier. Her plan was to enroll in college.

“I’d left behind my older sister and five younger brothers, who remained in my grandmother’s care,” she says. Her father had assured Deslyn that he could afford to finance her education.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“I naively believed him,” she says. “There was no money.” College would have to wait. Deslyn’s only choice was to put her plans on hold and get a job.

That was 10 years ago. A nursing major who has maintained a 4.0 GPA, Deslyn is on track to graduate from BMCC this year and train to become a pediatric nurse practitioner. Business Administration major.

Winnie Feng Xia Hu has traveled a similarly hard road since childhood. But the going is easier for both these days thanks to COPE/Mitsui USA scholarships, which cover two years of full tuition costs.

A wide net of services and support
The mission of COPE—or College Opportunity to Prepare for Employment—“is to provide BMCC students with a wide net of services and support to succeed academically,” says COPE director Sondra Salley.

“Many of our students arrive on campus with no real sense of their skills or the kind of careers they’re suited for,” she says.

“We can help them assess their skills and choose appropriate majors.” COPE leverages wide-ranging community contacts to help students find jobs, housing, and, for single mothers, daycare.

Salley also seeks out students who may be candidates for scholarships, and shepherds them through the application process, as in the case of Deslyn and Winnie.

Back when her initial plans to enter college fell through, Deslyn took a job in a discount store, working 12-hour days, six days a week for less than minimum wage, but her $300 paycheck paid the light bill and half the rent on the apartment she shared with her mother.

She was also able to send money home to Grenada to help her grandmother and siblings. When her Green Card came through in 2010, she screamed in joy and enrolled in BMCC. “I was 28,” she says, “but I felt like a teenager.”

Winnie Feng Xia Hu was five when she emigrated to the U.S. from China with her family. “My mother was schizophrenic and kept my brother and me from attending school because she feared the outside world would harm us,” she says.

Isolated from other children, she knew little about books and less of libraries. When she was nine, she was removed from her family so that she could attend school while her mother received psychiatric treatment.

“In junior high, I discovered there actually was such a thing as public library, where you could take books out for free. It was amazing. We didn’t have money to buy books, so I borrowed a lot,” says Winnie.

Helping in two languages
Throughout her school years, Winnie continued to read, learn and gain fluency in Chinese and English, meanwhile dealing with constant financial worries, the pressure of caring for ill parents and a bout of severe depression.

After ending an unhappy marriage, she took online courses at CUNY while caring for her year-old daughter at home. She transferred to BMCC in 2011, but interrupted her studies last spring to care for her child, who had developed pneumonia.

She is currently working full-time at a non-profit organization, using her Chinese and English language skills to assist clients—all of them Chinese, and most with little or no knowledge of English—in translating documents and correspondence and applying for government assistance

Winnie hopes to return to school in the spring and complete her studies at BMCC the following semester. Eventually, she says, she would like to use her bilingual skills, business training and background in pharmaceutical management to establish an organization that promotes greater understanding of Chinese medicine in the U.S. healthcare community.

“My COPE/Matsui scholarship will help get me through my last two semesters at BMCC,” she says.

Fred Calhoun grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and his grandmother, who was raising him, sent him “down South,” he says, from the age of 10 to 13, to live with his aunt and uncle.

“She felt it would be a good change of scenery,” says Calhoun. “I was coming home from school late, getting into fights at school—but it wasn’t affecting my schoolwork.”

Calhoun has come a long way since that time, as have his parents. His father was incarcerated twice when he was growing up, and his mother struggled as well.

Now, he says, “My Dad is living and working in the Bronx; he pieces work together to keep his head above water,” and his mother has a solid office job with a City agency.

He moves forward in his chair, when he talks about his father. “Me and him didn’t see eye-to-eye for a lot of years,” he says, “but my anger issues were really about him not being there—till one day it just came out in a rage. I forgave him that day.”

In a sense, he has forgiven himself, as well.

“I’ve made my fair share of mistakes,” he says. “We went down the same path, me and him.”

The path included a year at the New York State Department of Corrections facility in Albany for “criminal possession of a forged instrument,” Calhoun says. “I used a fake ID and a fake credit card to buy a phone and gift cards for Christmas.”

He blames no one but himself, for that choice.

“No one put a gun to my head and made me do it,” he says. “I did the crime so I did the time.”

Varsity days
At Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens, Calhoun was a pretty good student.

“I would say math, English and government were my best subjects,” he says. “The only thing I was really bad at, was Spanish.”

He also excelled on the basketball court, playing junior varsity in 10th grade, and varsity in his junior and senior year.

“It felt like a brotherhood,” he said. “We still hang out sometimes and stay in close contact.”

The pinnacle of his basketball career came in 2004.

“We played at Madison Square Garden, the City Championship against Abraham Lincoln [High School], which featured Sebastian Telfair who plays for the NBA now. And they won by only six or seven points.”

Basketball opened a few doors, Calhoun says, but he ended up choosing others.

“I had a couple Division II scholarships that I decided to decline,” he says. “I didn’t want to leave New York and I was also in a relationship at that time. But that summer I had a graduation party that opened the door to what I do now, which is hosting club events. I do that in Miami, Atlantic City and New York City.”

He also markets a line of clothing, The Acdmy, that offers hoodies, T-shirts, caps and other items, and evolved out of the club events.

Marketing vision
“The clothing line started collectively, with a group of us who went to high school together,” says Calhoun.

Those friends included Christopher Bellamy, he says, “who was the main investor at first. I’m more of a good marketer.”

It was marketing vision that led them to ask, “Why make money once a week, through our club events, when we could make it every day?,” he says. “The same people who came to our events could support our clothing brand.”

They market their events through social media, he says, “and we realized, people didn’t care about the title of the event, they care about the people throwing it.”

When the same people producing the event introduced a clothing line, it was an instant success.

“We get great reviews for the products on our site,” says Calhoun. “They say it’s a really clean site. We try to cater to all sizes, from small to 2XL.”

He’s also proud to announce that The Acdmy will offer a new line of “beanies,” or stocking caps, in 2013.

The teenaged entrepreneur
“In high school or maybe since I was even younger, I always had the business mentality,” says Calhoun. “I was always into making a profit.”

In high school, he says, he worked in the Au Bon Pain restaurant at LaGuardia Airport, and instead of throwing out food at the end of his shift, “I used to make extra wraps with what was left over, and bring them to school and sell them. At one time, demand got so big, people weren’t buying the cafeteria food. Even the teachers would order their wrap a day ahead with me.”

Now instead of doing business, he studies business.

“My grades at BMCC are decent,” he says. “I’ve learned I can’t overload myself. I can’t go full-time to school and be successful with my classes. With more than four classes, and working—I just can’t do it.”

Like many students, Calhoun learned the hard way what happens when he “overloads” himself.

“When I got incarcerated, I was on academic dismissal from BMCC,” he says. “I was doing bad with my grades in the fall of 2009, and in the spring of 2010 I did significantly better—I wasn’t working at a job like I was in the fall, so that was helping—but I still got dismissed. I was one point off, for my GPA.”

Finding a “niche market”
“I know people with bachelor’s degrees in political science and they work retail,” Calhoun says. “I know people with masters degrees who can’t find work of any kind.”

Wary of education’s promise in today’s economy, he is also building his experience as an entrepreneur.

“This is the time for small businesses,” he says. “You can study the economy and if you find a niche market, you can build on that.”

Another factor in his goals is paying off his school loans.

“It sucks when you have thousands of dollars in debt and you’re working minimum wage,” he says, and explains that his tuition loans from Nassau County Community College, which he attended before BMCC, “went into default status when I was incarcerated.”

This makes him ask, “Do I pursue my bachelor’s after I graduate, or do I take my associate and run with the business? I promised my mom I would get my associate’s degree.”

Sticking to a plan
“Me being locked up, it put a lot of things in perspective, Calhoun says.

“You go in with no plan. If you had a plan, you wouldn’t have gone in. But once I was there, I made a plan and I stuck to it,” he says.

“Everything I said I would do, I did. I didn’t sleep all day. I read newspapers, magazines, whatever reading material I could find.”

He also took to heart, advice from fellow inmates.

“A lot of the older guys who’ve been in there two, three times, they’d say, ‘Oh man, don’t come back here. It gets harder each time’. Usually, they’re dealing with drug addiction. At least I didn’t have that working against me.”

Also, he says, “I took that year and I positioned myself. I kept in touch with my friends and when I got home I had a support network.”

That network included family.

“My mom helped me out a lot as I got back in the flow,” he says, and reflects on the slippery slope that led him so far off track.

“It started out, ‘I’m only going to do it today’,” he says. “Then you’re doing it every day. I got arrested once, and that was a semi-wakeup call, but before you know it, you get comfortable again, and then you’ve got a judge telling you your bail is a quarter of a million dollars—and finally, you get it. You get it so deep, so fast.”

Shaking his head he admits, “It’s easy to do the wrong thing. It takes much more to do the right thing.”

Doing the “right thing,” he says, includes pursuing his education.

“Sometimes, on days when you don’t have motivation,” he says, “you find it in those words, ‘I got myself this far. I have to keep going’. It took me a long time to get where I am in school but I’m getting it done. Your degree doesn’t say how long it took to get it—it says you finished.”

He looks forward to graduating, and walking across the stage with his class in 2013.

“The walk signifies the journey,” he says. “A lot of people don’t go through what I did, and still get their degree. Like one of my friends told me, doing the ‘walk’ signifies what you’ve overcome.”

“Learn all the rules, and then learn how to break them.”

That’s the advice of BMCC Writing & Literature alumni Joseph Quintela, who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English at Sarah Lawrence College.

Some would say Quintela has followed his own advice.

His unconventional blend of poetry, sculpture and performance shatters rules such as, “Don’t write in a book,” which can be extended to, “Don’t erase words in a book”—a technique Quintela adopted in his American Blackout Series (which appears in Corium Magazine), by whiting out words in the works of Allen Ginsberg and others.

Another taboo regarding books is to rip out their pages, a restriction Quintela ignores as he deconstructs—and reconstructs—books he buys in bulk from the Strand, a landmark East Village bookstore that then exhibits Quintela’s striking book-based sculptures in its Rare Books Room, taking the transformation full circle.

Recycled worlds
“What I’m interested in, is poetry that is post-productive,” Quintela says, “being creative without making new things from new materials. I’m making new things from old materials. I’m recycling poems, making a collage of recycled worlds.”

Quintela’s most recent “collage of recycled worlds” was the installation Foot Knots, exhibited at the Project Space Envelope gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Visitors made their way through a space thick with shredded paper, “a fully immersive experience set inside of a book-strewn, walled, and sculpted 12′ x 20′ space,” as the Foot Knots website describes the exhibit, adding that it “spans the divide between poetry, visual art, performance, and sculpture.”

Quintela co-produced Foot Knots with artist and performer Sarah McSherry, who moved through the space in a lavish paper costume—as did Gabriel Don and Lisa Marie Basile—for Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ short film, UnBound.

Short, Fast and Deadly
Quintela credits his last year at Sarah Lawrence—where his writing studies included eco-criticism—for the recycling direction his work has taken, and recommends the school to other new writers.

Some students might think Sarah Lawrence is out of their price range, he says, “but I think people don’t realize that it heavily funds undergrads who can demonstrate financial need. I had almost a full scholarship.”

Also while a student at Sarah Lawrence, Quintela founded the literary magazine Short, Fast, and Deadly, which publishes prose not in excess of 420, and poetry no longer than 140 characters.

In an interview with Jim Harrington for the literary blog, Six Questions For…, Quintela says the impetus for Short, Fast and Deadly was “the constraints of Facebook and Twitter,” where the character guidelines originate.

“Our tag line,” says Quintela, “is ‘In the future, 5 words will be a run-on sentence’… The short attention span of the modern milieu guides our tastes.”

He is quick to add that an emphasis on brevity doesn’t negate his appreciation for craft and form.

“In fact, we often err on the side of formalism,” he says, and explains that what he looks for in submissions to the magazine is “Guts. Structure. Surprise. These are the elements of the ‘deadly’ aesthetic that guide our choices…we generally pass on work that doesn’t drive through us like a stake.”

New art at the NU Hotel
Another recent art project Quintela took part in was created at the NU Hotel in Brooklyn, which provided one of their Friend’s Suites so that Quintela, along with actor Nick Trotta and dancer Melissa Alexis, could create an art piece together.

The event was sponsored by the Creator’s Collective, through its 3 to 1 ongoing art project, which gathers three artists from different disciplines in one hotel suite for 24 hours.

The collaboration by those three artists is witnessed by a live audience, and often performed later, as well.

Quintela, Trotta and Alexis created DO NOT DISTURB, a performance in 5 acts, which will be presented in a one-night-only re-engagement in February 2013, venue pending. In addition, the NU Hotel is displaying ten of Quintela’s sculptures in its lobby through January 15, 2013, and he is creating a permanent installation for one of their rooms.

Where it all began
Joseph Quintela graduated with a degree in Writing and Literature from BMCC in 2010, and earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Sarah Lawrence College in 2012.

Just before he graduated from BMCC, he won 1st Prize in a campus-wide contest to celebrate Poetry Month, and “the English department really gave me the framework for writing,” he says. “I learned what poetry is, in the contemporary world, and it allowed me to experiment.”

Today, Quintela is still in touch with his former teachers at BMCC, including English professor Carlos Hernandez, “whose guidance was an essential part of my time at BMCC,” he says, “and very much put me on the trajectory I’ve been charting since graduating in 2010. I can’t properly express how grateful I am for my time there.”

BMCC’s entrepreneurial spirit is in full swing as we ease into 2013 with fireworks, cheers, and, yes, cupcakes.

Desserts bring joy to many people; including three BMCC staffers who are embracing their inner “sweet tooth.”

Possessing the passion
A staffer in the Business Management department, Yvonne Francis is also a full-time BMCC education major.

She started Kady’s Sweet Delicacies, a home-based cakeshop, in honor of her twenty-seventh birthday this year. (Kady, she explains, is her middle name.)

Francis, who grew up in St. Lucia, knew she was on to something when her fellow church members praised her sweet treats. Over the years, she’s made wedding cakes, cream puffs, chocolate bark, and more.

“I have a passion for baking and decorating cakes,” says Francis, who grew up in a family that “loved the kitchen.”

Her most-requested cake flavor is Caribbean Rum.

“Customers have been submitting orders since the summer—it comes out so moist,” she says. “I also love red velvet. I think everyone does.”

Her advice for BMCC students who feel overwhelmed balancing work with classes?

“I really stick to a schedule. I study on my lunch break; bake and study on weekends,” she explains. “If you have the passion for something, you will find the time to do it. However, be honest about your time.”

Francis hopes to someday open a storefront, and also bake with children.

“Teaching a child to cook or bake fosters conversation; they may open up to you through the activity, and it’s therapeutic for both of you,” she explains. “I think everyone needs some cake in their lives. Just seeing a nicely-decorated sweet brings a smile to people’s faces.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ice Scream, You Scream
Melvin Troter, a staff supervisor in BMCC’s Receiving & Stores department, oversees a small ice cream stand that operates in the summertime.

However, during this festive, sweets-filled winter, Troter couldn’t resist talking about his niche side business.

“I’m from Trinidad, where people gather on the streets at ice cream stands—it’s very social,” he explains. Feeling nostalgic and armed with ice-cream recipes from his native country, this summer he opened an ice-cream stand outside of De Hot Pot Caribbean Cuisine restaurant in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Troter and some friends churned the ice cream flavors—which included coconut, rum raisin, and peanut—themselves inside the restaurant’s kitchen.

The stand operated every Saturday afternoon from early June through Labor Day, and, according to Troter, was a hit.

“Some customers were in from Long Island. They liked the ice cream so much, they came back the following week,” he says.

Troter’s ice-cream stand doesn’t have a name yet, but it did generate a positive write-up in The Daily News.

He looks forward to opening the cart again next summer.

“People at BMCC are surprised to hear about the ice cream,” he says, laughing while admitting, “Then they’ll immediately ask for some!”

Baking and blogging
“As a teenager, I fell in love with food and nutrition,” says Sandy-Bruce, who initially put her culinary interest aside to study toxicology at John Jay College.

About three years ago, she took some homemade cupcakes to a party and one minute they were there; the next, they were gone.

“That sort of started Cupcake Chromatography,” says Sandy-Bruce, who, like Troter, is originally from Trinidad.

“People at BMCC are surprised to find out that I bake,” she adds. Fittingly, her sweets-themed blog “relates science to baking.” (One recent post outlined the baking uses for isomalt sugar.)

“I try to make the blog educational so readers can find a good recipe and learn a bit more about science as well,” she explains.

This season, she’s made tea-inspired cupcakes, cheesecake, pumpkin fruit cakes, and more.

“I’ve also gotten better at making ‘animal faces’ cakes for baby showers,” she explains. “It’s been my new forte.”

According to Sandy-Bruce, for the holiday season, she put her own spin on the black fruit cake, a traditional dessert in Trinidad.

“I made a lighter, cupcake version that’s less dense,” she says.

Sandy-Bruce loves getting into the holiday spirit, and not just for the meals…

“For me, this time of year is about family, and nothing brings family together like food,” she wrote on her blog. “And you can’t have food without some great dessert.”

New York City continues to remain a hub for jobs in the financial sector—and BMCC itself is located just minutes from Wall Street, which Business majors have stated is a major coupe; and a draw to the campus.

Three BMCC graduates currently working in the financial arena recently shared their job-hunting advice for 2013.

“Land of opportunity”
Elena Gonzalez grew up in Ukraine, and watched her best friend—who had a degree in Economics—struggle to find a job in the field.

Feeling uneasy about her career goals, in 2007 Gonzalez moved to New York, brushed up on her English, and enrolled at BMCC.

“For the first time, getting a college degree felt meaningful,” she recalls; having previously thought “only luck, connections or money” dictated one’s future, “as opposed to hard work and education.”

She took ESL and Business Law courses simultaneously, gradually learning how to grasp the specific terminology outlined in her legal course.

“It was tough, but I made through that class with an A,” she said. “One by one, accomplishments like that one made me realize I can do anything if I work hard.”

Gonzalez was active in Phi Theta Kappa at BMCC, and went on to graduate from Baruch/CUNY before landing a financial analyst job at Morgan Stanley.

“Looking back, I recognize that BMCC offered me a land of opportunities—and it was up to me to take advantage of them,” she says.

More than numbers
According to Gonzalez, “finance is not just about making trades on a stock exchange, job insecurity, or living in the office without knowing what home, friends and family are,” she says.  “There are thousands of finance jobs in New York that are open for college graduates in accounting, information technology, consulting…plus, smaller firms look for finance graduates in industries such as fashion, retail, health care, real estate, sports—the list goes on and on. There’s something for everyone.”

Gonzalez encourages BMCC students to pursue a bachelor’s degree and to “be personable.”

“Top companies are not just looking for strong performers, but someone with  interpersonal skills who have initative and can manage relationships,” she explains.

Be a ‘team player’
BMCC Liberal Arts graduate Christian Narvaez stresses the importance of finding a mentor.

At BMCC, he connected with advisors Nelson Izquierdo, Pedro Perez, and the late Orville Hill, of the College Discovery program.

Narvaez credits his former advisors with keeping him focused on his coursework and grades—a focus he carried into Baruch as an economics major, and into the workforce.

“I was impressed by Christian’s ability to not only excel academically, but to also maintain part-time employment, while being active in Chi Alpha Epsilon National Honor Society, Latino Honor Society and the Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee,” says Izquierdo of Narvaez. “He has the perseverance, determination, and leadership abilities to succeed in any endeavor that he may pursue.”

After graduating from BMCC and Baruch, where he balanced financial internships with his classes, Narvaez found work as a Financial Data Analyst for Moody’s Investors Service. He often returns to BMCC to talk on alumni panels.

His advice for those seeking careers in finance?

“Be a team player. Be driven. The best job advice I received was to follow my dreams and always be happy with what I’m doing,” he says. “If you wake up in the morning not wanting to go to work, then it’s time to make a change.”

‘Proud to be at BMCC’
Roberto Jimenez commends his academic roots.

“I’m very proud that I went to BMCC; it’s where I developed my leadership skills, especially in the accounting club,” says the recent graduate who currently attends Pace University as an accounting major. “BMCC is where I developed a business acumen, which I brought with me to internships and beyond. I won an accounting award at BMCC, which really kept me motivated.”

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Aruba, Jimenez, who speaks English, Spanish, and Dutch, says he always had a knack for math and numbers.

Jimenez interned in the controller department at a large Wall Street firm and currently interns in the CFO office of a hedge fund.

He advises students to consider an internship—which can sometimes be counted as a ‘course’ for credit—if they’re interested in a financial career.

”Also, be knowledgeable about the market,” he advises. “At least about a particular area of finance, and bring that knowledge with you to a job interview. I have a background and associate’s degree in accounting, which I can use in so many aspects of the career world. In a way, it’s not as broad as general business; it’s very specific.”

Jimenez also credits BMCC for preparing him for Pace University.

“The professors really grill you at BMCC; in the accounting department they wanted to make sure you were prepared for the real world, and your higher education,” he says, adding that BMCC’s family-feel “is something I really miss.”

On Wednesday, January 9, 2013,  at 9:30 a.m. BMCC President Dr. Antonio Pérez will ring The Opening Bell of the New York Stock Exchange. He will be accompanied by BMCC Foundation Chair Christine Larsen; Secretary/Treasurer Laura Morrison, Managing Director at NYSE Euronext, and a group of current BMCC students.

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) of the City University of New York (CUNY) was founded in midtown Manhattan in 1963. Since then, the college relocated to lower Manhattan–and vastly expande–by adding 25+ majors and re-opening a technologically-advanced building called The Miles and Shirely Fiterman Hall, with sweeping views of the financial district. BMCC students ‘start here,’ and transfer to top senior colleges, both within the CUNY system, and beyond.

A growing success story, according to the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of International Education, BMCC is among the highest ranked community colleges in the country, in awarding associate degrees to African-American, Hispanic and minority students.

Check back here for more updates, and images of President Pérez at the New York Stock Exchange.

Let the anniversary celebration begin!

Modern Languages professor Tom Means recently took his Italian 200 students to Sole di Capri, a neighborhood restaurant where they experienced Italian language and culture all at once.

“I went there ahead of time to make the sure the owner, Eduardo Erezo, would be there and agree to work with us,” said Professor Means. “It seemed he got a kick out of it, and spoke only Italian to the students.”

Sole di Capri owner Mr. Erezo is all for this kind of learning. “It helps the students and improves their Italian,” he said. “I could understand them fine, they did very well.”

Means agrees. “Sometimes they would speak English but Mr. Erezo would speak Italian back to them. This seemed to embolden them to try again, in Italian.”

A Tribeca “gem”
Sole de Capri, formerly known as Capri Caffé, is on Church Street between Chambers and Reade, just a couple blocks from BMCC’s main campus.

“It’s a tiny little Tribeca gem, where I’ve been going for years,” said Means. “They always greet me, “Buon giorno, Professore!”

He prepared his class for the visit, with pre-activities that highlighted Italian phrases used in a restaurant setting.

“I made sure the students were all comfortable with negotiating the menu,” he said. “They memorized what we call ‘chunks’, or two or three words together, such as ‘Posso avere…’, which means, ‘May I have…’, and then with a partner, they wrote dialogues using those phrases.”

In addition to preparing everyone “to interact fluently with the waiter,” he said, “we also did some role-play in class.”

After the trip, he felt confident that “advanced development of functional skills, such as ordering, requesting information, confirming information, and others, in Italian, was achieved.”

Enhanced learning
This is an Italian 200 class, “our third in a 4-semester sequence,” said Professor Means, adding that the class trip was made possible by an Enhanced Learning in the Classroom (ELIC), grant through the BMCC Office of Student Affairs.

A few of the students had been to Tuscany, Italy, as part of BMCC’s Study Abroad program. For most, though, “this grant enabled them to get as ‘close’ to Italy as possible,” said Professor Means.

“I call it, ‘experiential learning’ because they’re using their knowledge of the language, through their experience.”

Part of the experience involved being a resource for each other.

“There was definitely peer-to-peer bonding at the restaurant,” said Professor Means. “Some of the students stayed to have coffee afterwards, and continue practicing their use of Italian.”

When the students left the restaurant, he said, “they definitely had the satisfaction of accomplishing a task in the target language.”

They also gained new vocabulary. “They were asking questions about items on the menu they’d never seen before,” he said, “like ‘acciuga’, which are anchovies.”

For business and pleasure
While understanding Italian provides valuable context for art and culture from antiquity to the present—both the Roman and Renaissance periods center in Italy—college business majors are increasingly interested in speaking Italian.

Italy has the seventh largest economy in the world, and thousands of U.S. firms have offices in Italy, including IBM, General Electric, Citibank, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

There is also, of course, the food. Regarding the class trip to Sole di Capri, “It was experiential learning at its most…delicious!” said Professor Means.

Of all the choices incoming freshmen have to make, selecting a lunch option—turkey sandwich, vegetable wrap, tuna, chicken salad or ham—at the all-day Freshman Year Experience event, is one of the easiest.

Much harder for students, is choosing classes that will transfer to the 4-year college they’ve set their sites on, or committing to better study habits. This event (which follows New Student Assembly day) provided guidance for those and other decisions, with interactive lectures and small group advisement sessions.

Having some fun
BMCC’s latest Freshman Year Experience was held in Theatre I at the main campus. Hundreds of student filled the rows of red seats and Senior Academic Advisor Allana Hankey-Thomas opened the event.

“We’re going to have a little bit of fun,” she said. “We’re going to give you MetroCards, vouchers for movie tickets—and also a lot of important information.”

She explained that the students’ majors build toward three degrees at BMCC—an associate of arts, associate of science, and associate of applied science.

“But academic advisement is so much more than telling you to take these or those classes, to build toward that degree,” she said. “Our goal is to help you plan your entire academic future, not just here at BMCC, but beyond.”

Working the systems
Hankey-Thomas walked the students through concepts vital to their understanding of college: GPA credits, credits earned, remedial classes, prerequisites, and more.

“What is CUNYfirst?” she asked the audience, and the student who answered, “a new system for registering and paying your bill,” was called up to the stage to receive a complimentary MetroCard.

“CUNYfirst is also a way for you to apply for financial aid,” said Hankey-Thomas, and reminded everyone to use their BMCC email accounts, to access the system.

“I have a rule,” she said. “I will not respond to any student email that comes to me not from their BMCC account.”

She talked about another system, DegreeWorks, and demonstrated on the large screen behind her, how students can use it to calculate their grade point average, or GPA, and see which credits will be accepted if they change majors.

“You have to set goals,” said Hankey-Thomas, “and stay on track. Certain 4-year colleges will require a certain GPA when you’re ready to apply to them.”

“Guess which one saved $40,000?”
Freshmen are permitted to take one online course, Hankey-Thomas told the audience, and explained that the ratio of computer to classroom time varies in online, hybrid, and web-enhanced courses.

She went on to talk about BMCC’s degree requirements—a student who knew what they were won a voucher for movie tickets—and writing intensive classes.

Regarding the advantages of earning an associate degree—as opposed to transferring to a 4-year school before completing it—she stressed that “schools are more likely to take all your credits,” and “you become a more desirable candidate to other colleges and employers because you completed your associate degree.”

She mentioned two students who transferred from BMCC to New York University (NYU); one left for NYU after just a year at BMCC, the other waited till she had earned her associate degree.

“Guess which one saved $40,000?” Hankey-Thomas asked the audience, and reminded them that CUNY Pathways, starting in Fall 2013, “will promote transfer between BMCC and all other CUNY senior colleges.”

She also encouraged students to consider volunteering through BMCC’s Office of Student Affairs, and “We have over 60 clubs,” she said. “If you don’t see one you like, you can start your own.”

The power of note taking
“Education is an active process, not passive,” said speaker Jason Schneiderman, Director of the BMCC Writing Center.

“How much of the information that Allana just gave you, do you think you retained?” he asked the group, and a student volunteered, “85 percent?”

“If you do nothing to review the information, you’ll probably retain about 20 to 30 percent of what you just heard,” Schneiderman responded, adding that to have something to review, a person needs to have taken notes.

“Writing is a way to keep your mind on what’s going on,” he said. “Have a separate notebook for each class. Sit up straight—it can keep you focused. And sit in front.”

To the students’ great amusement, he shared that a colleague had described his class as follows: “The front row, that’s the ‘sponges’. People on the sides are the ‘watchers’. And students in the back, those are ‘prisoners’,” or the most reluctant to be there.

Schneiderman urged the students to be “sponges,” and addressed some misconceptions about learning: “Does tape recording a class help? Unless it’s an accessibility issue, recording a class just gives you an excuse to zone out.”

While he was on the topic, he encouraged students with a learning disability to visit the BMCC Office of Accessibility, for advisement on accommodations that might support their success in class.

He shared two methods for note taking: The Cornell Method, which creates a left-hand column for key words, and the Associative Method, for students who prefer to circle clusters of notes, and draw lines connecting them.

Class notes are a vital tool for review, he said, “within 24 hours of the class, and often throughout the semester. Don’t cram, or wait till the night before a test to return to your notes.”

Insider tips on test taking
Grades, Schneiderman told the freshmen, “measure not how hard you worked, but how much you learned.”

The room seemed stumped when he asked, “Why is it a bad idea to ask the professor, ‘Will this be on the test?’,” so he shared an insider’s tip: “That tells the professor, ‘I only really care about the parts that are on the test. Everything else you say, I’m not really interested in’.”

He gave specific strategies for various types of tests, such as multiple choice: “Cover the answers, think about what the answer might be, then look at them,” he said, and suggested estimating the answer in a math test, before starting to solve a problem, “so you have an idea if you’re in the right ballpark.”

After getting a test back, “Look at the grade, but don’t go over it for 24 hours,” he advised. “Then visit your professor during office hours, to go over the test, and use your graded test to study for future tests.”

Test taking is stressful, Schneiderman acknowledged, and advocated getting enough sleep the night before, sitting far from the door, deep breathing, and other relaxation strategies.

Most of all, he told the students, “If you’ve reviewed your notes throughout the semester, you won’t be as stressed.”

Wise words from VP Craig
Of keen interest to college students, is their grade point average, or GPA. Marva Craig, Vice President for Student Affairs, led students through a sample grade report in their packets, explaining quality points, credit earned, and other terms.

She demonstrated the difference between a final grade of “W” (“Withdrew”), and “WU” (“Withdrew Unofficially”), leading the students through an exercise in which they calculated the GPA for a grade report in their sample packet.

Next, she had them replace one of the grades with a “WU,” and recalculate—for a sobering outcome in which the GPA plummeted.

“Don’t let this happen to you,” VP Craig told the group, stressing the importance of official withdrawal.

She also clued everyone in on the 5-year expulsion from all CUNY campuses if a student attempts to attend a college in the system under the false pretense of never having attended another CUNY college, and touched on BMCC’s attendance policy—a 4-hour class allows five hours of absence (not five sessions); a 6-hour class allows seven hours of absence, and so on.

Finally, she shared her own story—graduating from BMCC in 1980, then going on to earn a Bachelor of Arts at Hunter College/CUNY, a master’s degree from NYU and a Doctor of Education or Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.

The students received a complimentary flash drive as they left the auditorium, and enjoyed a free lunch in Richard Harris Terrace, before meeting in small groups with academic counselors.

“It was definitely helpful to me to be here today because I didn’t know anything about any of this stuff, being as I’m the first generation of my family to be going to college,” said freshman Elizabeth Vargas, a criminal justice major and aspiring forensic psychiatrist.