BMCC’s recently renovated Theater 1 at 199 Chambers Street buzzed with almost a thousand newly admitted students, and a wide-screen slide show flashed flags from around the world: “Welcome to Students of Barbadian/Ukrainian/Korean/British/Trinidian/
Tobagonian/Pakistani/Italian/Thai/Canadian/
Costa Rican/Argentine/Greek/Salvadoran/
Nigerian/Chinese/Guyanese/Egyptian/
Mexican/Colombian/Venezuelan/ [and so on]… descent!”
A jazz trio, Nova Columbo, its guitarist a former BMCC student, nudged the energy up another notch, and row by row, future students in over 27 majors settled into their seats.
Success is a two-way street
“We’re here to make sure that all your efforts are pointing in the right direction, and we’re going to move any obstacles in your way, that are within our control,” promised BMCC President Antonio Pérez. “But there is also an expectation that you will take on the responsibility as students, to ensure your success.”
His own experience illustrates the “Start Here, Go Anywhere” philosophy that characterizes the opportunity a degree from BMCC sets into motion.
“I was born in Puerto Rico,” said Pérez. “My mother went to the third grade, my father went to the sixth. But the reality is, I wanted more. I wanted to go to college. You’re here now because you want something more out of life, and I’m personally committed to that goal. This is not a ‘job’ for me. This is not a ‘job’ for the administration. We’re here because we want to be here, and we feel we have a responsibility to help you succeed. Every one of you is the future of this institution.”
Success means using the right tools
Senior Vice President Sadie Bragg brought students’ attention to services and supports they can access, to keep their achievements on track. One is the pre-workshops to prepare for BMCC’s standardized entrance exams, the American College Testing Program (ACT) test, and the Computer-adaptive Placement, Assessment, and Support System (COMPASS) test.
“I’m now going to charge each one of you to make sure you tell an incoming freshman that he or she does not have to take the ACT or COMPASS without prior instruction. We’re here to help you pass those tests, so you start your work at BMCC with college-level courses, not developmental classes.”
Bragg also talked about advisement services. “We make sure the courses you take are the right courses. That you’re taking courses that will transfer to a four-year college of your choice. And for that, we have a very large academic advisement center. They will ensure that you make the correct choices so that you start on the path that you need to be on.”
Success means reaching out
Jermaine Morris of the Student Government Association (SGA) echoed the message of self-responsibility. “You are joining a diverse group of people,” he told his peers in the audience. “When you are attending your first day of classes, you will be sitting beside people of all races, religions, income and age. It is up to you, to initiate conversation and make friendships that will carry you throughout the next two years.”
He encouraged students to take advantage of the SGA—as one more support in place for them. “The Student Government tries to be the voice of every student,” he said. “In the coming months, as you become familiar with your professors and the administration, just remember that there is also a body of senators and executives who are also students just like you, who will support you throughout your adjustment.”
Success means keeping it simple—and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
“First let me take you old school a bit,” award-winning WPIX reporter James Ford started out. “My daughter is two-and-a-half years old, and she said, ‘Daddy, start the way Maurice’—that’s the founder of the band, Earth, Wind and Fire—’does it. He goes, Do you feel alight?’”
And of course, the audience yelled back, “Yeah!”
Ford then shared more about himself; his teenage mother, his father who had to leave high school before he graduated, and words he lives by; the KISS rule – “Keep It Simple, Stupid!”
Irreverent as that phrase sounds, Ford related its merit to a deceptively simple Dr. Seuss book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go, and connected that story to the impressive success of several people whose journey started in community colleges.
These included poet Gwendolyn Brooks, first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize—in 1950. Brooks attended a junior college in Chicago, but had a young family and couldn’t afford to go further with her education. “She decided she had something to say, and kept writing,” said Ford. “She wrote letters to prominent poets like Langston Hughes, and they said, ‘Hey, you’ve got some flow here, keep writing!’”
Another success story that started in a community college is that of Eileen Collins, first woman commander of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space shuttle, who grew up on public assistance, in a housing project.
“I am convinced that this Day One is going to lead to some really great days for you,” Ford told the incoming freshmen. “My mom got her associate’s degree from a community college. It took her ten years, and she’ll be the first to tell you—‘Don’t take that long!’ But get it done. Because it will be worth it.”
