To Paris With Love

August 27, 2009

BMCC business administration student—and performer—David Robertson has taught dance at Alvin Ailey, performed on the Broadway stage at 16 and even appeared as an extra in Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” video. But one thing Robertson has yet to do is study in Paris.

Until now.

In 2008, Robertson, who is in his 40s, began a new challenge and enrolled at BMCC. He wanted to learn more about business and the world around him.

Gaining more business skills
In 2003, Robertson formed a non-for-profit in Harlem, for children ages 8 to 16. To run a successful non-profit organization, Robertson felt he needed to gain more business skills.The name of his non-profit is Triple Threat Performing Arts Academy. “In the acting world, a triple-threat is someone who can act, dance and sing,” he says.  Robertson knows all about ‘triple-threats’—after all, he is one.

Robertson decided to seize as many opportunities as he could while at BMCC, which included studying French. And that was when his life took an unexpected, but positive, turn.

French class opened doors to the Gilman Scholarship
Robertson’s French classes “have opened up another door for me,” he says. Professor Michael Giammarella of BMCC’s Faculty and Advisement Center suggested that Robertson take a semester or full year of study in Paris to “get the best out of France and really learn the language.”

A staff advisor at BMCC helped Robertson research various study abroad scholarships, and one that caught his eye was The Benjamin Gilman Scholarship Program.The Gilman Scholarship Program was established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000.

This scholarship provides awards for U.S. undergraduate students who are receiving Federal Pell Grant funding at a two-year or four-year college or university to participate in study abroad programs worldwide.Robertson applied for this grant, and received the funding he needed to study in France.

“Once I found this scholarship, I looked at all the requirements…you need a 3.0 GPA— mine is a 3.92—and you had to write an essay, and there’s a project you have to complete once you are back—giving information to other students about the trip,” says Robertson. “I decided upon my return I would show students from my non-profit, photos from France and teach them French songs and about French culture.”

Robertson’s application essay was about how his decided to enroll at BMCC and  about his artistic achievements. “I just really want to learn. At this age, I’m looking for new creativity, and I feel this (opportunity in France) would be that for me,” says Robertson, who plans to return to BMCC and graduate.

Au revoir, New York
Roberson left for France in mid-August and will return next summer. The study-abroad program is not through BMCC, though. Robertson is going to study in France as a BMCC student through CUNY Queens.

The CUNY, New York/Paris Exchange Program is an exchange program between CUNY and the Universities of Paris.

“We send approximately 35 CUNY students each year and receive as many students from the Universities of Paris as exchange visitors,” says Maxine Fisher, Director for CUNY, New York/Paris Exchange Program. “Students pay tuition at their home campus as usual and take courses at one of the campuses of the University of Paris, typically in their French as a Foreign Language Department, but also in other departments depending on the fluency of the student.”

Approximately 25 students will be attending this year’s program. Once these CUNY students arrive in France, the French university will help them with housing and amenities.

Requirements for the program are three college-level courses in French, or the equivalent linguistic proficiency as judged by a French professor at the student’s home CUNY campus.

Grant money ‘helps a lot’
Robertson has been to France before.  In 1989, he worked on a film with choreographer Michael Peters. “I lived on the Champs-Élysées. It was wonderful,” he says. However, he didn’t pick up the language at that time. “I was young and everyone spoke English. I did things to get by, but at that time, I wasn’t as interested in the language as I am now.”

BMCC is where Robertson first immersed himself in the French language. “I’m not fluent as I want to be, but I can write in French and understand it. But I’m afraid to speak it,” he says. “This is why I can really relate to people who come here from other countries.”

Roberson says he would have never had the opportunity to study abroad, if it wasn’t for the Benjamin Gilman Scholarship. “The money is helping a lot, “he says. “I’m excited to learn the culture and about the people of France and I feel a new energy—I want new, new, new.”

Robertson is putting his non-profit on hold while abroad. “It’s been difficult in this economy to raise money,” he says. “When I am back from Paris, I’m going to start the non-profit up again.”

When he returns from Paris, Robertson also wants to do more behind-the-scenes work like production management, directing and writing.

“If you had told me 25 years ago I’d be in college and studying abroad, I would have never believed it,” he says. “I would have said ‘no way.’ I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity.”   

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