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BMCC English Professor Cheryl Fish prefers her English 121 course to have some type of theme, and this spring’s theme was ‘green.’
Two students in this class, Felecia Hunter and Leslie-Ann Reid-Bacchus, collaborated on a 10-page research paper called Red, White or Green—The Omnivorian or Vegetarian State of Mind and its Effect on the Environment.
When Fish heard about this year’s Third Annual Governors Island Science, Art Exhibition and Lecture Series, she encouraged Hunter and Reid-Bacchus to submit their work to the competition. The only catch was this: Hunter and Reid-Bacchus had to somehow find a way to turn their 10-page research paper into a poster.
“Professor Fish thought our paper was very good,” says Reid-Bacchus. “She thought our research paper was competition-worthy.”
The poster contest was sponsored by CUNY Hunter and the Institute for Sustainable Cities.
Rocky Road
Things didn’t go quite smoothly at first for Hunter and Reid-Bacchus. First-year students at BMCC who also work, they only had two days to get the poster together in time for the competition.
Luckily, Hunter and Reid-Bacchus were granted an extension from Hunter College for which they were very grateful. So, Fish entered their names into the summer competition.
However, even with an extension, Hunter and Reid-Bacchus struggled to find time to meet and collaborate on the poster. “It was difficult to get together, so when we finally found time to meet at BMCC and work on the poster, there was a fire drill,” recalls Reid-Bacchus.
Unsure if they could continue with the poster, since time was running out and their schedules weren’t matching up, Hunter and Reid-Bacchus emailed the competition organizers and said they just couldn’t meet the deadline.
Trying Once Again
Despite the fire drill and the fact their names were accidentally left off the Web site list of competitors, Hunter still wanted to enter the contest. “I saw the fire drill as a sign that just told us to keep on going,” says Hunter, a writing major. “I thought about the black cat scene in the movie The Matrix, and I said to [Reid-Bacchus], ‘Leslie—we’re going back in!”
So the students re-entered the competition, determined to have their hard work on display at Governor’s Island.
Working Hard to Get Results
“After the fire drill incident, we met every Sunday for about 4-5 hours each and we went over what we had each written, and how we could put it together on the poster,” said Reid-Bacchus, a Liberal Arts major.
They designed the 24 X 36″ poster with Microsoft Publisher and printed it at Kinko’s. Hunter College mounted it for display.
Red, White or Green—The Omnivorian or Vegetarian State of Mind and its Effect on the Environment is a study of being an omnivorion as opposed to being a vegetarian, and depicts the pros and cons of both lifestyles.
Hunter says an image of a fence down the center of the poster asks viewers, when it comes to vegetarianism and healthy eating, do you want to be on the right side of the fence, or the left? “The negatives are on the left side of the poster, such as factory farming. The right side of the fence shows a healthier alternative choice, such as organic farming.”
Hunter and Reid-Bacchus couldn’t be as detailed on a poster as they could be in their classroom paper, but they still wanted their work to stand out. Therefore, they didn’t use any charts or graphs. Instead, they placed informative passages with colorful pictures on the green and blue poster background.
Hunter and Reid-Bacchus had to cite their sources, which they did on the lower left-hand side of the poster.
Representing BMCC
Of the 21 eco-friendly-themed posters submitted to the Summer 2008 Governor’s Island exhibit, Red, White, and Green was the only work submitted by BMCC students. In fact, Hunter and Reid-Bacchus are the only two community college students to have their poster on display in this year’s contest. Most of the other contest applicants are from CUNY Hunter, City College, CUNY Law, and The Graduate Center.
“We were very honored that Professor Fish would think that our work was good enough to be in the competition,” says Reid-Bacchus. “Especially to hear that we’re the only community college students who submitted work. That means our poster is at a certain level, which is really awesome.”
The CUNY Exhibition was on display at Governors Island in Building 110 from June 7 to August 31. Guests and visitors to the exhibition served as the judges.The winners will be announced at a reception on October 1st and prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
“Ours is the prettiest—At least I think so for aesthetic value,” says Reid-Bacchus. “Some of the other posters were a little TOO scientific. I stood there trying to read them, but I got very lost. All these charts and graphics…”
Hunter described their poster as “very user-friendly.”
Although Reid-Bacchus and Hunter are not vegetarians or omnivorians, their paper and poster work taught them about healthy living alternatives and environmental issues. They also learned about teamwork—they just met for the first time in Fish’s class, got along well, split all the work “50/50,” and became friends through their in-class collaboration.
And hopefully, with a little luck, they’ll soon be co-winners. All their hard work paid off in many ways—and it all started from one BMCC research paper.
Currently, Hunter and Reid-Bacchus are (impatiently!) waiting for the winning results.
“Professor Fish gave us a new perspective on the environment, and she showed us that you do have a voice,” says Reid-Bacchus.
[Update: On 10/1/2008 it was announced that Felecia Hunter and Leslie-Ann Reid-Bacchus won first-prize in this contest. The BMCC family sends their congratulations.]
