S1 / Episode 1 – Is networking really important?

Interview transcripts Raquel: WELCOME TO STUDENT VOICES, A PODCAST THAT PRESENTS INSPIRING STORIES OF BMCC STUDENTS. IN THIS SEASON, WE ARE LAUNCHING A SERIES OF INTERVIEWS WITH ONE MAIN TOPIC: THE CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING A SENSE OF BELONGING AND CREATING COMMUNITY AS A BMCC STUDENT. IN THIS EPISODE, WE HAVE THE INSPIRING STORY OF KENDICE MARSHALL. KENDICE’S MAJOR IS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SHE’S ALSO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SPIRIT OF THE PANTHERS CLUB. SO, NO MORE INTROS, LET’S GO STRAIGHT TO HER INTERVIEW. — Raquel: It’s a real pleasure to have you, Kendice, here in our interview. So, to start, in a few sentences, how do you describe yourself? You can share your greatest interests and also a fun fact. Kendice: First I would describe myself as a powerful leader, as a compassionate person as well. And, hum, what was the second question? Raquel: A fun fact. Kendice: So, a fun fact about me is that I’m trying to put together a BSU, which means a Black Students Union. So… Raquel: That’s nice! Well, what motivated you to become a BMCC student? Kendice: Well, when I was in high school, I really wanted to go to college, obviously. Honestly, I couldn’t decide where I wanted to go completely, but I looked at BMCC and I had a thing for libraries and I loved BMCC’s library. So, as I graduated in 2021 during COVID, so, for what I could see in the virtual tour, I really liked what BMCC had to offer. I liked their extra curricular regarding leadership and things with that nature… and it seems to be something I really can get involved with and also I strongly believe that it is better to go to community college and get your associate degree and see what college is like for the first two years and then decide if you want to move forward and get your bachelors degree and continue to go to college. I feel that a lot of students, they just go straight to the four year and they drop out within the second year. So it makes a lot more sense to meet personally to come to a community college, get that experience a little bit and find out a deeper learning experience. — Raquel: JUST A QUICK COMMENT: KENDICE SHARES HERE SOME VERY GOOD ADVICES. THERE IS NO POINT IN MAKING SUCH A BIG COMMITMENT WHEN YOU STILL DON’T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT WHAT IS TO BE IN AN ACADEMIC ENDEAVOR. AFTER THAT, SHE SHARED HER EXPERIENCE IN CREATING COMMUNITY AND BELONGING AS A BMCC ESTUDENT. — Kendice: So, creating a community in BMCC is really hard at first. You come here and you don’t know where to start. You go to classes but the thing about classes is that, especially in person classes, that you meet people, sometimes you make strong friendship with that… like, I’ve met my first friend when I met here and we started to go around all the time, going to restaurants, eating, just having deep conversations overall… and you can make connections with many different people, like, I personally, I’m a member the Brooklyn Branch and some of the people that are actually members of that, they work here as well. One of them, she works in the study abroad department and… yeah, also when I started to put together the Cheerleading club, it was kind of really, it was really hard to get people in the beginning, but I found people that I really got close to, that we hang out all the time… and we talk all the time, we talk everyday, whenever we need each other, we definitely connected to each other… and yeah, you’ll always gonna meet people, you’re always gonna find people that actually understand you, people that you can have deep conversations with…ahn… this one, I met during this semester and I really like this friend because it’s a friend that I can grow with and mature with as an individual. If you’re gonna have friends, have friends that will influence you in a positive way and grow with you. So definitely, BMCC brought with me a certain level of maturity and BMCC brought me a level of understanding when it comes down to people, connections, networking and academics at the same time. Raquel: Wow, nice, very nice. Actually, like, being part of a student club played an important role, like, in your experience creating community, right? And you’re the leader of it… Kendice: Yeah, I’m the president of it. I’m also in different clubs as well. I’m in the Pre-law Society club, I just joined the Psychology club… obviously, Cheerleading club, and I’m also a student representative of SGA. Raquel: That’s awesome! Kendice: Yes, and I’m creating another one, next semester, as well, with one of my friends at this moment right now. — Raquel: DEFINITELY, KENDICE IS A VERY ENGAGED STUDENT, A REAL LEADER. THAT’S A GIFT, BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT’S ALSO SOMETHING THAT WE CAN ALL DEVELOP. AS A STUDENT CLUB PRESIDENT, SHE HAS THE CHALLENGE OF CREATING CONNECTIONS, ENABLING PEOPLE TO SHARE THEIR IDEAS AND VOICES, AND BE OPEN TO CREATE THINGS BASED ON STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES. BASED ON HER EXPERIENCE, KENDICE ALSO SHARED SOME VERY GOOD ADVICES. __ Raquel: What advice would you give, Kendice, for new students, as they start their journey here at BMCC? Kendice: I would definitely say be open-minded. I would tell them to be open-minded. Find a safe space for you. In my process of trying to put together BSU, which stands for Black Students Union, my objective, along with my friends, is to create a safe space with students where we can talk about black issues and things that affect them. So I want future students to find a safe space for them. Find a small family, you don’t need a bunch of people to be your friends, to connect, you know. I think it’s absolutely, find at least one person that can help you to grow as a person, that can help you get connections. College isn’t just about getting a degree. It’s about networking. Without networking, you’re not gonna go anywhere. A lot of people, they come to college, and they spend all their money, especially with student’s loans, they have all their money, and they didn’t network, when they could have networked and have those connections to take them somewhere. Another advice that I would give them is to take advantage of the spaces that BMCC provides to them. The library is there for a reason. The study hall, which I’m in right now, is there for a reason. The small areas, like empty classrooms, are there for a reason. Take that opportunity to sit there, get some work done, and really study, you know. Don’t just sit there and do nothing. Study, learn, what type of learner you are. I’m the type of learner that if I read something, I want to go over it again and try to analyze it and write it down with post-its and everything. You know, take that opportunity. And, in regards to, like, school and academics, don’t pay for any books, because, BMCC library… I haven’t paid for one single text book, I haven’t paid for any time of a book. I go to BMCC library, and that’s what it is. And if you want a study room, go to Fiterman. Fiterman is one that has many study places. They have a study, like, three floors of study rooms, and they have a bunch of private study rooms where you can go to study. Find a study room, don’t pay for books, go to the BMCC library. On the website, they have virtual PDFs and stuff like that. Network, network is definitely key and also, mainly, be yourself, don’t change for anyone and… academics have to be your number one focus. Because, even I, as much as I’m involved as I am, sometimes I slack in my academics too, so number one for sure. And also, use the resources! They have a lot of advice, but use the resources the career and development… they are on the third floor. They helped me with my resumée on multiple occasions. They helped me with my cover letter on multiple occasions. I’ve recently got a call from the Mayor’s office for an interview, and if it wasn’t for, you know, that department, to help me with, like, my resumé, I wouldn’t have had that. And also the internship office on the seventh floor. They helped me even get that possibility, so, use all of your resources, network, be yourself. Everything I said. You probably can’t fit that into what into whatever you’re gonna use this for… Raquel: [laughter] Kendice: But I definitely say use that, you know. — Raquel: USE RESOURCES, MAKE CONNECTIONS, BE OPEN-MINDED, BE YOURSELF. THESE ARE SOME GOOD ADVICES, ESPECIALLY FOR NEW STUDENTS. IN OUR CONVERSATION, IQRA SHEIK, RESPONSIBLE FOR STUDENT OUTREACH IN THE OPENLAB TEAM, ASKED A FINAL QUESTION FOR OUR INTERVIEW. — Iqra: What are your future steps after you graduate BMCC? Are you going to a four year college college, and what is going to be your major… Kendice: So, I currently major in Political Science at BMCC which is actually a new major and actually it has always been my major choice from even before I reached BMCC, so…once I heard that their major was in process, I jumped from major to major so that’s where I wanted to be, so… After this, I want to go to Howard University, which is in HBCU in Washington DC. I want to still study Political Science, and after that I want my masters degree. I’m still deciding where I want my masters to be, but I want to major in Political Science and Minor in Legal Communications in Howard University. After I get my masters, my bachelors, I want to get my GAD and my LLM at Law School. JD is Jurist Doctorate and LLM is Masters of Law, but it’s like, hum, the exact acronym, is something in line, I forgot what it stands for, but, I want to get that, so.. The only last name I worry about is JD [ laughter ]. Hum, and after that I want to become a civil lawyer, civil rights lawyer, then a politician, and after politician I want to go ahead and start a non-profit that will help in creating better jobs. A lot of times in our economy we have jobs that would only fit the price of living but in New York is like, three thousand dollars, and fifteen dollars an hour, which isn’t enough so, I would create jobs, I would create better affordable housing, because that the cost of living is too much, we want it to be affordable, and the housing, it would be actual houses so that the people can get that and I’ll be creating my own school so that way we can teach that financial literacy that a lot of schools do not teach. And I was fortunate enough because when I went to high school they actually had a class with taxes and stuff like that but that was only my freshman year, so by the time I graduated, I didn’t remember anything. But yeah, I want to be able to create change in America, create change in my world and do all of that. My mission is really long, it’s gonna be hard, but as a leader, I feel like I’m a leader, I’d say, I would leave with compassion and that’s my whole thing. Iqra: I feel like you’ll do all of those things that you have said… Kendice: Thank you. Iqra: I look forward to your future endeavors and also I look forward to seeing you. This is an awesome start. You’re so passionate and filled with so much light and joy and, you know, you are already doing this, you’re obviously gonna do more. I feel like you are so young too, like… awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to be in this interview with Raquel and I… Kendice: No problem, no problem. And don’t take time for granted, because there’s only 24 hours in a day. Honestly, honestly, and it goes by fast. Everything closes at 5pm, so you have to get up early, early, early and make sure you get there. Do what you have to do. –- Raquel: DON’T TAKE TIME FOR GRANTED, FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS, DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. THESE STATEMENTS HELP US THINK ABOUT HOW WE ARE USING THE OPPORTUNITIES WE HAVE IN LIFE. THIS WAS THE FIRST EPISODE OF OUR PODCAST SERIES ABOUT THE CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING A SENSE OF BELONGING AND CREATING COMMUNITY AS A BMCC STUDENT. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO THIS INSPIRING STORY AND PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT IT. IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCES REGARDING THIS TOPIC, WE ARE MORE THAN HAPPY TO INTERVIEW YOU. YOUR VOICE IS IMPORTANT. THIS IS RAQUEL NERIS FROM THE OPENLAB TEAM AND SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE STUDENT VOICES PODCAST.