S2 / Episode 5 – How the environment impacts academic success

RAQUEL: WELCOME TO ANOTHER EPISODE OF BMCC OPENLAB STUDENT VOICES. I’M RAQUEL NERIS, AND IN THIS EPISODE, IQRA SHEIKH, FROM THE OPENLAB TEAM, INTERVIEWS DERRICK PRIVMAN, A MULTIMEDIA PROGRAMMING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENT. IN THIS INTERVIEW, DERRICK SHARES HOW STARTING COLLEGE IN THE CITY REPRESENTED A BIG SHIFT IN HIS ACADEMIC AND PERSONAL LIFE AND HOW CHOOSING BMCC WAS KEY FOR HIS SUCCESS. LET’S LISTEN TO HIS STORY. Iqra: Hi, this is Iqra from The Open Lab, and today I am with… Derrick: Derrick Privman. Hi! Iqra: Privman! He comes out … Derrick: I know, right. Iqra: Gives you his full name… Derrick: I did say my full name. I didn’t say my middle name, so that’s good. Iqra: Oh, you have a middle name? What’s your middle name? Derrick: It’s Eric. Iqra: Derrick Eric Privman?! Derrick: Yes, yes, yes. I’m not kidding… Iqra: Oh, God! What a name! Derrick: That is my name. Iqra: Derrik Eric. Derrick: Yeah, Derrick Eric. Iqra: What a time twister! Derrick: Yeah, so every time people would say my name, they’d be like, there’s no way, and then I’d just pull out my ID, and I’m like, there you go, there’s your proof. Iqra: Derrick Eric. Derrick: Yeah, so that’s my history. Iqra: Okay. Derrick Eric. What… Do you want to… I remember earlier you were saying that you were apprehensive of joining today’s episode, or what made you want to reach back out to my email? Derrick: Hum… I had nothing else to do, and I thought this would be really cool…I don’t know, I’ve never done a podcast thing before, so I was like, okay, sure, I’m going to enter my podcast era now, and this is where I’m at. And I was curious about this, because I had no idea that this even existed. So I was like, that sounds really cool, why not? Iqra: Did you listen to any of the episodes? Derrick: Yeah, I did look it up. I looked it up, because you sent me a link or something, and I did actually look at them, and it was cool…It was cool to know about other students and what they do and stuff like that. Iqra: Yeah, other students. Which brings me to my second question. Do you have a friend group here? Do you feel like you have your community? Derrick: Oh, yeah, 100%. I’m a very social person, and I just kind of cling on to different groups and different people. If I make one friend, I end up also being a part of a much bigger group, and I like that, because my first semester here, this is my second semester, in my first semester here… Iqra: Oh, wow, you’re so new. Derrick: I know, I’m so new. My first semester here, I had a really good friend group in my classes, but now this semester, I don’t just have one friend group in a class, it’s more like I have a huge friend group outside of classes, which is really nice, because then I can always go see them and hang out. Literally, if I just wander around the library, I guarantee you I see at least one person that I know. Iqra: That’s cool. Derrick: Yeah, it is really cool. Iqra: So, where did you go to high school? Derrick: Oh, my God, I went to this very private, small school. It was like a college prep school…and…. Iqra: Prep school… Derrick: Yeah, it was something. After high school, I didn’t go to school for a very long time, because it traumatized me. —- RAQUEL: DERRICK’S TESTIMONY ABOUT HOW HIS SCHOOL EXPERIENCE WAS BAD IS NOT UNIQUE. MANY STUDENTS HAVE A SIMILAR STORY. FORTUNATELY, DERRICK WAS ABLE TO START A NEW CHAPTER IN HIS ACADEMIC ENDEAVOR BY FINDING A SPACE THAT COLLABORATES WITH HIS LEARNING STYLE. —- Derrick: I feel like it’s better in terms of being able to kind of be in charge of your own self, versus in high school, your parents are on top of you, your teachers are constantly on top of you, versus here, I don’t feel like that. Iqra: So you can manage not having anyone on top of you in college? Derrick: Oh my god, yeah. Honestly, I prefer that rather than being constantly bombarded with… Iqra: Wow, what’s your GPA? Are you doing good in class? Derrick: Yeah. Iqra: You better be! Derrick: Well, I mean, so I’m on Dean’s List, Iqra: Oh, sick! Derrick: And then I’m also in the Honors Program. Iqra: Right, and you just…okay. Derrick: Yeah, yeah. So right now I’m studying— I do multimedia programming and graphic design. Iqra: Oh, sick! Derrick: But, yeah, I want to work in, like, the video game industry. I really like video games. Iqra: Ooh! What’s your favorite game? Derrick: The Last of Us, probably. Iqra: The Last—oh! That became a show. Derrick: That became a show, yeah. But I’ve been a fan of it since 2013. —- RAQUEL: BY BEING ON THE DEAN’S LIST AND A BEING A MEMBER OF THE HONORS PROGRAM, DERRICK BECAME NOT ONLY AN EXAMPLE OF A GREAT STUDENT BUT ALSO A GREAT CASE THAT SHOWS HOW BEING IN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN ACHIEVING SUCCESS. NEXT, DERRICK GIVES MORE DETAILS ON WHY HE CHOSE BMCC. —- Iqra: Why BMCC? Why did you decide to come here? Derrick: Honestly, I—okay…So, me with school—so, because I was traumatized with high school, I did not want to go to a four-year college and kind of subject myself to four years because sometimes that’s very difficult, and it’s a lot different and I was like, okay, let’s start with community college because the field that I wanted to work in, they all required a degree in experience. I was like, okay, so how do I get a degree and experience? College. but let me go to community college… .And that was a better choice for me. And then, literally, it was either I go to Kingsborough or I go somewhere else. And I didn’t want to go to Kingsborough. That’s just not my—I felt like… Iqra: Experience the city! Experience the city! Derrick: Kingsborough was not my vibe. My brother went there, and I was like, it’s just not my vibe. Iqra: It’s two very different places. You didn’t want to follow. Derrick: No, no, not at all. Iqra: You wanted to go your separate way. Derrick: Yeah. I was like, I want to be in the city. I want to be in a better, honestly, environment. From the things I’ve heard of Kingsborough, it’s great, but also not, so I was like, no thanks. Iqra: No thank you. No thank you! Derrick: No thanks. But I heard of BMCC because my high school French teacher went there. Iqra: Ooh. Nice. Derrick: And then he was like, yeah, I went to Borough of Manhattan Community College, and it was great. And I was like, you know what? Let me look into that. And I just—I chose to go here. Derrick: Dude, I went to that prep school from—because it’s a middle school to high school. Iqra: Wow, that was your life. Derrick: Yes, that was my life, and I hated it. I was like, I want to leave. Iqra: Are you, like, liberating yourself? Derrick: Yes, I’m like… Iqra: Extending your wings? Derrick: Yes, I’m like, I want to leave. Iqra: Be Free? Derrick: Yes, I wanted to leave Brooklyn. I was like, I don’t want to be in Brooklyn anymore. Like, I love Brooklyn, but also, like, I want to be in the city more… Iqra: Make a whole new person out of you. Derrick: Exactly. Yeah… Iqra: With the city…um…So, what do you do for fun? Like, what are you into besides playing games? Do you go out, see any art, music, socialize? Derrick: Oh, yeah. What do you do? Well, I—okay, like, art, music, obviously. Like, I’m into that, but I’m also into, like—so, I was an actor for a long time. Iqra: Oh! Derrick: From 13 to 19. Iqra: Okay. Derrick: I did a lot of theater, and then it was all, like, community theater stuff, and also… Iqra: That’s still sick! Derrick: Yeah, I did— That’s still sick! I did off-off Broadway.I never got to the Broadway, but I did the off-off. Iqra: But you did something at least! Derrick: Yeah, and I did high school theater. Iqra: That’s sick! Derrick: And then, when I graduated high school, I went straight to doing… Iqra: Are you in the theater club here, by any chance? Derrick: No, I’m not… Iqra: Why don’t you go check it out? Derrick: I should check it out. Iqra: It’s on the S floor. Derrick: Yeah, people talk about it. Iqra: Go! Go… Derrick: I hear so many mixed reviews about it. Iqra: No, just go! Derrick: Okay. Iqra: You gotta make your own interpretation. When I went to school here, I would go there just to hang out. … Derrick: But, yeah, no, I did—then I did TV and film from, like, 18 to 19. Iqra: Oh, that’s sick. Derrick: And so I did some, like, short films and student films. Iqra: And after you graduate from BMCC, do you see yourself at a four-year… transferring to a university? Or are you going to get your associates and figure it out from there? Derrick: I thought about doing the four-year, but honestly, I’m kind of like—like, I’ll see how I feel, but probably not. I’ll probably just get my associates. Okay. Yeah. If I wanted to go to four-year afterward, like, I could always do that and get a bachelor’s, but… Iqra: It seems like right now you’re not thinking about it. Derrick: Exactly. Like, right now I’m just kind of like—I have different plans Iqra: Okay. Derrick: I really like going here because here you get a lot of resources, and here you get a lot of, like, really good, like, support and community, and I think that’s also very, very important no matter what environment you are in. Iqra: All right. Well…uh…thank you, Derrick, Eric. Derrick: Yeah, Derrick, Eric. – RAQUEL: THANK YOU FOR JOINING US ON THIS PODCAST EPISODE FEATURING DERRICK PRIVMAN AND IQRA SHEIK. IN THEIR CONVERSATION, WE COULD NOTICE HOW BEING IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT COLLABORATES WITH THE WAY WE LEARN IS KEY TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS. THIS EPISODE IS PART OF OUR SECOND SEASON CALLED MAKING MORE OF YOUR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE, IN WHICH WE FOCUS ON HOW JOINING BMCC INITIATIVES, SUCH AS CLUBS AND PROGRAMS, CAN HELP STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH US AND, IF POSSIBLE. YOUR EXPERIENCES IN OUR PODCAST. YOUR VOICE IS IMPORTANT. I WILL SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE OPENLAB STUDENT VOICES PODCAST.