Ajah Shann: Introduction

My name is Ajah Shann, and I was born in Brooklyn, New York. My mother is from Trinidad & Tobago, and my father is from Jamaica. Throughout my life, I was always back and forth between New York and Trinidad going to school. My major is Hospitality Management at New York City College of Technology, and I chose this because it deals with the business of restaurants, hotels, resorts, amusement parks, as well as the tourism and travel fields. As I was growing up, I discovered that I love to get the adrenaline feeling of riding rollercoasters and trying risky stuffs or some may say “life threatening”, along with travelling to different countries and states to view their beautiful attractions, experiencing and learning new things. Then there is my favorite subject Mathematics, which is found in Principles of Accounts, that is combined with Principles of Business. My career goal is to open my very own business in New York City in the Food & Beverage category like a lounge/bar, and an event planning business. I also thought about opening up a business back in Trinidad & Tobago but in retail because you get a bigger variety and things are cheaper here than over there. So, I would like to buy a lot of things here and ship it there to sell. I love to watch movies and television series, as well as travel with family and friends. I currently work at John F. Kennedy International Airport with New York City Health and Hospitals, as an Educator and Outreach Specialist. This job has me personally interacting with passengers daily who are coming from different states and countries, in advising them to fill out a New York State Traveler Health Form. Their information is given to the Department of Health and New York City COVID Test & Tracing Corps to contact them if anyone test positive for covid-19 on their flight, as well as to contact them in a few days on how they are feeling and if they are following the quarantine guidelines. I mostly worked and stayed at home over the winter break. I hope to visit Jamaica for the first time, go on a cruise and visited my family and friends in Trinidad over the upcoming summer break.

I would say that my greatest strengths as a writer is answering given questions in writing assignments, while my weaknesses as a writer would be in writing a whole paper based on entirely my own words. When it comes to my strengths as a reader, I do not have any because I do not like to read so I guess that would be my weakness. When it comes to my strengths as a thinker, I can not really come up with one because I tend to overthink, so that would be my weakness I would say. I do not really have anything to say about what I enjoy most about writing, reading, and (critical) thinking, because I tend to do not do much of those. I would say that what I dislike most about writing, reading, and (critical) thinking is relating to what I mentioned above when it comes to my strengths and weaknesses. I have used Open Lab for about 5 classes that I previously took, which consists of: ENG 1101, ENG 1121, HMGT 1101, HMGT 2305, and HMGT 2402. When it comes to Zoom, I have started to use it from since March 2020 when the shutdown of New York took place due to the global pandemic of coronavirus, for my classes at City Tech, as well as for my part-time CUNY jobs and my Summer Youth Employment Program. I do not have a favorite genre of literature, so I do not have a favorite text. I signed up for this particular course because it intrigued me since I saw the posters for this class in Spring 2018. I wanted to take it then, but I needed to complete ENG 1101 and ENG 1121 first. As soon as I completed both, I tried looking for this class again, but was unable to until this semester. My interest in self-help is knowing how to become a better self. I would say that I have not read, watched, or encountered much self-help texts, but I do try to ask for help from my family and friends when I need it. I do not have any experience with Self-Help Literature. I think this class is going to be about our mental health, emotional health, physical health, and financial health in being fully stable in all areas, prior to entering this course. Yes, I see Self-Help connecting with my major and career interests, personal interests, and hobbies in a way of becoming better in everything like happiness, love, money, etc. My goals and expectations for the course this semester is to understand the topics on how I can really help myself to become a better person for myself, along with my family and friends. I think I will learn and hope that I will learn all the things I mentioned above. No, I do not have any concerns, fears, or questions.