My name is Lorena Batista, I am currently a student at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech), enrolled in the major Liberal Arts and Sciences. Obtaining an associate in Liberal Arts and Sciences is just the starting point of the goals that I have setted out to achieve in life. Later on, I will transfer to another college to continue my career path, which is becoming a successful Psychologist. As soon as I get accepted to course this major, I will have multiple choices of career subfields related with Psychology, which are specified below. This career offers me countless options to choose as my selected subfield, however, I am specifically interested on becoming a Clinical Psychologist. There are several reasons that led me to choose this major, nevertheless, some were powerful enough to make me put them into words in this research project and be able to give a better explanation about them to my audience. This is the best major for me because I have the skills required to succeed at this career and be an excellent professional, I will have the opportunity to study people’s mind and behavior, which is something that I feel passion to. Furthermore, this major is the best platform to touch people’s hearts and help them to understand their lives. In this essay, I will do a broad explanation about my major and career choice, you will understand better what are a LAS and a Psychology degree about, the career options after graduating and how City Tech is preparing me to get there. Furthermore, I will broadly describe the reasons why this is the best major for me.

According to the New York City College of Technology Catalog, “An associate degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences is a solid stepping stone to further education. It provides strong academic preparation emphasizing communication, analytical, and critical thinking skills. The LAS degree may lead to careers in traditional areas such as biological sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics and education. A Liberal Arts and Sciences degree is a good starting point to transfer to bachelor’s programs at City Tech or other colleges.” I chose this major because it will give me the opportunity to take several courses that will lay the groundwork for me to continue my path to success at my dream major, Psychology, at the college I am planning to transfer in the future. A college option to transfer in the future to a Psychology major is Hunter College, because it offers an excellent undergraduate Psychology program. According to the Hunter College Catalog, “Psychology is concerned with all aspects of the study of behavioral, developmental and cognitive processes, and employs a broad spectrum of approaches, from the social to the biological, to understand them.” Psychology encompasses many subfields and includes different approaches to the study of mental processes and behavior, such as, Experimental, Industrial/Organizational, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neuropsychology, Social, Counseling and Clinical Psychology. This has fascinated me in ways that made me choose the field of Psychology as my future career.

There are many jobs opportunities with this major, however, I am specifically interested on Clinical Psychology, which treats mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. According to the Cabrini College website, “These range from short-term crises, such as difficulties resulting from adolescent rebellion, to more severe, chronic conditions such as schizophrenia.  Some clinical psychologists treat specific problems exclusively, such as phobias or clinical depression. Others focus on specific populations: youngsters, ethnic minority groups, gays and lesbians, and the elderly, for instance.”

It has been a journey over the years to discover my passion. I used to think that I had the vocation for something besides than Psychology. I had to go through many things to achieve my goals of becoming someone that would succeed and make a difference in the Psychology career. Nowadays, I am very thankful that I discovered something that can lead me to be an amazing professional. I am sure that this is the best major for me because I have the skills required to succeed at Psychology, which is the career I have chosen to work every day of my life. I am a trustworthy person, I would inspire patients to confide in me and trust me their problems. I also consider myself patient, which is an important skill to be a great psychologist. Open- mindedness, emotional stability, interpersonal, analytical, critical, scientific, and strong communication skills are essential to be a great psychologist as well.  Ever since I was a little girl, I always dreamt about becoming a successful person in the future, and I think I am doing the right things to get there.

Another reason why I consider that this is the best major for me is because I am in love with the fact that I am going to study people’s mind and behavior. I want to devote my whole life to this major, be a respectable professional and be able to create my own path, which people would be happy to follow. As I expressed in the previous project ‘Writing the brain”, devote my life to a career that I would love and enjoy is essential to complete my happiness. I am convinced that I am on the right track to accomplish my goals because I am doing everything possible to better my performance at college and in life too.

Last, but not least, I believe that this career path is the best for me because it will give the opportunity to help other people and change their lives. I feel capable of treating with people that need someone else to help them find a better way of understanding life, by establishing general principles and researching every person’s situation as an individual and specific case. Since science has advanced so much this century, many alternatives of treating people’s problems have been discovered. Consequently, the society requires capable professionals who are willing to give their hearts to their careers and thus achieve better results to get “real world” solutions. Thanks to this, I want to dedicate my life to support other people and be a Psychologist able to understand them and somehow touch their hearts. Achieve this goal makes me so excited that has motivated me to fight tirelessly to accomplish it. I have no doubt that Psychology will be the perfect platform to touch the lives of thousands of people.

City Tech is an institution that is providing me countless and unimaginable opportunities for my future because I am taking advantage of all the offerings and services available. Besides giving me an excellent education transmitted by a well-prepared and dedicated faculty, I am getting other benefits for being part of an unique college as City Tech. This college is helping me to be part of many extracurricular activities, student groups, workshops and internships, which are very important and considered to help me get better jobs in the future. According to the City Tech’s website, “Education and the development of character and maturity occur both inside the classroom and out. City Tech students have access to a wide range of clubs and activities, reflecting both academic and social interests. Student Life and Development works to provide opportunities for the development of leadership and for the creation of community, both bringing us together and recognizing our diversity.” I made a good decision by choosing City Tech as the place to develop my education for the reason that it is helping me like no other to build up all the requirements to succeed in the workplace.  As I mentioned before, I am planning to transfer to another college, not because City Tech is not good for me, but because it does not offer a Psychology major. However, it will lay the groundwork for me to be a capable student and get accepted to a college where they do offer a Psychology major.

After having a conversation with the Liberal Arts and Science’s Dean at his office, Dr. Karl Botchway, these words stayed in my mind forever; “Whatever career you choose to work in the future, and no matter what your dreams are, do not give up, spend all your time and energy doing your best to achieve them and become a good professional.”  Botchway’s words inspired me to continue working hard in college, and even though my target is very hard to accomplish because a lot of work to get accepted to Psychology programs is required, I am sure I am going to achieve my goal because City Tech has been the best education platform I could ever wish. According to the “Psychology as a Profession” article, “Only 6 % of applicants to clinical psychology programs are accepted.”

As soon as I realized that it was time to choose my major and set up clear goals about my future career, I started to define countless reasons why Psychology would be the best for me. Consequently, I decided to choose the field of Psychology as my major. Besides having the skills required to succeed at this career, getting the opportunity to study people’s mind and behavior, and help them to understand their lives, this major also offers me several opportunities to become a better person and be a role model for future generations. Besides to attend to a graduate school and be able to choose a Masters degree in any of the Psychology subfields, I can also choose either a Psy.D. or a ph.D. program, therefore it would give me the professional stability I want to have in the future. According to the Long Island University website, “Psy.D. graduates receive a Doctorate of Psychology upon graduating, while Ph.D. graduates receive a Doctorate of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology. On one hand, Psy.D. programs tend to emphasize the practitioner-scholar model, while on the other hand, Ph.D. programs tend to emphasize the scientist-practitioner model. Furthermore, I want to recommend to all of you to always look ahead and never settle because life is only one, and there is no second opportunities to success and do what makes you happy.

 Works Cited

 Botchway, Karl. Personal Interview.  2 April 2015.

Cabrini College. “Psychology.” Careers in Psychology. Web. 22 April 2015.

Cohen, Stanley. “Psychology as a Profession.” Career Development Quarterly, 54.4 (June 2006): 367-371. Academic search complete. Web. 20 April 2015.

Hunter College. “Psychology.” Hunter College Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 20 April 2015.

Long Island University. “Psychology.” Doctor of Psychology. Web. 28 April 2015.

New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Liberal Arts and Sciences.” New York City College of Technology Catalog 2014-2015. Web. 20 April 2015.

New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Extracurricular Activities.”  Student Life and Development. Web. 2 May 2015.

Kelvin Moncion                                                                                           ENG1101

Prof. Ellis                                                                                                  NYCCT

My Career

I am Kelvin Moncion, I am a student in New York City College of Technology my current major that I study is Communication Design. In the near future I plan on following a career path of a game designer, gaming has always been a passion for me so it’s no surprise I want to go for it. This is probably the best career for me because, I’ve always been a creative person and in this field creativity is a must have and gaming is not just a hobby it could also be a way of life for me. This major will help me “demonstrate conceptual and creative design skills with a professional portfolio”(NYCCT Catalog), doing so will help me advance further in the field, and since I feel like a have a knack for creativity this will help me even more. Another reason why I see this as my best choice is because, not only will this be my job but also I’ll be doing what I love and a job that you love is not really a job to you. It could also be fun working with a developing team and just chatting away about new ideas and what could be done with character designs, weapons, skills, etc.

I have given much thought on choosing this career path. The pay is pretty good, it won’t be a job since it’s my passion and video games has always been my thing as a kid through this day and probably in the future. As a game designer your beginner salary starts at $65,000 dollars a year and can go up to 100,000 plus more a year, which is amazing to read. Not only will I get paid greatly for it but, getting paid for what I enjoy, sounds great. As a beginner I probably won’t have many choices of working with the “big boys” like Ubisoft, Konami, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, most likely beginners start off in 3rd party publishers. Third party publishers are companies that are small in popularity and also in man-power, usually they focus on indie games, some indie games come out to be successful so then that catches the attention of the big companies and they sign them up. Starting off small is always great, I’ll be picking up so much experience and it will become easier as time passes by. In my major Communication Design has a broad horizon, which extends into many careers them being: design, motion graphics or animation, illustration, game design graphics. This career offers elective classes that help you acquire skills in 2D and 3D animation. With my time in City Tech I want to improve certain skill sets, and expand my knowledge by learning these new things and acquiring new skills along the way, skills that will most likely help me in the future.

In an article I read, video games tend to focus on one thing only, and they follow certain elemental designs, “every computer game is designed around the same central element: the player.” (John Hopson). Basically, every video game has to focus on the player, without the player there would be no game, the player is the essential key since the he/she is going to be the one playing and enjoying the game, he/she has to enjoy the game to its full potential. When players see enjoying the game there are key parts in the player’s mind that lights up, this can help developers know what they’re doing wrong or right. This is pretty cool because usually it’s not that really looked into on how the brain can help developers, usually video games are linked to violent crimes that happened and you get an article saying “Video Games Fueled Someone’s Anger” which is nonsense in my opinion. The contingencies and schedules are a very important aspect of game design, “a contingency is a rule or set of rules governing when rewards are given out.” (Hopson). A contingency in a video game is when for example when your character levels up you get all sorts of new items, power ups etc. In arcade styled games power ups, and all the other goodies appear on random intervals or only appear when certain challenges are completed. These are one of the important aspects in game design field and it’s very helpful knowing that some type psychology is based on satisfying gamers. Ratios and intervals are fundamentals of contingencies, “ratio schedules provide rewards after a certain number of actions have been completed” (John Hopson), for example eliminating certain amount of enemies, and long bursts of action time to collect bonuses and power ups. The game design field has very small aspects that are very interesting and make for more entertaining and enjoyable game time.

I really like to let people enjoy a game, for example, like a book, I want to wrap the reader with the story he/she has to love the story that they can’t let go of the book. In Game Design 2 elements of design are involved there is 3D modeling and animation, 3D modeling is the model of the character how it’s going to look like, and animation is the movement of the character, like hands, walk, etc. “A Game Designer’s main function is to conceive the elements of gameplay, and to turn those elements into an interactive experience for the player to enjoy” (Richard Robledo). Although Game Design has many complexity into making certain games the root cause is always the player, it reminds me of a slogan I have “no player, no game”. By creating these elements of gameplay the player knows what’s going on and what he or she has to do next to level up, or progress to the next stage. It might sound like a fun job but Game Designers don’t spend their days just sitting around discussing a next project, “a Game Designer does not show up to work and simply write stories, character bios, and game ideas. Brainstorming and coming up with cool concepts are what a Designer does 10% of the time. The remaining 90% is comprised of the execution of the ideas; and, in order to make this happen, the Designer utilizes numerous artistic and technical tools.” (Richard Robledo), this is said because most of the time that’s the idea of a person, they think it’s an easy job when in reality it really isn’t. Most of the time a lot of thinking goes before making a game, and getting a good idea on the board. That can take weeks maybe even months to get an idea going, then after that the team gets together designers, programmers, etc. to start the development of the game, games can last a couple years to design, getting the story together, and if it’s an open world game it’ll be huge, designing buildings, forests, or whatever scenario that’s being created. Programmers will deal with AI’s (artificial intelligence), the main character and how, and what he can interact with the world. It may seem simple at first, but a lot of work and thinking goes into a game, I really admire that this is why it’s a passion for me.

In conclusion, the future I am aiming for is for me, all the skills I have and can be improved. Game design is very important to me, and I have a passion for video games which helps me to follow my path. People who feel like following the same path can do the same thing, if they have a passion for game design and, or video games they should definitely go for it. Recommendations for others I feel are, that if you’re a creative person you should try it out, because following this career will help you with your creative thinking. This major helps with creativity and conceptual thinking which is something you will need to get through with this career path.

Work Cited

Hopson, John. “Behavioral Game Design.” Gamasutra Article. N.p., 27 Apr. 2001. Web. 5 May 2015

New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Communication Design.” New York City College of Technology college catalog 2014-2015.

Robledo, Richard. “What Is a Video Game Designer?” What Is a Video Game Designer? N.p., 2012. Web. 7 May 2015

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Game Designers” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 3 May 2015.

Bryan Jimenez

Professor Ellis

English 1101

11 May 2015

I am Bryan Jimenez, a student currently enrolling a Fashion Marketing major at The New York City College of Technology, even though I am enrolled in marketing classes now, I plan to transfer to The Fashion Institute of Technology where I will be enrolling their Fashion Design major. Fashion Marketing is a great major for me because it can help me manage and market my business one day, but the major I always wanted to pursue is Fashion Design. Fashion Design is the best career for me because it is a really wide industry and there are many opportunities for individuals with passion like me, it’s a field where I can develop my creative skills, it makes me happy, and the pay is really good if one gets to a high position.

The Fashion Design major I want to enroll in FIT can be very helpful in all types of ways regarding my dream. Just a two years degree can help me a lot, according to the FIT’s major catalog “students will learn the fundamentals of professional draping, patternmaking, and sewing techniques. Students will also master computer aided design, and learn how to take a design from concept to finish garment.” (FIT, p.3) Draping, patternmaking and sewing are crucial skills in the fashion design major, I quite know how to make patterns and sew but these classes FIT offers will help me take my skills the next level of greatness. After earning a degree in my major there are a lot of job opportunities available according to the FIT’s major catalog “The major in Fashion Design offers qualified students the opportunity to prepare for positions as designers, assistant designers, technical designers, stylists, or fashion executives.” (FIT, p.1) Using what I learn at FIT and the connections I make through it will help me acquire these positions I listed above.

Fashion Design is the best career for me because it is a wide field with many opportunities. A lot of people think designers only have 2 opportunities in life, either design for their own brand or designing for someone else’s brand, in fact, that is not the case because designers have many opportunities in the Fashion Industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics “The employment, or size, of the fashion design occupation in 2012 was 22,300.” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014) within this number there are designers designing for other established and/or underground labels also other jobs such as stylist, creative director, product manager, and modeling. Creative Director is the job title I am aiming for. A creative director is the highest position a designer can be assigned to if in their own fashion house or someone else’s fashion house, a creative director does not design, instead they give orders to their designing team on to how to design and which concept to use when designing and creating fabrics.

 Another reason why I believe Designing is the best career for me is because Fashion is a field where I can develop my creative skills. During my sophomore year of High school I was going throughout a hard time trying to decide what I wanted to pursue as a career. I went from wanting to be a lawyer to a cop and from a cop to an artist. The primary reason I wanted to work as a lawyer or cop was because of the money involved and the many more changes to get into that major, but my family convinced me to do what I loved and what makes me happy. Artists and Designers are in the same category, both think of an idea and make it into a statement (garment/piece) that touches someone’s heart. I am always thinking about ideas of how to make a simple garment into a statement. I believe I have a gift of creativity, a reason for this is the fact that most of the garments I’ve created I didn’t have to plan or even think about it for long, it just comes to mind, I sketch it and construct it and I’m only going to get better at these strategies by doing internships while attending to FIT. According to the FIT’s student catalog “an internship at a leading fashion house gives students the experience and valuable connections. Internships sites have included Donna Karan, Ralph Laurent, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, among others.”(FIT, p.8) Being a FIT students will give me the opportunity to intern at fashion houses which are very hard to acquire if one doesn’t have the right knowledge. These internships will not only help me perfect my craft but will help me connect with big names in the industry.

I’ve been fortunate to have a family that allowed me the freedom to pick my own path in life. A lot of Hispanic parents would not look at fashion or art as a path, but my family does. When I finally decided that I wanted to pursue this major a lot of friends and close individuals tried to convince me that it wasn’t the best major to do since it’s a very hard industry to get into, instead I did not pay mind to their comments and went after my dream. I make a lot of mistakes while making a garment some are sewing where I wasn’t supposed to, not following the line in which I was supposed to sew into, sewing pieces the wrong way, and much more. These mistakes can become tiring after some time but one thing is that I always find the way to fix them and finish the project. Instead of these mistakes I make put me down and make me think I’m not good enough they inspire me to keep moving forward, they flatter me to the point where all I want to make is perfect and at the end that is what I always strive for.

The fashion industry is full of glamour, therefore there is obviously a lot of money involved within these jobs. The jobs I am personally aiming for after graduating from FIT are either Merchandiser, Buyer, Stylist, Independent Designer, or Creative Director. According to Fashionista.com these are the paying average for each position: “Merchandiser $64,700 per year, Buyer $69,800, Stylist $141,700 per year, followed by Independent Designers $155,400 per year, creative director $191, 00 or more per year.” (Sherman, 2013) The pay within the fashion industry are decent compared to other majors and jobs but it is what I love and dream to do one day therefore the money involve in this industry is not my main focus but it is my side focus. The education I learn at FIT is going to be crucial for my success.

I recently interviewed a Menswear stylist who works with GQ Magazine. Stephen Campbell is his name, “I attended FIT pursuing the fashion design dream, 2 years later I graduated and started my own womenswear line, which did not work as much as I intended it to but on the midst of this nightmare I was going through I started looking for fashion jobs other than designing. I found a stylist position at GQ which I took which is the position I am currently on. Throughout that job I started networking with well recognize designer which now I work for as their fashion show’s stylist.”(Campbell, 2015). Campbell is a living example of how a designer can success without having to design or have their own brand. I meet people like Stephen every once in a while at Zara which is my work place so I can only imagine the people I will be able to meet as soon as I start attending FIT. According to the occupational outlook handbook “fashion designing jobs are decreasing on an average of 3% from 2012 to 2022.”(Bureau of labor statistic, 2014).  Fashion Jobs are decreasing job by job, this tells me that I need to work really hard to become the fantastic, different and outstanding designer I want be. I now have to make a change and work as hard as I can to stand out and be different.

If an individual is really passionate about something they will go after it no matter what stands in front of them.  Nowadays there’s a lot of young people wanting to be designers but their work is so effortless, it’s literally a Hanes T-shirt with some prints on and that’s it. For one to be a real designer/fashionista there needs to be real effort put into the craft, creativity, among other factors which I don’t see on this young people’s clothing lines. The first advice I’ll give someone who wants to do this major at this age and time is do research. Doing research on this major teaches one the ways of this industry, it helps understand what’s the real role of a designer, how much creativity is needed and the history of how fashion became fashion.

Works Cited

 Campbell, Stephen. Personal interview. 2 may 2015

Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). “Fashion design.” Fashion institute of technology undergraduate programs. Web. 9 May 2015

Laurent, Sherman. “How Much Fashion Jobs Really Pay.” Fashionista, 2014 edition, web. 9 May 2015

United States. “Fashion Design.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, Fashion Designers, web. 9 May 2015

My name is Miguel Santos, a freshman at the New York City College of Technology. The major that I am planning to pursue is Graphic Arts Production Management. However, after having a long conversation with my major advisor, Mary Ann Biehl, I have changed my major to Communication Design. The classes that I’m taking overlap in both majors, so I still have the same credits of the classes I’m taking now. This major is appealing to me because it’s all about creativity of visual presentation, which has been my passion for a long time. In this field, I am interested in becoming a Graphic Designer who does a little bit of everything dealing with the advertising industry.

This is the best career for me, because I am following my passion for design, and my functional skills are creativity, thinking visually, and strategizing. Besides that, since I was a freshman in high school my family has supported me and they believe I can go far in this field. More importantly, they believe in my future. In this essay, I will explain my major and my career choices, my strengths, how people supported me, about my future, about City Tech’s preparation for my career, and my recommendations for people interested in this major or career choice.

According to the website of the New York City College of Technology, “Communication Design is the strategic and conceptual development of visual information to tell stories and convey ideas and emotions” (Biehl, par.2). This is a message from the chair of the department, Mary Ann Biehl. According to Mary Ann Biehl, it is required to earn a certificate or associate usually degree for assistant or technical position in order to advance in this field. Also, at least a bachelor’s degree is required for a job. Additionally, this field prepares students by developing their artistic capacity, as well as their verbal, and written communication skills. According to the college catalog, “A core of advanced design courses will prepare students to meet the challenges of the profession: senior project, the design team and an internship” (City Tech, par.8).

Therefore, graphic designers, art directors, web designers, broadcast designers, animators and game designers are the kinds of career options one can have after graduating from this major. As a result of this investigation, I learned that my major deals with a lot of digital training, which requires many materials and supplies, as well as spending a good amount of money. In this major we are preparing for lifelong learning in associate or bachelor degree programs of the communication design. Thus, with my education at City Tech, I want to take advantage of everything provided me and I would especially like to develop my own style in this career field.

As I discussed previously, this is the best career for me because I am following my passion for design, and my functional skills are being creative, thinking visually, and strategizing. Before I speak in class, I think is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, or kind based on any composition I have to analyze. Moreover, I am creative in the way I use materials around me in order to finish a project. Besides that, the way I look at things make me feel as if I have a progressive strategy when I look at any assignment. When I was in high school, I was always bored and not interested during my music class, and it was basically because I couldn’t play any basic rhythm on any instrument.

Since the beginning, I knew I had to do something to improve so I started to write rhymes of the vocabulary and general information for my music class as a rap to memorize everything and pass my exams with a high grade. As a result, I can say I learned a lot, and the teacher end up putting me in AP music for the next year. Therefore, it was useful strategy as me being creative. As it is said in the article, A Case Study of an Innovative Graphic Design Curriculum Focusing on Social Responsibility “The aim is to provide a situation where students can excel in selected disciplines while benefiting from an intense cross-fertilization of idea” (Vessella, Mackay par.9). In other words, we have to take advantage of what is provided to us before the opportunity is gone and we must develop our thoughts to reach the next level.

I always love being creative, and organized, watching anime makes me feel in a creative mood. After browsing a lost notebook that I found under my desk during my math class in middle school, art became my passion. I really enjoy designing new things, and because I don’t talk too much, I like to express through visual things. In addition, I feel this passion and my body language transmit it through my eyes as William Shakespeare said “The eyes are the window to the soul” which I find to be true for me. Thus, using imagination to get something done is my ability. As one can see, thinking visually is necessary for this career which is why I think I must continue with my passion.

Since I was a freshman in high school, my family has supported me and believes I can go far in this field. I cannot let down the people who support me even if I fail many times, because they put their trust in me. For example, my arts professors who saw that I dedicated myself in their classes and they were proud of me because they saw me so focused on the work because of my passion. As a result, we end up having a good relationship, making some murals for our school, and I was nominated to create the logo for our senior year. I created a star with a curve enveloping around it, and my other classmates worked together on the quote in order to transmit the message that today’s dreams shape tomorrow’s future.

Therefore, I’m thankful and I appreciate when people spend their time working with me. For example, when people give me advices like “Travel while you are young and available. Don’t settle into a job that you are not keen to do. Try different opportunities and notice where you are most motivated but give your efforts and skills. Don’t give up if it seems hard or scary” (Daiga, par.6). I feel I have to move forward without a doubt because they are models who believe in me. The most important thing in my life is my relationship with a power greater than myself, which is love for my family and God. In general, my family pushes me, and let me know that if let them down more than one time again, I definitely will have no more excuses, and I know I will not forgive myself.

There are a lot of people praying for my family, when I found that out it touched me, and it change my goals. Now I realized I want to be a good man who serves the community. As it is said in the article, A Case Study of an Innovative Graphic Design Curriculum Focusing on Social Responsibility “Social responsibility no longer is an option for the educated. At base, social responsibility implies a respect for the planet, a respect for its people and the environment” (Vessela, McKay par.7). In other words, as a designer, my job is to direct the viewer attention by contributing in order to improve the society as a whole. As one can see, the faith that people have in me gives me confidence and protection.

More importantly, I want to major in Communication Design because it is my future and is the only thing I can develop at this time. The work that I’m doing now is in training my eyes and improving my skills, which actually makes me see my life flashing before my eyes. Now that I’m young, is the time to take advantage in order for me to see myself as an adult in the future. According to my professor Larisa, “I find the most challenging thing is to sit in an office all day, every day in front of a computer. The other big challenge for me has been working under bosses or clients who don’t know much about design, so they either try to direct you in a direction that you know from experience won’t work or not give you enough time to complete a project” (Daiga, par.2).

This makes me aware and prepare me for the future, since it is seems challenging to meet clients or work for a company in this field. Therefore, improving myself is the only thing I can do at this time because it is the requirement for every beginner. The job outlook in this field influence my decision to pursue it because it is expected that Graphic Designers will face strong competition for available position in the future. The salary level for this career is $ 21.22 per hour and $44,150 per year. One example of how this salary will impact my future standard of living is that most Graphic Designers may spend some of their time looking for new projects or competing with other designers for contracts. Moreover, I think I will be financially independent. As one can see, right now having a vision of my future self prepares me to succeed.

City Tech prepares me by offering a lot of opportunities for my career. City Tech is committed to providing a design education in accordance with the highest professional standards. I remember how afraid I was during my first semester to pick my major, but City Tech faculty made me feel confident in every aspect because they accept every student as a new member of the family. In general, City Tech support students like me in this field by guiding us through analytical, conceptual, creative and technical skills development.

For example, according to the college catalog “students are offered a broad range of foundation courses from figure drawing, design and color, typography, photography and design studio procedures to advanced courses including digital media, video, animation, graphic design, advertising, illustration, web design, packaging design and an advertising design internship” (City Tech, par.4). I already took type and media and graphic vectors and now, in my second semester, I am taking design principles I and foundation drawing. Besides that, the relationship between students and professors influence me a lot. Now in my second semester, my professor Larisa tells me of the important things and events that I must be aware of to succeed and what experiences I should expect after graduation.

According to her past experiences, she says that I should have an internship. She says “Internships are so useful! My design jobs have come out of starting as an intern. It is a great way to get your foot in the door. That said, don’t do something you absolutely can’t afford (like you can’t buy food or rent because of it), but if you can swing it and live cheap lifestyle for a little, do it. They are going to be checking you out to see if you have potential in the company, but you get the opportunity to check them out and see if they are someone you want to work for longer term Plus it is good for your resume” (Daiga, par.3). Therefore, I thank every member of City Tech faculty for giving me inspiration on how to become a better person and scholar. All of them certainly are great mentors for me and they have been very generous in sharing their rich and valuable knowledge in this field, for which I am grateful.

For people who are interested in my major or career choice, I recommend to everyone to speak up and explore their options. Since the first day, it is really important to be aware if this is the field to belong by exploring its surrounding and people around it. By doing this, people interested in this major will see what qualities or work someone might be expecting to do before moving on. Also, if there is any doubt or problem while taking major classes, it is necessary to go to the major department adviser. However, before pursuing this major I recommend deeply researching the college website in order to have a sense of the similar offering majors within communication design.

Equally important, it is a good idea to imagine yourself in the future, connect it to your present outcomes and follow your heart instead of what other people think you should be doing. In general, practice a lot and don’t give up in the beginning because no one is expecting you to know even basics of topic they’ve just started. Thus, for people interested in this major or career I recommend being more outgoing and taking advantage of what opportunities are provided.

Works Cited

Biehl, Mary A. “A Message from the Chair.” Department of Communication Design.” Web. 13 April 2015.

Daiga, Larisa. Email-Interview. Web. 12 April 2015.

New York City College of Technology (City Tech). “Communication Design.” New York City College of Technology college catalog 2014-2015. Web. 3 April 2015.

United States. “Graphic Designers.” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition. Web. 26 April 2015.

Vessella, Sue. Behnoush, Mckay. “A Case Study of an Innovative Graphic Design Curriculum Focusing on Social Responsibility.” Design Principles and Practices: An international Journal, 5.5 (2011): 472-473. Academic search complete. Web. 10 April 2015.