[Tamara]

My experience in New York City College of Technology has been good so far. I feel like I am fitting in great. Going into college I thought that it was going to be very hard and stressful for me because of the different environment that I was going to be in. Though this is a quite different experience for me compared to high school I feel very belonged and happy with my classes. One of my architecture teachers is one of the main reasons why I feel like I am going to get through this semester more then I thought. Mr. Moed allows me to express my thoughts and concerns anytime I need to. He explains everything very clearly so that me and my classmates could understand. He also always available for me to reach out to, and he always responds. I feel like he is a very patient teacher which I am so appreciated for due to the fact that I am a very slow learner.

So far I am getting though this semester very easy. I know that its just the beginning but I am proud of myself for getting through all the lectures and homework the first week. I do feel like the lectures and the class hours are very long. I think that I feel this way because I am not use to them because I never really had to go through any of that in high school. However I do feel like if I can get through the first week of it then I will be fine. Other then that I feel like I really belong in this college so far. I have not really made any friends yet due to the fact that majority of my classes are online and I haven’t really done and group related things yet with my classmates. Nevertheless, I can’t wait to actually get to see some of them face to face when I go to campus for my hybrid classes.

[Tamara]

Jean I too have also met Prof. Duddy. I also felt very welcomed and belonged in his class because of the way he welcomed us. I feel like that class is going to be one of the main classes I’ll be happy in because not only does he welcome us, his lectures are actually very interesting sometimes. I too feel like it’s very weird and hard to make friends right now due to the fact we can’t see physically see each other, which makes it hard for us to actually communicate with each other. I do feel like everything will be better when this COVID-19 situation is over though. I hope to meet you when we are able to go to class in person.

[Savie Currency]

An interaction that made me feel welcomed I would have to say is the English/architecture a group chat that my peers have made. The previous college experience that I’ve had was in no way similar to being here at city tech. My peers and I communicate with each other and it made me have a great sense of belonging. Because of this I’m very excited to see what the future will bring for me. The environment that I am in is polar opposite to what I was used to in high school, there was even a moment where my peers had to teach me new terminology which was astounding. Being at home for almost two years has made me get used to not having human interaction but I am excited to have the college experience and to be learn in-person.

I can definitely tell that online learning has not been easy for my professors but from what I’ve seen so far I can tell that they want us to succeed. Each of my professors have been pleasant and very thorough about their courses and with providing extra help for those that need it. The workload so far has been manageable and the classes are very engaging. I will say that the way our schedules work is quite intricate and unique because there are some days we just do architecture and I even have a weekday off. So far I’ve been really amazed at the whole college experience and this transition into adulthood.

Jean, I agree with what you said about meeting our classmates and professors after the whole COVID-19 situation. For the past two years the world has changed a lot and before Covid we were always around people and socializing. It would be great to work on my people skills as I haven’t been interacting with many people since lockdown. I really hope we all have a great academic year!

[Savie Currency]

Hi Tamara I didn’t see your post but I definitely agree that some lectures are quite long and I’ve found it really hard to focus. The workload isn’t bad at all I totally agree and there are some really engaging classes. All in all so far I have no complaints about the college experience!

[Kevin Sierra]

My experience in City tech so far has been in simplest terms so surreal. Not in the sense of having an overwhelming amount of knowledge to retain but its the realization to find out that I have in fact grown up. This was quite apparent to me in my first few days of being here as I came to realization that if i mess up my grades or im if not on top of my stuff I can seriously jeopardize everything i’ve been working for but also everything my parents have been working for as well. The level of leniency here and high school is definitely clear as I have to bring in my A game but to be honest my first impressions of my professors is that they seem driven to help us succeed in our college endeavors. They seem to be passionate about what they are teaching and for the most part I feel intrigued by the material. This is important to me because in high school I used to have a tendency to doze off and daydream during class but with these courses I really feel drawn to them.

The one class that has really had the most impact on me is probably my Arch1101 class as my professor (professor Duddy) Has managed to captivate my full attention by talking about his personal life. By doing this he gave me a look into the type of person he is and it is one of passion for architecture. I feel inspired to one day have the same passion but my favorite part about his class would have to be the drawing aspect as I find sketching and drawing therapeutic. So as you can see my first few experiences apart from the realization that im not a little kid anymore would have to be nothing short of pleasant.

[Kevin Sierra]

Savie I would also agree with you there about the group chat. The group chat helps us all to stay on top of our work and also I agree that all our professors want us to succeed and to pursue our dreams and ambitions.

[Mike Sanango]

An experience I had so far as a City Tech student that made me feel like I belong was being in Professor Duddy’s class on my first day of college as a freshman. Transitioning from being a high school senior to a freshman at college can be very scary, as you are leaving everything you have been working on for the past four years to starting all over somewhere new. However, Professor Duddy has been very welcoming by introducing us to his passion for architecture making this transition seem very easy so far. You can tell Professor Duddy wants us to succeed, so I cant wait to learn from a professor who wishes nothing but the best for his students.

Another Professor that made me feel like I belong was Professor Moed since I am in a class surrounded by students who seem to have the same ambitions and goals. Being in a classroom filled with students that have very similar backgrounds and reasoning to become an architect is amazing because this is a common interest we are all sharing that would make it easier for us to become friends. I have no doubt in my mind it will be difficult to make friends this year since most of us have a very similar class schedule, so we will constantly get to know each other better. In fact, we have already created an English and Architecture group chat to communicate with each other and so far it has been great getting to know these people. I cannot wait to meet each other on campus once we are scheduled to go in person.

I agree with what Kevin had to say about Professor Duddy because you can definitely tell Professor Duddy’s passion for architecture is something that we would all be lucky to have and that he wants us to succeed based on the first day of school. The group chat is something I have enjoyed so far as it does help us, the students, stay on top of our workload when it can become too much.

[Jennifer Sears]

Great job with this first discussion board, all! Please see my responses to your ideas on the longer OpenLab post I just published:

https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/eng1101-lc78-fa21/2021/09/01/discussion-board-notes-finding-a-sense-of-belonging-in-college/

You will get a new discussion board assignment for tomorrow’s asynchronous class.