Welcome! Our class meets on Zoom, Mondays and Wednesdays 8:30am-11am. The Zoom link is on the right side of our course site and also in the Weekly Schedule. Our first class will be Monday 8/30. See you soon!
1.  Sign up for your OpenLab account with your name and a profile photo. Log in, then return to our course site. Click on COURSE PROFILE (to the left of HOME), then JOIN THIS COURSE (under the avatar photo). If you need help, or you don’t have a City Tech email address yet and you want to request a bypass code to sign up for Openlab,  contact the OpenLab Community Team
2. Fill out the technology survey below (AFTER completing Step 1!).
3. Look around our course site to familiarize yourself
4. Introduce yourself. To write a new post, click the + sign at the top of the page, fill in the subject heading with your name, then add your info and photo below. After your work is complete, scroll down and check off OUR COMMUNITY under Categories (right side of page), then click Publish.
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- Paragraph 1: Include how you would like to be addressed, your pronouns, and any other info you’d like to share. This could include where you are from, where you reside now, your academic interests or major, any hobbies or NYC activities you enjoy, how you feel about beginning college. Feel free to be creative!
- Paragraph 2: Include a photo of something (place, space, person, pet, object, etc ) meaningful to you, and tell us about it. You can paste the photo into the body of your message, or Add Media to upload it to your post.
- Before next class, check back to read your classmates’ responses and reply to a few. Getting to know each other, we start building our community.
We are all in this together! See you soon!
Hi my name is Patrice. My pronouns are She/her. I was born in Kingston Jamaica in 2002 and migrated to America in 2013 to live with my father and sisters. When I first migrated to the US it was bit of a culture shock for me. I didn’t speak proper english and I was behind on a lot. Luckily I had a cousin that was the same as me so in no time I was able to adapt to my environment more quickly. In the near future I would like to be a Dental Hygienist. According to an article in Forbes “Within the first seven seconds of meeting, people will a solid impression of who you are-“. The first thing someone see is your smile even if you try to hide it. This is why people should be educated on how to properly care for their oral hygiene ,and this is why I love Dentistry so much. I love to listen to music that’s my favor thing to do other than doing absolutely nothing. Starting college feel overwhelming, it’s all so much to process but I know I can do it.
Unfortunately I can’t add a picture, but if i cloud it would be a huge poster saying ”SUCCESS,PEACE AND LOVE” those are the most meaningful things to me. I love the idea of having a peaceful, love filled atmosphere so i can rightfully flourish in all my success.
Patrice,
Welcome. Thanks for commenting here. (And folks without accounts yet, feel free to post here as well. )
Thank you for the lovely and poignant introduction. I understand what you are saying about first impressions through our visages, though I reluctantly confess to losing my retainer some time in my teenage years. Eeek. I appreciate what you’re saying, too, about language. What were some differences between the language you were used to and proper English ?
In the first class we read a text by a Dental Hygiene grad, “Overnight Pandemic. “ I recommend checking it out, along with the LAF video; both are listed in the Week 2 post. You’re already such a strong vibrant voice in class and I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts about these texts. (Classmates, you chime in, too!)
Hello my name is Naomi Aliou, I’m from West Africa but currently I live in Brooklyn and I would like to be addressed as she. I’m fluent in French, Wolof, Fulani and right now I’m learning english. I like to spend time with family, watch movies and enjoy my free time at home. This is my first year in college here in America, my major is Health Science and I hope I will get through it and learn a lot.
I love the sea. Just looking at it soothes me. Two feelings animate me every time I go there; meditation and determination.
Irène NĂ©mirovsky, a french novelist said that “You can’t be miserable when you have this: the smell of the sea, the sand under your fingers, the air, the wind”.
Sea is not only a place of habitat for marine beings, a place of distraction and decompression for humans, but it is also a way of escape and relaxation.
When anxiety-inducing and unpleasant ideas come to me, I go to the sea and the sea drowns them with its beautiful deep sounds, purifies me by its noise and imposes a rhythm on each part of my being, finding itself perplexed and lost.
Unfortunately I can’t add a picture.
Hi Naomi,
Welcome! Very impressive language ability; perhaps you could teach our class some words in Wolof or Fulani. If you watch the Literary Arts Festival video from last year (I’m happy to share the link with you), you’ll see that one of your City Tech classmates tells the story of getting some unexpected joyful time with his Guinean grandmother, during the pandemic, and how they watched tv shows from home in Fulani. I appreciate what you are saying about the sea here. What are some of your favorite bodies of water to visit?
Looking forward to working with you.
Hi Naomi,
Welcome! Your City Tech email is set up now so you should be able to join the class as a member and have full post privileges.
Thank you for sharing this introduction. I appreciate what you are saying here about the power of a place to offer solace.
Hi, my name is Karina Lopez. My pronouns is she/her. I’m from Guatemala. I consider myself an indigenous person because I have indigenous roots. I immigrated in mid-2017 here in New York. I have been living here in New York for 2 years and 10 months. I am fluent in Spanish and an indigenous language (Mam), now I am learning English. I like to watch movies, play video games. This is my first semester in college. My major is Dental Hygiene and I hope I can achieve it. I feel that teeth are very important because they help us to see ourselves better and to be able to eat. I grew up in a poor town. For a long time I did not go to dental hygiene to clean my teeth. That is why I chose this career because in the future I want to go to work in places where people need it. I love all kinds of animals because they are important like humans. I feel that College is very difficult for me, especially because I am not fluent in English. I hope I can achieve it.
Welcome, Karina. Thank you for sharing this powerful story of your origins and your hopes and dreams. City Tech’s valedictorian last year, Youshmanie Sukraj, was a Dental Hygiene major and will be applying to dental school– she chose to go into the field because like you she wanted to help people without a lot of access to good healthcare. Wonderful goals, Karina. Happy to be working with you.
Hi, My name is Alioune Haydara. My pronouns are He/Him. You can call me Ali. I was born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx. I moved to the Bronx when I was about 7. My parents are from Senegal, so I speak Wolof. My current academic interest is radiologic technology. I am currently majoring in Health Sciences and plan on switching to radiologic technology or dental hygiene soon. My hobbies are playing basketball and playing video games. I also watch a lot of basketball. My favorite team right now is the Nets. Besides that, I plan on taking college seriously. I didn’t take high school seriously at all, so I have to change. Especially because I want to become successful and make my family proud. I know that if I work hard and focus I’ll be where I need to be. This is where it matters most because It will most like determine my future.
If I was able to put up a photo it will be a picture of my neighborhood. My community means a lot to me because it’s where I’m from. I’ve been through a lot so it reminds me and motivates me to work hard. There’s a lot of people who I grew up with who chose not to go to school or take school seriously. A lot of people who made bad decisions in their life don’t have to opportunity that I have. So I have to take full advantage of that and learn from other people’s mistakes. I grew up around a community full of crime, violence, drugs, and poverty. So I would like to inspire other youth around my community to become successful because we are the future. I want to see people in my community take the right path. I don’t want my people to be stuck in poverty or feel like they can’t become successful because of where they’re from.
Ali,
Welcome. You and Naomi could have a conversation in Wolof together! Amazing.
I very much appreciate your serious acknowledgement here about taking school seriously. That is an important reflection on your part. College represents a whole new start, with vast potential. I also understand what you are saying about wanting to deviate from one’s environment and be a role model in the community. Excellent, Ali. Happy to be working with you.
My name is Diaaeldin Elabsy. You can just call me Diaa.My pronouns are He/His/Him. I’m Egyptian but I live now in New York. I’m a professional soccer player. I’m interested in martial arts. I love eating. My favorite career is aviation. My dream was to be a pilot when I was young but when I grew up I knew that computer engineering is the best major and it is the future. That is the reason why I chose computer engineering to be my field of interest.
The photo of the plane was my favorite because when I was young, it was my dream to be the captain of an plane. I was very happy when I was boarding a plane but as I grew up, I gradually lost my interest in being a pilot because I know that a pilot can easily lose his or her life, especially during a pandemic like COVID-10. Therefore, I started to become more interested in computer engineering. It is really hard to lose a job as a computer engineer and a person has a lot of options. A person can work for Apple, Microsoft and even establish his or her own company.
Hi Diaa!
Welcome. A professional soccer player– wow! Where do you play in New York? Is it difficult during the COVID era? I have long dreamed of visiting Egypt and hope to do so once travel is a bit more possible. What brought you to New York City? Happy to be working with you!
My name is Yameen. My pronouns are he/him. I was born in Bangladesh which is in Southeast Asia, however I was raised in Nyc. I am from the Bronx and have stayed here for majority of my life. My major is Computer Science, and I would like a job in IT in the future. 2 hobbies of mine are fitness and journaling. I like to write and one day would love to publish a book. An Nyc activity I like to do is thrift, I go thrifting in the city every weekend. I am excited about college. It’s the first real step of my life.Â
I’m not able to upload a picture, but if I did, it would be a picture of someone meditating. Meditation relieves the body of stress and anxiety, a peaceful state of mind is a productive state of mind. Meditation is very meaningful to me because it gets me ready for the day.Â