Image by: Brianna Vasquez

Last week was the Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE) Conference which is an annual event that was held at City College of New York this year. The theme of the event was used to show the catalyst for change to engage for impact within CUNY. The conference explores the innovations, collaborations, and actions in undergraduate education that will prepare global citizens for the 21st century. And I was gladly able to attend the conference on behalf of the Openlab “The Buzz” bloggers team. I was so honored to be chosen to represent the team since the conference conflicted with many of the other bloggers’ schedules; I felt a certain responsibility to the fellow bloggers as well as the Openlab team. The conference was amazing as we were able to share the benefits of having a internet based haven for all Citytech students to not only use academically but for recreational interests as well. Honestly, the Openlab has been a great asset to me to complete specific class projects and to be able to connect with my peers. Through the daily struggles of school and balancing it with all the other happenings in our lives, it truly allows us to connect to our peers who are experiencing similar collegiate lives.

Image by: Brianna Vasquez

Being a hospitality management major and my aspirations of becoming a pastry chef, I instantly felt a need to bring a dessert to the meeting which was used as a preparation to the conference. I continuously thought about what the best appropriate dessert to represent the Openlab’s success would be and I eventually decided on a cake. As always, I wanted the cake to have a certain complexity to it. So, after making the cake and decorating as well as crafting the other pieces with the help of my sisters, we delivered the cake on the day of the meeting, unfortunately, late. But the cake was an absolute hit and received such great feedback. Everyone was captivated by the realistic appearance of the cake with its added features and began taking numerous photographs with their mobile phones. As a pastry chef, that is one of the most fulfilling moments of making a dessert, is to simply see the reaction that it causes to all of you as I enter the room with this edible masterpiece. The cake took about three days to put together which was pretty short notice yet it came together really well. The cake truly evoked the sense of the Openlab’s “The Buzz” not just by the logo but by connecting to the bloggers with the camera to appeal to the photo-bloggers and the tablet to appeal to the other bloggers. The cup of coffee was originally a joke as my sisters and I were joking about how drinking coffee is almost an essential to our lives and it was simply added to the cake. And although it might sound crazy the whole cake and all of the side pieces were all entirely edible.

Image by: Brianna Vasquez

I would just like to say thanks to Jill Belli, Jody Rosen, Andrew Mckinney, Scott Henkle and all of those from the Openlab for inviting me into the Openlab family. It was a pleasure to speak on behalf of “The Buzz” team and I am truly happy to have such an encouragement when it comes to my blogs as well as being truly understanding and attentive to not only my major but all of the other bloggers, it simply shows us how much you care about all of our work. And to the fellow bloggers, I appreciate how truly connected we are despite only meeting a few times; I look forward to reading your future posts and love when you comment on mine. We are all a part of a big family of something that is truly special and I am in awe of how far the outreach has been, I cannot wait to see what the future holds not only for us but for the Openlab after we graduate and others have their chance to begin sharing with the college on this amazing haven.