Class Members

Hi all!! Hello everybody! My name is Janaina (but I mainly go by Jana to 99% of people besides my mother) and this is my first semester at BMCC. I’m so thrilled to restart my academic journey after having graduated from my first bachelors a few years ago. I was born and raised in a city in Brazil called Curitiba and over there I got my major in History and I worked as a History teacher assistant for a couple of years with middle and high-schoolers. I’m a big buff for history, sociology, philosophy, gender studies and specially if it is Latin America related. Besides that I have always loved to travel and explore new places, people, cultures and that curiosity is what brought me to New York about (almost) 6 years ago – and made the city my chosen home away from home. I selected this picture of myself on a trip I took with my best friend to Iceland, in this photo we are at a national park there called Thingvellir, and that place is special because the park is located above where 2 big tectonic plates meet, the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, and one can simply walk over one to another skipping over tectonic plates (and I find this EXTREMELY cool). Going to Iceland had been a childhood dream and I still can’t believe I was able to actually go there I chose to major in Digital Marketing because I want to challenge myself to learn new things and enter and explore new possibilities and careers for my future. Besides being very grateful and having loved working in education and with children I realized it is time to explore new possibilities for the person I want to be!

Hey all! My name is Gabriel, though most people call me Gabe. I am 22 years old and born and raised in Manhattan. This is my second semester at BMCC and I’m majoring in History. I plan to transfer to a 4 year school to double major in History and Film. My end goal is to work in in archives and/or museums and if I can work in that kind of environment while concentrated on films that would be perfect! I realize I might need an advanced degree later on down the line for such a specific field but it’s a good starting point. Besides pouring over the details for my education, I found that describing my hobbies as just engaging with different kinds of story telling is pretty accurate. I like watching movies (no surprise), reading/listening to books, playing video games, and I’ve started dipping my toes in seeing plays. New York is the perfect place to do that after all.

Hi all!  I’m Sophia, I am eighteen, and this is my 2nd semester at BMCC. I am currently a liberal arts major, however I am contemplating if I should switch my major at the moment.  I was born in Queens, however, I grew up moving around different neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I am a Mexican and Colombian second-gen student.  Some of my hobbies include: Making art (preferably in colored pencil), reading (I am currently reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn), watching movies, cooking, as well as trying new recipes, and surfing the web (specifically looking for archives). I’d also like to get out of my comfort zone and try new hobbies as well, such as gardening or other hands-on work. I joined BMCC with an open mind to take some time to figure out what career path I’d like to take in the future and decide what works for me and what doesn’t.  My goal for this class is to take away as much information that I’ve learned and use it to become a better writer. Eventually I’d like to take an advanced writing course in the future to strengthen my writing skills since I’m a bit dull from not practicing enough. Thank you for your time! 

Hello, my name is Marshall but my original name is Ace so everyone calls me by that. I am 19 years old, Mexican, and I grew up in Spanish Harlem but live in The Bronx. This is my first semester at BMCC and my major is science, I plan on switching to another community college that offers a degree in environmental science. I chose BMCC because of the facilities it had, to collect my bearings, the student population was very diverse, and my aunt had recommended it to me. My goal is to find a job like the one I previously had in a hydroponic farm, but one that is not located in a high school because I want a more professional environment. My hobbies are anything music related, tattoos (admiring them obviously), skating, reading poetry, and drawing. I’m also trying to do some tagging (non illegal graffiti) and wheat-pasting, if anyone has tips on that I’d appreciate it. I’m excited to take this class because while I do like to read books and poetry, I do not have the discipline for it, and I rarely finish books. I hope to gain some sort of structure to finish a book, not only for an assignment but also on my free time.

Hello everyone, my name is Shada Lauderdale (pronounced Sade). I am in my second semester; my major is Human Services and Social Work. I chose my major because I am passionate about helping other navigate society. In my spare time, I love to read different genres of books. I also like to go on vacation with my kids.

Hi, my name is Tyra Santiago, my pronouns are she/her. I’m Puerto Rican and African-American. I’m eighteen, I was born in Harlem but grew up in the Bronx. I love poetry button to be exact. Some hobbies of mine are painting, running track & all types of video games. I am a childhood education major I plan on transferring out to further my track career as well as my path in elementary education. I enjoy writing I recently got into journaling last year I find it comforting & a better way to learn myself. I’m excited to meet you all as well as see where this class takes me.

Hello, my name is Isai and I am from Queens. This is my second semester at BMCC and my major is psych, just waiting to transfer to a four year college. I own a beagle and he’s the light of my life because there is no such thing as a boring day with him, he’s always so silly. His name is Milo and he LOVES food, he’s basically a stomach with legs, hears the slightest rustle from a bag and BOOM, he’s looking up at you with puppy eyes that scream, ” I haven’t eaten in days”. Enough about Milo, sadly enough, the introduction is about me and not him. Not much to say about myself honestly, I love to play baseball, play video games, read manga, workout, and take Milo for a run. Unfortunately for me, when I am not at school, I am working because 1. I kinda need/want money and 2. MILO.

Hello everyone! My name is Isabella, I’m 27 years old and I’m Brazilian! I’ve been living in New York City for over three years now and what was supposed to be just “temporary” became my home. I have a bachelor in Tourism and Hospitality (from Brazil) and now I’m majoring in Digital Marketing because I believe there’s a parallel between the two fields and together, both degrees will help me accomplish one of my future goals: work for tourism development here in New York. I love travel and this is a picture from my last trip by myself, to New Orleans!

Hi! My name is Ziping Chen, and I come from China. In 2023, it was my first time coming here with my parents. This is my second semester at BMCC. I chose my major VAT (Video Arts and Technology), because I often have many strange ideas that I want to share. Since I can’t express them directly most of the time, creating videos is a great way to show it. I plan to transfer to a four-year college in the future. https://mlshadown.github.io/TheBuns/p5/Web/index.html This is my final project from last semester in the MMP100 course, and it’s a mini-game. Although it may not a bit of my major, but I’m excited to showcase it now :))

Hey there! Roselen here, hailing from Queens, New York; I’m nineteen years old. This is my second semester at BMCC, I have been a first-generation student. I intend to pursue a career in interior design upon my transfer to a four-year institution, so I have declared Studio Arts as my major. The similarities between science and art have been clear to me since starting BMCC. Both art and science, as far as I can tell, are human endeavors to analyze and make sense of the universe. But outside of that, I enjoy spending time with friends (and making new ones), adventuring around town (and, who knows, maybe the world :0), and being an animal lover (I have three birds and two dogs). This is a picture of me in clown makeup for Halloween.

Hi everybody! I’m Miao Lan, but you can call me Lili. I was born and raised in Colombia, but I am ethnically chinese; I’m eighteen years old, and this is my first semester at BMCC, so it’s been pretty fun experiencing new things in a whole new country; my major is Liberal Arts, but I plan to transfer to a four-year college to obtain a degree related to Pharmacy, I chose Liberal Arts as my major because I think I could still explore more options and could have more flexibility if I were to change my opinion on Pharmacy. For the next few years, I hope I have settle on what big goals I would like to accomplish in the near future. I would love to explore new places around the world, so here’s a picture of me in The Stone of El Peñol :).

Hi, Everyone! My name is Nay Lin Kyaw and you can call me ‘Nay’. I am from Myanmar, also called Burma. I lived in LA for a short time before moving to NYC and then, I have been residing in NYC for over two years now. This is my second semester at BMCC and I am currently majoring in computer science, driven by a passion for exploring the different kinds of technology. I am planning to pursue bachelor degree by transferring to 4 year university. I love hiking because I enjoy to explore the great outdoors, surrounded by the beauty of nature.

Me! Hello my full name is Alexandra but I prefer Alex. I’m majoring in Science, the plan is to go the Hunter after BMCC to major in pre-vet, then to another undecided college ( most likely an ivy wish me luck) to finally get my doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, which right now feels like reaching beyond the stars. My main passion is animals, but I specifically want to make in a change in how accessible animal care is for low-income communities. I foster animals, and this one kitten that I picked off a mama kitty that I’ve been taking care of (and been trying to steal with no success) was the cat for ME, I’ve been watching mama throughout the pregnancy and was worried she wouldn’t carry to term or something would go wrong during birth. Inky ( short for stinky ) is born and seemingly well. I take her upstairs, around 2 days later shes in the vet for an eye infection and check up, 5 days later she passed. The initial check-up drained my pockets coming out to 700 dollars. I couldn’t get her to the animal ER in time, majority of them being the Manhattan while I’m in the Bronx. If Inky had more resources to low cost animal care and if animal ER’s existed outside of gentrified communities, maybe inky would’ve lived. I still take in cats and currently I have a 2 year old kitty named genie who I’m fostering and is looking for a home . Animal care takes up a lot of my time but when everyone is taken care of I like to read, mostly non-fiction, horrors and memoirs.