In this episode, Iqra Sheikh, from the Openlab team, interviews Katherine Gerasin, a psychology major at BMCC. Katherine talks about the importance of mindfulness and taking time to explore in more tangible ways different careers paths. Let’s listen to her story.
Katherine Gerasin’s Interview
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Transcripts
IQRA:
HELLO EVERYONE AND WELCOME BACK TO THE BMCC OPENLAB STUDENT VOICES PODCAST. I’M YOUR HOST, IQRA SHEIKH AND TODAY WE’RE TALKING TO KATHERINE GERASIN, A PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR AT BMCC. IN THIS EPISODE, KATHERINE TALKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF MINDFULNESS AND TAKING TIME TO EXPLORE IN MORE TANGIBLE WAYS DIFFERENT CAREERS PATHS. LET’S LISTEN TO HER STORY.
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Iqra: Hi, everyone. This is Iqra from the Open Lab for Students podcast, and today’s guest is Katherine. Katherine, I forget your last name. What is it?
Katherine: Gerasin.
Iqra: Gerasin. Katherine Garrison. And Katherine Garrison is in her last semester at BMCC. Do you want to share with everyone what your major is?
Katherine: Yeah, my major is psychology.
Iqra: Very cool.
Katherine: Yeah.
Iqra: What made you decide to do psychology?
Katherine: Oh, that’s a long story. Yeah. So I guess it was mostly like trying to figure out moments in my life, like where I needed kind of understanding, like self-reflection, I guess. And I was really into like self-reflection in like high school, and I guess like a lot of things happened during that time. So I decided to like take a break, because I’m actually like also, I also do art. So I took a break.
Iqra: Psychology and art is the thing that goes together.
Katherine: Yeah. So then I wanted to… like… learn about…like… the world and…like…self-help, I guess. And that’s… like… what really got me interested in psychology. Also, I was around a lot of people who kind of like introduced me to that kind of stuff,… like… thinking about… like… the world in a narrow sense,… like… not really looking at the world like how, you know, like not skipping through the world, …like… not ignoring… like… the good parts and the bad parts, but kind of…like… making them go together.
Iqra: Seeing it all.
Katherine: Yeah. Like being able to… like… sit with yourself and…like… kind of look at all the stuff that kind of…like… bothers you and… like… kind of think about why it bothers you and like how you can… like… write your own story, I guess.
Iqra: Change the narrative.
Katherine: Change the narrative. Yeah.
Iqra: Beautiful. So when did you start making art? Was that always in you?
Katherine: Yeah, I guess like always, but I… like… music also. Like I’m… like… a multifaceted artist, but right now… like… my plan …like… for university is to pursue art and also have psychology as something that I do like mostly for myself or to help… like… with art therapy. Yeah.
Iqra: Yeah. There’s so many artists who always say that when they paint or produce something, it’s also psychology because you’re letting out everything you’re observing onto this canvas or thing. Like it’s like an outlet and also to understand, I think. Wow, that’s nice. Have you already submitted applications for college?
Katherine: No, not yet because like in the Spring.
Iqra: Are you considering CUNY still or do you want to go somewhere else?
Katherine: uhhh…I’m considering CUNY like City College, near City College, but umm… mostly …like… for the art therapy programs. I have for… like… is not in CUNY and I also love, like, other states.
Iqra: Oh, okay. Yeah. Nice. So the world is your oyster right now. Figuring out where to go from here after.
Katherine: Yeah.
Iqra: What advice would you give students entering BMCC not knowing yet where they want to be or go in life and in their career? What’s an advice to help encourage them to find their own path?
Katherine: Take time.
Iqra: Take time?
Katherine: Yeah. I don’t think it’s like good to rush because yeah, school like, school is a good foundation for like deepening your studies. But if you don’t know like exactly where you want to go, you kind of want to explore the career first. Like look at other people who you…who already have the career that you want and kind of like see what they’re doing in their life to get there. And there’s like a lot of ways. So if you think that… like school is not for you, there’s a lot of other ways.
Iqra: Nice. Beautiful response. And what resources would you like to see here at BMCC? What are some things you think are needed or if there’s nothing if you think the school is perfect as it is?
Katherine: I think this school actually like I heard a lot of good things about the school like as a community college because it has a lot of resources for students like if they need financial help or if they are looking into certain certification. I just feel like there’s not a lot of information. Like I guess it gets lost and I guess students…they don’t really feel…like encouraged…to …like… reach out or ask questions. And I guess like there are so many resources here and like I guess many students are lost or like which one to start with first.
Iqra: Okay. So the advice is like students just stop being in your head. Just ask for help when you need it.
Katherine: Yeah.
Iqra: Is that what it is. Okay. Nice. Yeah. I agree with that. I think sometimes we can be in our head, you know. And what is something that you wish you knew before entering… like…because you gained all these skills since you’ve been here. What is something you wish you knew already upon entering the school? Like if there’s any revelation that happens later in your academic journey at BMCC that you wish you knew when you were a freshman when you first came.
Katherine: Start small.
Iqra: Oh, nice.
Katherine: Yeah. Like I know that… like… it’s hard to just… like… do everything at once. And it’s really good to find others that are interested in the same thing like other students like through clubs and stuff as well as reaching out to professors for opportunities. You know, going to the library because the library has… like books and you can research a lot of things that are in your major or if you’re interested in… like starting something new. And always… like… be positive… about no matter… like if you’re having… like, you know, problems like choosing something in your career or you want to like… do a job or you want to… like try something new. It’s always good to take time to do all those things and also rest.
Iqra: Yeah. Rest is very important. Something that I feel like we forget is like college students like you have to be up all night and constantly work, work, work, work.
Yes. I do think rest is… like the most important which is hard to give yourself rest. How do you give yourself rest as a college student? Like what’s something that you tell yourself to calm the mind?
Katherine: I think for me once I have a space for work and I have a space for rest. Okay. And if I feel …like… overwhelmed like I don’t, I plan like a day that’s like off, like an off day. Like…for example, I like to walk. I’m going to go get… like some coffee and maybe go walk in the park or I’m going to take time to just… like… sit and enjoy my food and kind of like mindfulness or I guess like talk to somebody and not really… like… have the pressure to …like… do everything at once. But like I guess everyone struggles with that because we live in the city and everything is so fast paced.
Iqra: Oh yeah. Yeah. And also comparing. I think it’s like humans, we constantly compare ourselves.
Katherine: I think it’s, okay…so everyone says it’s bad to compare. For me, it helps. Like everyone has… like… different, like not compare but we want to, I think it’s always nice to have somebody to look up to. Like a mentor.
Iqra: Oh yeah, for sure. Yes. No, for sure. I agree with that too. I just think when we start to flip the narrative when we’re comparing ourselves, I think it’s how we’re talking to ourselves is what matters. Like the type of tone. If it’s a negative one or a positive one. Katherine: Yeah.
Iqra: So that’s just what I mean when it comes to comparing ourselves.
Catherine: And I mean, I still struggle with that because I guess like I’m a perfectionist. But I think like once you start talking to yourself differently and like kind of like there’s this, I just learned this like proverb, like this Chinese proverb I heard. It’s, I think it’s like, don’t let the river flow, like flow with the river, something like that. And it’s like, you cannot push life to go faster. You just have to let it happen. Yeah.
Iqra: Yeah. I don’t know if you know Bruce Lee, but he says something like that.
Katherine: Bruce Lee?
Iqra: Yeah.
Katherine: I love Bruce Lee.
Iqra: Yeah. Me too. He says, be like water.
Katherine: Be like water.
Iqra: Yeah. Because water forms based on its circumstances.
Katherine: Well, so water is like, it’s everything. Like everything has water. Yeah.
Iqra: Yeah. Water is also great to drink. All right. So we’re nearing the end of this episode. We’ve talked about advice that you give to incoming students, advice that you wish you knew when you were a freshman. Any words of affirmation for students in college, like what’s something to help calm the mind since you’re a psychology major? What is something that helps you feel at ease? I think this can be helpful to many college students because we have so much going on. We have our personal lives, and then we have our school lives, and then the career is always in the back of our heads.
C=Katherine: I guess have a spiritual life.
Iqra: That’s beautiful.
Katherine: Yeah. Like it doesn’t have to be, like some people believe in God or something, or some people believe in like different things, but having like, like I heard, having like a higher spiritual life gets you closer to feeling more peaceful about things, so you have like faith that everything’s going to be okay.
Iqra: Beautiful. Nice. Okay. Well, thank you so much for participating in this season. Katherine: Yeah. Good. Yeah. Thank you.
Iqra: No problem.
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IN THIS EPISODE, KATHERINE EMPHASES THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING TIME TO EXPLORE ONE’S PATH, START SMALL, BUILD CONNECTIONS, AND BALANCE HARD WORK WITH REST AND MINDFULNESS. KATHERINE’S JOURNEY IS A TESTAMENT TO EMBRACING BOTH THE CHALLENGES AND BEAUTY OF COLLEGE LIFE, ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO FIND PEACE THROUGH SELF-AWARENESS, COMMUNITY, AND EVEN A SPIRITUAL CONNECTION.
THIS EPISODE IS PART OF OUR THIRD SEASON, FINDING YOUR PATH THROUGH COLLEGE, FOCUSING ON THE STORIES OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE EXPLORED, QUESTIONED, AND DISCOVERED THE PATH THEY WANT TO FOLLOW, BOTH AT BMCC AND IN LIFE.
IF YOU HAVE A STORY YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE ON A FUTURE EPISODE OR A MESSAGE FOR THE STUDENT IN THIS EPISODE, EMAIL US AT BMCC.OPENLAB.PODCAST@GMAIL.COM. YOUR VOICE MATTERS.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING, AND SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE OPENLAB STUDENT VOICES PODCAST!
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