8 minute read
JAQUELINE BAUTISTA
“I AM PROUD „ I AM PROUD
My name is Jaquelin Bautista Jaquelin Bautista and I will be the first in my family to graduate from college with a Bachelors’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations with a double minor in Journalism and Latin American and Latino Studies.
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I grew up in the suburbs, not entirely knowing WHERE or HOW I fit in, but my time at The City College of New York has not only exposed me to an immense amount of knowledge, but has also given me the tools to develop myself as an individual. While I still feel uncertain about where my future may take me, I am incredibly proud of all of my accomplishments, big or small.
I am proud of the close friendships I have formed. having lived on my own for the first time. listening to my heart and changing my career path. having passed my classes one semester while recovering from a concussion. working a job, having an internship, and taking five classes at a time for a semester. finishing my degree in three semesters. developing my filmmaking and photography skills. my strong public speaking skills. developing new hobbies despite how limited my time is. being a DACA student. finishing my last semester amidst a global pandemic. my GPA (it’s a 3.5). having my own room for the first time. helped pay for the rent for that room. have been published both online and in The Campus Magazine. being a first-generation student.
I hope to always remember my potential. I would not be where I am today if I had not believed in myself.
My dreams are to work with a non-profit organization to promote sustainable practices across various industries. I hope to be able to provide a better future for those to come.
I hope to one day have my own magazine, that highlights the efforts of local activists and their contributions to their communities. way, and to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves.
To those who are fighting a battle with themselves, know that the universe has so much to offer and that your pain is temporary.
I am thankful to be graduating with the class of 2020.
I celebrate this accomplishment in honor of Douglas Alvarez, a good friend who should have been able to graduate with his friends and accomplish his dream.
When I MC‘d the 2017 Lavender Affair, the closing night of Lavender Spirit Week, I chanted this repeatedly to a crowd of enthusiastic students, staff, friends, and family members. The energy that those people returned during that chant proved to me that school spirit exists at CCNY. A college where most students are commuters and where sports are Division III, CCNY may come off as a school with little school spirit. However, the energy at this event is one of the things that motivated me to bring my energy to as many different aspects of CCNY as I could. Living on my own in New York City, I was able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I could act in plays, write articles, make music, and chant up and down the hallways of the NAC. I could drink as much coffee as I wanted, eat as much Domino’s Pizza as I wanted, and eat as WHEN I SAY CC, “ WHEN I SAY CC, many chopped cheeses as I wanted. YOU SAY NY! CC! NY! „ YOU SAY NY! CC! NY!
The chopped cheese is the most popular sandwich at all of the Harlem delis despite it not being on the menu at most of them. The deli culture of Harlem is something that continues to fascinate me. I grew up on Long Island, where delis are one or two per town. However, in Harlem, all of a sudden there were 15 delis in a ten-minute walking distance. Each deli had the same thing! Hot sandwiches, snacks, and drinks. I have studied Harlem’s food profile by reporting for The Campus and my journalism classes. Despite Harlem’s limited availability of affordable and nutritious food, you can still find some phenomenal sandwich-makers and friendly fruit stand employees. Eating at delis with friends was a regular activity and a unique experience for me.
Freshman year I had a magical bond with my suitemates. We were essentially inseparable. We watched TV every night, ordered Chinese food, and explored the city by going on long walks and long subway rides. We went to jazz clubs, we went to parks, and one time we traveled two hours to a trampoline park deep in Staten Island. Experiencing the city with my friends has given me memories I will cherish forever. It also set the stage for the following year where I pursued extracurricular involvement at CCNY to a maximum.
In the fall of sophomore year, I interned with our on-campus student-powered political activist group, the New York Public Interest Research Group. This is a powerhouse of student energy. I am proud of us achieving our goal of registering 1500 students to vote. That semester I was also Vice President of the Towers’ Residence Hall Association. I had a ton of fun hosting events like “Salad Disco” and “Scream Party.” I also hosted a radio show, “Bar Seminar,” on CCNY’s student-run station twice a week, where I analyzed rap lyrics with my friend, Matthew-Rotker Lynn. The high-octane nature of that semester showed me how many extracurricular activities I had time for.
However, doing so much led me to spread myself thin.
In the spring of my sophomore year, I acted in the Theater Department’s musical “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.” We elevated “Bar Seminar” to the professor-run radio station on campus, 90.3 FM. We made the show available on podcast platforms. I edited audio for someone else’s podcast. I spearheaded a recycling project in which I worked with the Office of Facilities and Management to get new, intuitive, more colorful recycling bins into more places on campus. I researched affordable and intuitive bins that the school could use. The Office funded the bins and implemented them, and I went to dumpster rooms around campus to check on the garbage bags to see how well the new program was working. I wrote my first two articles for The Campus, one of which involved me eating 15 chopped cheese sandwiches and reviewing all of them based on their taste and affordability. I traveled to San Francisco, Boston, and Maryland, and I released a 29-minute rap album under the moniker „Dritty Pope“. This explosion of a semester was super epic for me and was thanks to all the energy and friendliness of people at CCNY. However, this intense business included me not taking enough care of my health.
Not taking care of myself is one of the negative aspects of the freedom I experienced. For the first two and a half years of college, I mostly did not watch what I ate, I did not exercise regularly, I drank 4+ cups of black coffee daily, and I did not care about my appearance. Honestly, that’s so funny to me now. Thankfully, this led directly to one of the greatest aspects of having freedom: learning how to take care of myself. After over two and a half years of total hedonism, I started exercising
regularly, eating more vegetables, switching from coffee to tea, and just generally having more swagger.
One of the best activities I discovered at CCNY was writing for The Campus. Being a Staff Writer at The Campus allowed me to explore CCNY and Harlem in unique ways. Writing the article, which included me eating 15 chopped cheese sandwiches, is what motivated me to dedicate my extracurricular time to reporting. Some of my favorite articles involved me drinking out of every water fountain at school, finding cheap and not moldy strawberries from nearby fruit stands, enjoying big halal cart meals, and picking my favorite pizza places near school.
During my time at The Campus, I also picked up the role of Distribution Coordinator. Fulfilling this responsibility included me being on the front lines spreading our newly published magazines to students’ hands, offices, and kiosks around campus. People were happy when they saw me putting the new magazines in the kiosks. Another super important way I enjoyed my freedom at CCNY was making music. Having the freedom of making my schedule and my own dorm space allowed me to be as creative as I wanted with producing beats, rapping, recording, and mixing. I used my laptop and microphone to record songs about American cheese, grocery stores, gout, and mowing lawns.
Difficult moments at CCNY included having too much work to do, bouncing to and from too many administrative offices when trying to do something simple like change a major, and relationship issues. Attending CCNY helped increase my tolerance for nonsense.
I am very proud that I am graduating from CCNY with a major in International Studies and a triple minor in Journalism, Theater, and Economics. I will be studying at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in the fall, and my work at The Campus is my foundation for my future. Thank you to my friends throughout my time at CCNY, especially Matthew, Austin, James, Haris, Katie, and Kaitlin. Thanks to this epic staff at The Campus for allowing me to share ideas with the student body! Thank you to my family and the homies from Floral Park.
The hard moments helped me appreciate my supportive family. I could always rely on them to talk on the phone or to go home and visit. They would help me take my mind off of stressful school stuff. Also, I am very blessed to have stayed close to my childhood friends. They remain some of the most important people in the world to me. I could always visit their schools for a vacation weekend, and them visiting me in the city are some of my favorite and most rambunctious moments.
