KateCappabiancaSharpensHerTeachingSkillswithTEUProgram

Andrew Mannion

Asst. Sports Editor

One of the main goals for students of Manhattan College is to prepare themselves for the career they hope to enter after graduation. Kate Cappabianca, a senior at MC, has taken those steps to help her prepare for a career in teaching.

MC provides many opportunities for students to continue their education during summer vacation. One of those is New York City’s Teaching Experience for Undergraduates (TEU) program which can help education majors further learn about their dream careers.

According to an article by Vassar College, “The TEU program runs for seven weeks […] TEU participants will teach in teams of three during the practicum, closely mentored by experienced New York City teachers. The coordination and collaboration fostered by this co-teaching model has multiple benefits for participants.”

It is a competitive process with only six spots for the program. This leaves room for only the best candidates. Cappabianca spoke to the Quadrangle about the selection process and how only the top candidates would be admitted into the program.

“There were two or three essays that you had to write,” Cappabianca said. “There were no interviews or anything like that. It was just purely based on your application. Then it said it was pretty selective. I don’t know how selective it actually ended up being based on the applicant pool. Only six people were selected, and about 30 or 40 applied.”

Sister Mary Ann Jacobs, a sister at MC, told The Quadrangle about Cappabianca and the great work she has done during her time in Riverdale. She explained that she believed that Cappabianca was more than ready and deserving of this opportunity.

“Kate is focused, driven and inquisitive,” Sr. Mary Ann said. “In her math methods class, she designed her signature pedagogy for teaching math with the elements of collaboration, discussion and personalized problems. Kate envisions math instruction, especially for marginalized students, as teaching minds and touching hearts. She sees instruction as focusing on students and their needs first – and then engaging them in the beauty of math.”

One of the significant parts of the program is the pedagogy class. Pedagogy relates to how a teacher explains information to connect to different students. With the program being in NYC, Cappabianca learned many ways to relate math problems to kids that grow up within the city.

“I researched the reality pedagogy, which was developed by a guy from the Bronx, actually,” Cappabianca said. “It basically states that like we should, as white educators who teach in marginalized, highneed schools should make a conscious effort to immerse themselves in the community of the school, learn about their students and their backgrounds, be supportive and then also tailor their lessons to the students needs. What I mean by this is that one of the big examples in the book is if you’re teaching a physics class, you would calculate the speed of the one train.”

The program has done wonders for Cappabianca’s confidence in her career in teaching. She explained to the Quadrangle that the program had taught things about a teacher’s career related to money and contracts that she did not know about prior to completing the program.

“I also feel way more prepared,” Cappabianca said. “(MC) doesn’t emphasize unions and contracts and things like that, like I would have had no idea about any of this stuff.”

Now coming up to her teaching career, Cappabianca truly knows her reason for going into the teaching world. She explained that creating an environment where all young kids can succeed and learn while being a part of a tight-knit community.

“I am most excited about getting to know my students and building relationships with them,” Cappabiana said. “So like, one of the parts of this pedagogy that I researched was building “intimate relationships” with them, and in turn that creates just an environment in the classroom where students are succeeding to their max. Also, I want my students to be able to talk to me and be able to voice their concerns and tell me like, “hey, when you taught this, this doesn’t make sense to me because of how you taught it” and things like that.”

The TEU program has seemingly taught Cappabianca some valuable ideas and lessons. Like many students at MC, she has taken great opportunities for her career path, and the payoff is just around the corner.

Mary Haley

Asst. Social Media Editor

Manhattan College’s Commuter Student Association (CSA) hosted a welcome back event on Wednesday, Feb. 1., to celebrate the return of the club after its hiatus since the spring of 2020. Commuters were welcomed with pizza and refreshments to commence a new semester, new members and new opportunities for commuters.

The event started with icebreakers for students to share their majors, graduation years and where they commute from. Students in attendance also discussed their favorite places to hang out on campus in between classes to get to know one another better. Many new faces were in attendance since CSA was not able to get together since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Ayanna Horsford, the vice president of commuter affairs on student government, spoke with The Quadrangle on why these introductions are so important for the connection between commuters and the renovation of the club.

“I think the college already has a gap between commuters and residents, but then the commuters themselves don’t even know each other,” Horsford said. “I think during Covid this club kind of dispersed and nothing happened. So, in order to revamp the club, we need to revamp the commuters as well.”

Alyssa Kumar, secretary of CSA, and a commuter from the Bronx, spoke to The Quadrangle on why she took part in planning this event and why it is so important for commuters to get involved in CSA.

“It’s really important for commuters to be able to get out there and socialize because a lot of events are done at really inconvenient times for commuters,” Kumar said. “It’s really nice to have a space where [events] are a bit more directed towards them to be able to socialize.”

One of CSA’s main missions is to increase commuter participation in school events and get commuters more involved in campus life. Students at the event discussed the hassle of trying to attend MC events at inconvenient times, which can be a major setback for commuter students who try to engage in college life at MC.

As a commuter student living in the Bronx, Laisha Delgado, vice president of CSA, spoke on her experience being a commuter student at the college.

“I’d say [my experience] has been ok,” Delgado said. “[The college] could probably do more for commuters. I didn’t feel as involved, so that’s why I joined the E-board, so we could do more events for [commuters] and make [commuters] feel like they could experience some college experience.”

Carlos Santana, a freshman commuter, spoke on his experience as a commuter and what he thinks the club will improve within the college.

“The fact that [the college] is starting to give us more representation within the student government I think is a huge step forward,” Santana said. “Commuters get the short end of the stick half the time because a lot of other clubs start at difficult times [for commuters]. So, the fact that commuters are able to be here, [CSA is] able to negotiate for better schedules and times for events.”

CSA plans to make the club an open place for conversation on the struggles that commuters often have in college, whether that be commuting for night classes or engaging in college socially and meeting fellow commuters or residents. Although for now, CSA is focused on fun and casual social events for commuters to continue to get more involved in MC and to get to know one another.

“I think once you start there, then you have a better population of voices to speak to the greater challenges on campus,” Horsford said. “So right now [we are focused] on just getting together and then having those serious conversations later.”

As for ways to get residents involved, CSA is not exclusively for commuters, and rather encourages residents to get involved in these conversations and try to help bridge the gap between commuters and residents.

“If you have a friend who is a resident, you can utilize the guest pass… like while you’re waiting for an event that’s an hour later, you can go to your friend’s dorm,” Horsford said. “We definitely encourage residents as well to partake in the conversation.”