Isabel Rodriguez

2009 Service Fund Participant – Brooklyn College

As college students and young adults, we are all learning more about our future and ourselves. Just like a toddler who has just begun to explore the world around him/her, students realize their college years will be an entirely new experience for them. The experience that waits them will be filled with challenges and opportunities for growth. The toddler in my photo represents the undergraduate student body of Brooklyn College; students who are beginning to explore the world around them. The bright yellow ball is a symbol of our common goal as students to graduate and succeed. The yellow ball can also symbolize other personal goals that hover in our minds. The toddler in the picture is reaching for the ball; her effort represents students’ desire to achieve our goals. The photo has a single person in it, to depict the lack of community and unity on our campus. The single person in the photo can also symbolize the lack of students’ support for one another. Just like there is only one toddler in the picture reaching for the ball, there are too few students who actually succeed in graduating college within four years. They are faced with many challenges along the way, but the research shows that there are factors that contribute to student success and students’ ability to stay on course, such as unity and student support.

Brooklyn College is a commuter college, and like many other commuter colleges, it lacks a sense of community and unity. The lack of these essential factors is evident in practically every event held on campus. Town Hall meetings are meant to report the current status of campus, but the lack of community prevents students from participating in such events. As a member of the newly formed American Red Cross Club on Brooklyn College, I had to recruit potential members, and although many students showed interest on the club, the actual meeting only consisted of four students, not including the executive board. Recently, our campus held a rally to express the students’ opinions on tuition hikes. Higher tuition affects every student on campus, but the turnout for the rally was lower than expected. The low turnout rate to such important events can be seen as pure evidence of the lack of union on our college.

One way to increase unity is to create a form of support group that incorporates most of the interests of students on our campus. The group will help students both on and off college grounds. The support group is meant to allow students to help one another study for tests, help with projects, conduct community service, but most of all, just to have someone to talk to and share with. Increased unity will allow students to really feel a sense of strength and result in a strong student body, which will eventually increase the turnout rates to important events. A strong bond among students will permit them to work together to improve our College, since our campus is our home away from home. At a more engaged campus, the common goal of graduation can be achieved with more ease because of the available support both inside and outside of common grounds.

About the Artist

I am the oldest daughter of a single mother who has fought hard to support her four children. As a young Hispanic woman, I have fought hard to avoid becoming another horrible statistic that most people predicted I would become. I graduated from Manhattan Center for Science and Math High School with an Advanced Honors Regents Diploma. I now attend Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where I am pursuing a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology. After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree, I plan to enroll at the Graduate Center of CUNY, where I will aim for my Ph. D in psychology.

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I want to improve my community and help others who are in need because I would have never reached this level in my life without the help of various generous hands. For this reason I am usually involved in some sort of community service project. However, my real motivation to succeed now is my daughter. Being a college student had proven to be quite difficult, but every struggle to succeed is valid if I can build a bright future for my family, especially my daughter.