TESTIMONY
Testimony by Onyekachi Okeke, youth advocate from Young Invincibles, on CUNY student resources
1:40:04
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3 min
Onyekachi Okeke, a senior at Hunter College and alumna of Borough of Manhattan Community College, testifies about the challenges faced by CUNY students in accessing resources and support services. She emphasizes the difficulties in transferring between schools and the lack of consistent support across campuses.
- Highlighted the importance of programs like Single Stop (now Advocacy and Research Center) in providing essential resources such as metro cards and food vouchers
- Stressed the need for similar support services at senior colleges like Hunter
- Called for city leaders to invest in additional support across all CUNY campuses
Onyekachi Okeke
1:40:04
okay.
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Forgive me is my first time.
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Okay.
1:40:11
Okay.
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So So good afternoon, everyone.
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And thank you so much for your time to listen to my testimony today.
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So I'm a senior attending hunter college, studying here in biology and sociology, and also a proud alumna of Burrow of Manhattan Community College, and ask someone who is at attended well, for 2 year and a 4 year school, the transferring process between both schools was a difficult and arduous one.
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After I left BMC and I entered Hunter, I found that I was significantly struggling in almost every area of my life.
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Academically, financially, mentally, and personally.
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The 1st semester, a hunter was actually one of my toughest semesters today.
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I don't believe that I had adequate support regarding advising.
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I had no one to explain to me how degree works from and consequently, I picked the rental classes to fill to fulfill the full time requirements like a qualified for student loans.
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A decision I still regret to this day.
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I picked classes that I should not have been enrolled in due to a pressure of having to enroll in classes right before the beginning of the semester started.
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I am sure that if I had more support via an orientation or a crucial advice thing, I would have not made those costly mistakes that negatively impacted my me academically last semester.
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My academic standing was important because at the time, I participate in the community scholars program, and I'd say a specialized program for high cheapesting transfer students.
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Through this through this program, I received help with choosing my major and having a mentor, which I believe helped me significantly However, due to my low academic performance during my 1st semester, I was removed from the program, and I was that I I could have had a second chance to redeem myself and remain the program.
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Had I received more professional support from the program?
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I believe I would have been able to stay and do much better afterwards.
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Additionally, at Hunter, I was mandated to take a sociology 101 course of the league to begin my sociology minor.
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While I already had taken the class.
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Previously, I discovered on DegreeWorks that my sociology 101 credit had not been fulfilled.
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I contacted the vice president of academic affairs about this issue, and thankfully, she was able to obtain my previous transcript and manually optimistically works for my sociology 101 requirement with vehicles filled.
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Unfortunately, I cannot say that others in my shoes had to seeing outcome while encountering this problem.
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Another issue I encountered was a difference in resources while transferring from BMC seats to Hunter.
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I at the MCC, I struggled daily, and often, I endured the day with nothing to eat.
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No money to purchase anything.
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And on top of this, I was unable to secure a job, both on campus and off campus.
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So I was blessed with the opportunity to learn about single stop, which is now known as the advocacy and research center through a friend.
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It had everything I needed in more.
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And so through the substantial support of single stop, I was I have seen
Eric Dinowitz
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Can you just finish up your thought, please?
Onyekachi Okeke
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Okay.
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Thank you.
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Thank you so much.
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I obtained metro cards and food vouchers to purchase lunch to the cafeteria.
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Unfortunately, when I transferred to Hunter, I found that Hunter did not have this resource center.
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And having single stop at Hunter would have really helped me with the various issues I mentioned before.
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And so my story is just one of many many like, thousands of other students, of course.
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And so I'm just asking my city leaders today to hear my story and to fully invest in additional support across All Kinney campuses.
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And thank you for listening to my testimony.
