PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Isabel Torres, Sophomore at Queensborough Community College and University Student Senate Delegate
1:48:45
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3 min
Isabel Torres, a sophomore at Queensborough Community College and University Student Senate delegate, testified about the importance of providing free MetroCards to CUNY students. She shared her personal experience of juggling multiple responsibilities and how a free MetroCard from the ASAP program significantly benefited her academic and extracurricular pursuits.
- Torres emphasized that free MetroCards would remove transportation costs as a barrier to voting and promote equity among students.
- She highlighted the need for better voter education, suggesting that civic engagement and voter education could be incorporated into freshman intro classes.
- As the Student Government Association president at Queensborough, Torres observed that many students lack awareness about current issues, which affects their motivation to register and vote.
Isabel Torres
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Hello?
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Okay.
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Hi.
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Yes.
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I'm Isabel Torres.
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Do I just continue with my testimony?
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Or okay.
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So I'm Isabel Torres.
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I'm a sophomore at Queensboro Community College.
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And I'm also a new delegate for the university student senate.
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So I just wanna speak on a little bit of my experience.
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This spring, I was a full time student, and I was a part of my school's outdoor track team, as well as involved in student government.
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And at the same time, I had an internship through CUNY Spring forward, and I worked 2 part time jobs.
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So just try to imagine my schedule is very hectic.
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Mhmm.
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But I'm not the only CUNY student in that has that experience.
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And Kony is compromised of hustlers, individuals simply trying to get an education.
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At the time, a resource that I was grateful to have was a free metro card provided by ASAP.
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And it was one less financial worry on my plate and was the reason why I was so successful last semester.
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Because of this free metro card, I didn't hesitate to take an internship in Manhattan nor did I hesitate to join the track team which met five times a week.
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I didn't have to worry about the financial burden of my community class.
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And most importantly, I did not hesitate to come here today.
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So come here and speak today.
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By providing free metro cards for all community students, you'd allow us to have access to all of the opportunities that are available to us without the financial barrier of transportation.
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That's why it's crucial for students to vote because things like free Mastercards are on the ballot this year.
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Free Mastercards would ensure community students have access to their polling locations, removing transportation costs as a barrier to voting.
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This also promotes equity giving all students the same opportunity to participate in elections.
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Ensuring fair representation and greater civic engagement amongst all students.
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That was my testimony, but I also want to speak a little more on what I heard today and just to give my insight.
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I'm also student government association president at Queensboro.
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So you you had asked the previous panel what have we seen on campus.
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And last week, we had, like, last Wednesday, we had a table where we were giving out free snacks.
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And something that I'm just noticing is that students aren't educated enough on what's going on now.
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Like, that's the education is the biggest, I guess, barrier.
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Wired students gonna register register to vote for something that you don't know what they're voting on.
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They're not aware.
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And I feel like that starts in class.
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Like, we had like, was like, what was mentioned in a way that I feel like that could get done rather than having a class because I'm a business administration student.
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I'm not really gonna pay to have, like, a class that falls under political science.
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Right?
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It's thinking logically.
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Of course, that was very important to me.
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My freshman year was freshman intro like a freshman intro class or 1st year student success.
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And I feel like a great way to promote education.
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Sorry.
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I'm running out of time, but a great way to promote Civic engagement and just voter education in general would be through classes like that because it's reaching the new students.
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It's reaching the freshman students.
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So I feel like that's a great way to start or yeah.
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I guess.
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So that's That's all.