Fifth in a series of articles about the early weeks of the first semester.
On the third-floor Sky Bridge, Emmy Adamczyk, a 21-year-old senior, wearing what she called her “Kim Possible Attire” – green pants and a black T-shirt – got down to business with this reporter, describing a “whirlwind of a summer” and insisting that the anticipated challenges of her senior year would not stop her from having a blast.
She spent July studying abroad at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea, where she took media classes and helped create a documentary on the differences between American and South Korean students. “The main difference is that students in South Korea focus more on their studies, not so much about going to parties,” said Adamcyzk.
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Adamcyzk was happy she explored a foreign country but was not thrilled about the new semester. “I wasn’t nervous at the start because it is nearing the end of college, but it just recently hit me, the thought that I am graduating,” said Adamcyzk. Uncertainty about one’s career can create stress. There has been a 20 percent increase in college students complaining about stress, according to a 2018 story posted by the American Institute of Stress. Stress can drive college students to consider suicide a solution, according to other reports. “College can be so stressful that many students think about killing themselves, and some even try,” according to an article written by Steven Rienberg, a health reporter for WebMD.
“I’ve started to do yoga to help with the potential stress of class,” said Brittany Bucceri, 21, a developmental psychology major. She also said she already has her future plans in view. Sitting in an empty classroom on the fifth floor of the North Building, Bucceri spoke of her summer of travel and leisure. She vacationed in Montreal, St. Thomas, Boston and spent quality time with friends and family. “School drained me, so summer was a nice break,” she said.
Bucceri also volunteered at Bellevue Hospital, 462 First Avenue, lower Manhattan, where she worked helping to normalize the hospital experiences for children with medical issues. She read to them and played games. The experience was “very rewarding,” said Bucceri, and provided more “hands-on experience.” Bucceri wants to study for a doctorate in clinical psychology and to work with children, especially.
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In the tenth-floor stairwell in the North Building, 21-year-old senior Jasmeet Nanrag, sitting in the corner with her cell phone, smiled as this reporter, notebook in hand, approached. Nanrag moved to Kew Gardens, Queens, from India five years ago. “It was all very brand new, the culture was different and learning the slang was hard,” she said. Nanrag is a computer science major and spent her summer working at a high school in Brooklyn.
She tutored children with special needs, teaching math, getting to work closely with them one on one. Nanrag dreams of becoming a computer science professor. “Being a professor will give me the chance to explore myself and research,” she said. As for her short-term goals for this school year, “I want to complete my degree and see what happens,” said Nanrag.
On the seventh floor sky bridge, Shannon Dalrymple, a 21-year-old senior, talked about an exhausting summer. She interned at Community Board 8 on 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. It covers the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island. Asked about the beginning of the school year, Dalrymple was blasé. “I’m not nervous, also not excited, I’m pretty neutral to it,” she said.
Dalrymple said she may enroll in graduate school for library sciences in New York City. Her short-term goal?
“Survive.”
She laughed when she spoke, but this reporter believed she was serious.
Annie Murphy can be reached at Annie.Murphy56@myhunter.cuny.edu