School + Work = A Personal Philosophy of Life
Senior Brandi Sims, who grew up in Harlem, says that when she was considering where to complete her undergraduate education after graduating from Bronx Community College, word on the street was that Brooklyn College was a great school.
     “A friend told me how great the English curriculum was,” says Brandi, a journalism and women’s studies major who already had an associate degree in psychology. “And everyone raved about the range of student activities. When I saw what the tuition was, that sealed the deal.”
     Sight unseen, Brandi decided to come to Brooklyn College in 2006. (It was, in fact, the only college she applied to.) She first saw the campus at orientation, and she marveled at how easy the transfer and registration process was.      “I know that registration can be quite a hassle at some schools, but that has never been the case here,” she says.
     One of the things she likes most about Brooklyn College is its diversity. “The fact that we have so many different backgrounds makes classes so alive,” says Brandi. “Even when we disagree, at the end of class, we’re all still cool with each other.”
     Another plus is that professors challenge their students. “They treat you like an adult,” she says. “They are not going to chase you down for an assignment. They prepare you for the real world.”
     And the scenic campus is the icing on the cake for Brandi. “In the spring and summer, I like to sit by the Lily Pond to watch the goldfish,” she says. “It’s so serene there.”      As she entered her senior year she began to incorporate business management courses into her plan of study.
     “I took Sex, Money and Power in fall 2007,” a class, Brandi explains, where students discussed the intersection of women in finance, and race and sex relations. “The professor encouraged us to bring new reading material to the class, generating a very interesting dynamic where students contributed with different points of view.”
     She continued to take business-related courses, not to turn it into another minor but enough to learn about small business and minority entrepreneurial skills.
     “After getting a job at a small business in Manhattan I realized that it was the direction I wanted to go,” she says. “The job showed me my entrepreneurial side. But it was here, at Brooklyn College, where I found my themduate fellow in the speech program, where I assist the director and teach an undergraduate course in speech.
     “I have one more year to go,” says Sharon, explaining that the master’s is a general degree and the area of specialization depends largely on your internships and fellowships, “and the kinds of patients and externships you get assigned by the clinic’s director.”
     Yet Sharon is not one to give up on her fiction writing. “The kind connection you have with the people you meet is very intense. I’m hoping that it trickles down to my writing and informs my characters and how I see the world.
     Each venture brings thus a new beginning for Sharon, as T.S. Eliot would put it. But in the end, it still is the word.