Celebrating our First-Ever Student Celebration
Dear At the Table staff, students, and supporters,
Welcome, suddenly, to the Fall 2024 semester! As I write this, many of At the Table’s college students are rounding into their third or fourth week of classes, with first exams in many courses just over the horizon. The summer always feels shorter than we expect, and this one was no exception - we spent it hiring a new tutor (who joins us later this month), revamping our emergency fund, tutoring an unprecedented number of students in summer classes (they averaged a 3.3 GPA!) and building community with our students and peer organizations.
I’m excited to share this edition of the At the Table newsletter with you, courtesy of Juan and Chelsea, At the Table’s amazing Operations duo. Read on to find out:
What it was like for us to gather with our students in person for the first time ever at our June Celebration.
How CUNY students can get free subscriptions to the New York Times, the Washington Post, and more!
What incredible academic and personal milestones At the Table students accomplished since our last letter.
That last section, about student successes, was by far the hardest section of the newsletter for us to write, because it entailed picking just six out of the twenty incredibly inspiring stories our tutoring team shared with us. We are, as always, beyond proud of our students!
Thanks to all of you for being part of changing the college outcomes and experiences for people with lived experience of foster care. It means the world to us!
All my best,
Michael Zink
Executive Director
At the Table
🎉 Our First-Ever Student Celebration 🎉
In June, we hosted our first-ever Student Celebration. For many students and tutors, this was their first time meeting in person. Tutors and students already meet individually for countless hours of study in virtual rooms, but sharing physical space in this way with other students and each other's families offered us a sense of community that’s hard to replicate online.
The event wasn’t just about celebrating academic milestones; we also highlighted personal achievements identified by both students and At the Table. Tutors recognized the accomplishments of their students with personalized certificates, presenting them out loud to students who were open to being honored in community. We were delighted to have the children of several of our college students, who are also parents, join us for the celebration. The day was filled with joyful hugs, kids playing with balloons, and of course, catered food from our friends at City Beet Kitchens that brought everyone together.
See a bit of our ceremony here, and a short speech by one of our students, Yulidia, here.
Did you know that CUNY students get free digital newspaper subscriptions?
Many of our students are first-time or transfer students in the various colleges of the City University of New York (CUNY). As a matriculated student, you have access to a wide range of digital resources and websites that will support your academic journey, but we find that some campuses are better at communicating these resources than others are.
Once accepted, you’ll start by receiving an e-mail to set up your CUNYFirst account, the platform for registering for classes, viewing grades, and managing tuition payments. You’ll need your CUNYFirst login credentials, which you create by visiting the CUNYFirst login page and following the instructions to set up your account.
Through the CUNY Library System, you can enjoy free access to digital newspapers like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. To activate your subscriptions, visit the library's website and follow the instructions under the Databases & More section for students. You’ll need to scroll through the list, but you’ll be able to read articles and explore archives, which are great for both academic research and keeping up with todays events outside of social media.
Besides news access, CUNY students can use Kanopy, a video streaming platform that offers a vast collection of films, documentaries, and educational videos. Kanopy is especially valuable for film studies, arts, and social sciences students, but it’s also a great source of entertainment and learning for anyone. To get started, simply log into Kanopy using your active CUNY email and enjoy on-demand access for free!
Student Successes
✨ M found English to be the hardest subject, but then passed the two levels of composition back-to-back in the summer and got the last credits she needed to graduate with an Associate's from Medgar Evers!
✨ R graduated from Borough of Manhattan Community College with straight A's in her final semester. She had a beautiful graduation ceremony escorted by a professor who mentored her. She also originally expected to stop with an Associate's, but she believed everyone who believed in her and enrolled to continue with a Bachelor's degree at John Jay!
✨ A transferred to Borough of Manhattan Community College after a break from school and is doing an amazing job. Her semester GPA jumped an astronomical 2 points from her last semester in college and she is so proud of herself!
✨ K graduated from high school and got into the Macaulay Honors program at Hunter College!
✨ Y graduated from Kingsborough with an Associate's in Criminal Justice! She originally doubted she would be able to finish her degree. Now, she has transferred to John Jay, the school of her dreams that had rejected her when she was applying as a freshman, and she is over the moon with joy!
✨ C only has one semester left in her Bachelor's in Forensic Psychology program at John Jay. She was selected for a CASES internship where she will get practice experience shadowing in the courtroom. They usually don't hire candidates who haven't graduated yet, but the interviewers were so impressed with her qualifications that they did not want to let her go!
