Hi everyone!! My name is Preya and I am so excited to be a part of Macaulay Honors at John Jay! I am majoring in Law & Society and Economics. GO BLOODHOUNDS!!

My campaign in centered around reliability and community, and here are the stats to prove it:

Experience:

Teacher’s Assistant: I have been a teacher’s assistant since freshman year, meaning I have worked with 150+ students. I have taught lessons, tutored students, organized and graded paperwork and helped students find internships no matter what they were interested in. AND I CAN DO THE SAME FOR YOU!! I am very extroverted and if you haven’t seen me in class, very funny 😀. Because I have been doing this since freshman year, I have an extensive background on how to build a community for our campus and that’s what I plan to do.

Mock Trial President: I was the mock trial president for two years. I did EXTENSIVE research, prepped discussions, wrote hundreds of opening statements and arguments. So, I know how to get to the point . This also opened the door to many opportunities for me by helping me practice my public speaking skills and how to advocate for resources. Trust me, it was very hard to get funding and fun events planned, but because of my persistence we were able to hold a school wide Mock Trial 🙂.

Criminal Court (Sex Trafficking) Intern: I was a part of the Sonia and Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program where I interned at Queens Criminal Court under Judge Toko Serita. I was writing legal memos and observing trials. This gave me an opportunity to network with lawyers, judges and more. If you ever need help on how to prepare for interviews, looking over a resume, or how to network and maintain connections, come to me!!!

President of NAACH (Dance): I was the president of my school’s Bollywood Dance Team. Not only did this help me learn how to create choreography, but how to create a community that helps each other grow. Just like dance, college is fast paced. Yet, I spent years ensuring that no one was left behind, and I will do the same here! I could also recommend you guys some fire Hindi music.

There are tons of other things like being the Affinity Rep for SASA (South Asian Student Association), a tutor, and an NYU Law Institute intern, but I want to highlight some things I plan for the future.

Future:

Community Events / Study Groups: As we are a very small cohort, community means more than anything. This is why I will plan community events such as a Pie off 😜 (if you want to learn what that means, vote for me) and study groups. Additionally, because of my extroverted personality, I will be able to communicate and create close relationships with other campuses, building a stronger CUNY community overall.

Opportunities Research: All of us are looking for opportunities and ways to get real world experience, because of this I will use my research skills (and like I have done for 100+ students) to find opportunities for you and your major!!! I want to foster a community where people share knowledge and help each other grow.

Resume + Interview Help: I have prepped over 30 of my students for interviews and helped over 50 tweak their resume. MORE THAN 75% of those students have gotten the role (so proud of them)!!! With my background, I can help any student (not only find opportunities) but apply to them as well.

Metro Cards: Recently, the school metrocards have stopped working and now we all have to pay $3.00 (soon to be $3.10) for the metro fare. I will work towards advocating for all the campuses to get metrocards and save the student body money (because who actually wants to pay for the fare 😔).

Graduate School / Law School Prep: I will be applying to law school myself, so creating a study group where we all keep each other accountable is my promise.

HERE FOR YOU: Whatever concerns or suggestions you have, come to me!!! Like I have done finding everyone’s textbooks, I am here for everyone and every community.

So let’s take the next step to build a strong community (AND YOUR FUTURE) and vote for Preya Paul to represent John Jay at Scholars Council!!! 🤗

Hi fellow Macaulay students, My name is Nana Adwoa Agyemang. Most of us have already met, talked, or at least seen each other around, and with less than 2 dozen students in our John Jay freshman cohort, I think that’s exactly how representation should feel: PERSONAL! Your representative should be someone you can text, stop in the hallways, or send an idea to and know it won’t disappear.

EXPERIENCE AND BACKGROUND:

As a student who was homeschooled my whole life, you might assume I didn’t have many opportunities to participate in clubs or student leadership. You would unfortunately (or fortunately for my case), be wrong.
Throughout almost my entire high school career, I served as both a Teen Reading and Teen Civics Ambassador for the New York Public library (NYPL). In addition to my responsibilities tutoring younger students in my community, I moderated panels, advocated against book bans and censorship alongside NYPL leadership, contributed to citywide and national publications, and represented NYC youth in public events.

As an avid artist, I also spent three years as co-founder and captain of the mural club at Harlem School of the Arts, where I helped lead the planning and completion of murals for communities throughout the city.
During the first half of my gap year after high school, I became a member of the Community Affairs Unit at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office under Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, now Comptroller of NYC. There, I assisted with outreach and the planning of borough-wide community events and wrote an internally distributed paper about the importance of youth representation in government.

During the second half of my gap year, I collaborated with a U.S. based youth organization where I created and led a 6 to 8 week program in Ghana for approximately 15 underserved young people, supporting them through mentorship and small grants as they pursued their individual passions and goals.

Across all these experiences, the most important thing I’ve learned is that representation should involve being open to hearing new ideas from different perspectives and committing to making sure everyone’s voice is heard.

That is the kind of representative I plan to be for our class.

WHY I WANT YOUR VOTE:

I had an opportunity to meet most of you during orientation, and one of the things that excites me the most is how different our interests, experiences, and goals already are.
It’s important to me that as a representative, I don’t speak for everyone without actually speaking to everyone.

If elected, I want to create a system where our ideas don’t feel like they disappear after we share them. I’ll start by working with the three other John Jay representatives who already know how this system works. I would regularly bring concerns and proposals from our class to the Scholars Council and report back on what happened, including when something is still being worked on or needs to be revised.

Making Macaulay more accessible. As a student who relies heavily on public transportation, I know how quickly the cost can add up. I plan to advocate for stronger transportation support for Macaulay students to the best of my ability, while also making existing transportation resources easier for students to find.

Building a stronger academic network. Being spread across 8 campuses should be an advantage. During orientation we discussed creating study groups, and I would like to take it a step further and develop ways for students taking similar subjects to connect across campuses for study groups, accountability partners, and academic support, especially around midterms and finals.

Making representation accountable. I want to give our class regular updates on what students have asked for, what I have brought to the Council, what action has been taken, and what still needs work. If you bring something to me, you shouldn’t have to wonder whether it disappeared into a group chat or meeting agenda.

I also want to hear ideas that I haven’t thought of yet! Some of the best things I’ve worked on throughout my life started because someone else saw a problem or possibility that I didn’t.
I’m not running because I think I already know exactly what our class needs. I’m running because I plan to find out, then organize, advocate, collaborate, and lastly, follow through.

You said / We DID

I would be honored to use those skills to represent Macaulay John Jay’s Class of 2030.

Hey there everyone!

My name is Toka Hussein, and I’m so excited to run to represent the intersection of both Macaulay Mountain Lions 🦁❤️ and John Jay Bloodhounds 🐶💙🐾!

I’m so grateful to have met and connected with everyone these past weeks, but I cannot wait to learn more about each and every one of you and the people you grow to become.

Before I get into my experience, I want to talk more about who I am as a person. I was born in Egypt, and moved to Queens when I was 3 years old. Growing up, I have always loved reading, writing, and meeting new people. If you haven’t noticed already, I am a very social person and love to be around people all the time, a true extrovert. I come from a big family, with three siblings: a 14 year old sister, a 7 year old brother, and a 3 year old sister. Being the oldest, I have had to learn leadership and organization in such a deep way that it has become embedded in my personality, and I hope I’ll be able to showcase these skills as your MHC representative!

I went to Brooklyn Tech HS, and to say it was stressful is a severe understatement. However, I learned many great skills and was a very active member of the community. I was president of the Model United Nations team, which had approximately 150 active members! We got to compete at the local, national, and international level, with many speaking and writing awards being earned (and winning best high school team internationally!). I was also the Senior Hard News Editor at our 100-year old student newspaper: The Survey. I got to write and explore many great topics around my school, and the people I met from that experience were unforgettable! Aside from those two, I have also spoken at the United Nations as a youth delegate on the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East, served as the Event Coordinator and co-founder of the Arab Student Association, was the Editor-in-Chief and founder of the school fashion magazine, and in National Honors Society and the National Social Studies Honors Society.

Outside of school, I also participated in the Sonia Sotomayor Internship Program where I interned with a New York Supreme Court Judge (and got to meet Justice Sotomayor in person!), was a student advisor at PressPass NYC where we helped underfunded schools start student newspapers and journalism programs, and presented at the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association to a group of national journalists!

Phew, that was a lot! 😅 The bottom line is, I have extensive experience leading, presenting, listening to concerns, writing professionally, organizing and hosting events, and of course, connecting with people from all over the country, and even the world!

As your MHC representative, I want to continue supporting the close community we have already grown to be. Starting the Instagram group chat for the ~25 of us was one of the best ideas I’ve had, and if I am elected I aim to continue with projects and events that generate a lively social life at a school known for its isolated commuter community. The closeness we have should go beyond the close friendships, and into the professional world to form real connections that will help us all grow in our respective fields, no matter how different they may be.

Of course, I’m running as a representative, not a dictator, and therefore I am devoted to listening to the ideas that each of you have to better both our Macaulay and John Jay communities. I want to highlight the uniqueness of each of you and how we can come together and form a circle of intelligent, ambitious, and thoughtful students to shape our tomorrow.

If you have any ideas you would like to see come to life, feel free to reach out! DM me on Instagram @tokaaboka or catch me in person around the building. I cannot wait for the chance to represent all of you!

Vote Toka for Scholar’s Council now! 😁

Hello, fellow Mountain Lions! 🦁🦁

My name’s Syed, and I’m running to be your MSC representative for John Jay College (Go Bloodhounds 🐶💙)!

My experience and skills:
Throughout high school, I’ve had the opportunity to advocate for ideas and, more importantly, learn how to listen to the people around me. As a varsity member of Stuyvesant’s nationally ranked Speech and Debate team, listening attentively was a principle by which I conducted myself; it had helped me hone my arguments to address the concerns of those who disagreed with me. I also enjoyed listening to the arguments of younger teammates, and supporting them as they grew by sharing advice. Also, I worked with middle schoolers as a volunteer tutor, helping them strengthen their skills in English and mathematics in order to prepare for challenging standardized exams. I made sure to listen to the concerns of the students and their parents, carefully understanding their academic needs; it only made it that much more satisfying seeing exceptional results in the end. For my final project in US History, I researched sentencing disparities in urban communities at the height of anti-drug hysteria in the US, exploring the different ways that institutions affected real communities. That research piqued my interest in fairness and meaningful social reform, and made me passionate about using my voice for something bigger than myself, which is something I’m sure a lot of us here at John Jay can relate to. That’s why I chose to major in political science. These experiences in school taught me that advocacy wasn’t about being the loudest person in the room, but understanding people, and making sure their concerns were heard.

What will I do?
Advocate: You might’ve heard of talks about a CUNY OMNY card, I’m here to tell you they exist and right now there are barely any in circulation. That’s why I plan on fighting for you guys to receive this luxury.
Study Opportunities mailing list: Undoubtedly, most of John Jay’s student body intends to attend law school after graduation, and studying for the LSAT will be difficult. If elected as your rep, I will try my best to introduce a mailing list for different study resources, and I will also work to get funding to cover the costs of said programs.
Suggestions form: I’ll be opening a suggestions form! This way I can hear your concerns and questions.

Why me?
As a representative, I want to be someone you can actually approach. No matter what it may be, whether you have an idea for an event, a concern about student life, or even a simple suggestion to improve anything on campus, I want to hear it.

I’m not running alone, btw; I’m a member of The M Line, a group of students from each campus running as a slate. By doing this, we will work together to decrease the gap between campuses. There’s power in unity, so I promise to create a more unified community and fight for the issues that affect all CUNY students, whether it be transportation, communication, finances, and/or making CUNY a more memorable experience. Stay on the right track! And if you’re from a different campus, please check out your campus candidate that’s running with The M Line!

Feel free to connect with me and share any ideas/questions, my Instagram is @styed.styed! 😁

Hey everyone!

I’m Muyassarkhon, and I’m so grateful to be a part of Macaulay Honors at John Jay with all of you wonderful people, and I look forward to representing your voices!

A bit about me: as you’ve seen from the long header of this statement, my name has always sparked questions about where I’m from, what language I speak, and what my history is. Because of this, I’ve become an informal spokesperson for the region, representing Central Asia and its cultures. And while being a geography teacher at five years old was a bit stressful, it’s from this experience that I discovered my passion for languages, reading, fashion, and sewing, since each one is really just another way of interacting with the world and building relationships through it.

These skills of listening, connecting, and representing thoughtfully are what defined my leadership at my local library, where I’ve volunteered consistently for three years. I started as a circulation volunteer, keeping the library running by supporting staff, sorting materials, and managing inventory. From this, I learned that leadership is not just about visibility or position, but more importantly, reliability and trust. People trust you with bigger responsibilities once they’ve seen you show up and deliver on smaller ones. I eventually became Lead Executive of the Teen Action Group, managing programming and student initiatives for the entire library, where I learned to translate between what students wanted and what the institution could offer.

So, Macaulay students, with your vote, I would work on continuing and creating more Macaulay-wide events not only for professional networking, but to strengthen the Macaulay community bond, all the while ensuring that you are always informed and in the loop. Collaboration is key, so you and your ideas are imperative for the collective success of our Macaulay Community, and it would be an honor to represent your voices!

Vote for Muyassarkhon!