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\u2019s 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\u2019t disappear. <\/p>\n
EXPERIENCE AND BACKGROUND: <\/p>\n
As a student who was homeschooled my whole life, you might assume I didn\u2019t have many opportunities to participate in clubs or student leadership. You would unfortunately (or fortunately for my case), be wrong.
\nThroughout 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. <\/p>\n
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.
\nDuring the first half of my gap year after high school, I became a member of the Community Affairs Unit at the Manhattan Borough President\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Across all these experiences, the most important thing I\u2019ve learned is that representation should involve being open to hearing new ideas from different perspectives and committing to making sure everyone\u2019s voice is heard.<\/p>\n
That is the kind of representative I plan to be for our class.<\/p>\n
WHY I WANT YOUR VOTE:<\/p>\n
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.
\nIt\u2019s important to me that as a representative, I don\u2019t speak for everyone without actually speaking to everyone. <\/p>\n
If elected, I want to create a system where our ideas don\u2019t feel like they disappear after we share them. I\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t have to wonder whether it disappeared into a group chat or meeting agenda.<\/p>\n
I also want to hear ideas that I haven\u2019t thought of yet! Some of the best things I\u2019ve worked on throughout my life started because someone else saw a problem or possibility that I didn\u2019t.
\nI\u2019m not running because I think I already know exactly what our class needs. I\u2019m running because I plan to find out, then organize, advocate, collaborate, and lastly, follow through. <\/p>\n
You said \/ We DID<\/p>\n
I would be honored to use those skills to represent Macaulay John Jay\u2019s Class of 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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