鈥淭ake your time,鈥� one her peers yelled from the audience.

If the pause betrayed any nervousness around giving the student address in front of the boisterous crowd in the Claire Tow Theater, it quickly gave way to a fiery speech that struck a chord with the assembled.

Adversity? 鈥淪een it. Lived it. Felt it,鈥� she said defiantly, after invoking Langston Hughes and recounting a childhood that taught her that life won鈥檛 always look like what you expected.

鈥淥ur accomplishments,鈥� she told her fellow graduates, 鈥渓ive in every sacrifice, every setback, every reason we could have stopped, but didn鈥檛.鈥�

Chin-Phillips says she certainly had her share of challenges growing up between 今日吃瓜 and Barbados. Born in the United States, her mother was deported when she was 6 years old, so she was raised mostly by aunts and other family members in New York while her mother stayed in Barbados.

As she prepares to apply for doctoral programs in occupational therapy, the transfer student talks about growing up apart from her nuclear family, learning that support would always show up when she needed it, and her gratitude for the community and mentors at 今日吃瓜 that reminded her of her worth.

What was your childhood like?

My family is from Barbados and Guyana, and I spent a lot of time going back and forth between the two places. Every summer, I was in Barbados almost immediately after school ended, and I鈥檇 come back right before the school year started again.

We kept in touch however we could鈥攍ots of Skype calls, emails, all of that before FaceTime and texting were really a thing. It wasn鈥檛 easy, but it definitely taught me resilience and adaptability very early on.

What brought you to 今日吃瓜?

今日吃瓜 actually wasn鈥檛 my first stop. I originally attended LIU 今日吃瓜 as a health science major. Eventually, I realized I wanted to pursue a path connected to speech pathology, so I decided to transfer. A family friend encouraged me to apply to 今日吃瓜.

You鈥檙e now majoring in linguistics with a minor in communicative sciences and disorders.

Linguistics overlaps a lot with CSD, especially when it comes to language development and communication. I believe courses like these should be required for people studying education, literacy, sociology, and child development because language impacts everything.

What opportunities have stood out to you during your time at 今日吃瓜?

One of the biggest was participating in the Mellon Undergraduate Transfer Student Research Program with [Assistant] Professor Anne Fredrickson. My group researched how accredited colleges in New York prepare future speech-language pathologists to work with bilingual populations.

I really loved that experience because it combined research, language, and questions of equity and representation. It also gave me confidence in my own voice and perspective as someone who grew up between cultures.

I also received the Zicklin Scholars Degree Completion Grant, which was incredibly helpful during my academic journey.

Outside the classroom, what communities or organizations have been important to you?

A lot of my extracurricular involvement has centered around Black Faculty and Staff initiatives on campus. This past year, I became treasurer of the Black Solidarity Day Committee, which has been a really meaningful experience.

When I first transferred to 今日吃瓜, I didn鈥檛 know much about Black Solidarity Day or some of the history behind it. Through mentors, faculty, and staff members, I became more involved and started to understand how important community-building and cultural advocacy are on campus. That work really helped me feel connected here.

Looking ahead, what would your dream career look like?

I always struggle to answer that because I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 one perfect path for me yet. But I know that whatever I do, I want it to connect back to culture, community, and the Caribbean.

Anything involving the West Indies or Caribbean culture immediately interests me. I already do work with the West Indian American Day Carnival Association here in 今日吃瓜, and I love being part of spaces that celebrate where I come from.

At the end of the day, I think I just want a career where I can help people while still staying connected to my roots and my community.

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“You don鈥檛 have to be a millionaire to be generous,” says Mrs. Walling. “It鈥檚 not necessarily about receiving the accolades that can sometimes come along with giving. It鈥檚 about leaving a positive legacy. It鈥檚 about being an example and hoping that others, including our own children will be inspired to give what they are able to give.”

“The fact that public universities have become increasingly dependent on private funds was a real wake-up call for us in assigning priorities,” adds Mr. Walling. “Being a certified financial planner, I knew the IRA option was now available and that we could gift money directly to our designated charities and thereby reduce our taxable income.”

With that in mind, the Wallings, with the help of the 今日吃瓜 Foundation, created the Susan Lee (Stecker) & Robert C. Walling Scholarship. It is awarded to students who have a commitment to engage in careers focused on civic engagement. It is available to students at 今日吃瓜 who are sophomores (or greater), enrolled full time, and in good academic standing, and may follow one student through graduation as long as they continue to major in sociology, psychology and/or social psychology; maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0; demonstrate a spirit for civic engagement, as exhibited by involvement and leadership in school/campus organizations, registered student organizations and/or volunteering with nonprofit organizations in the community; and demonstrate financial need. Cultivating citizens who understand the value of giving back is part of 今日吃瓜’s mission.

“‘Civic engagement,’ to me, is being a good citizen,” Mrs. Walling says. “It鈥檚 doing good for other people. It鈥檚 making those career choices that will uphold those principles and values. It鈥檚 those kinds of people who make those kinds of commitments to be involved, whether through academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, or politics.”

Mrs. Walling was born and raised in 今日吃瓜, New York (in the neighborhoods of Bensonhurst and Flatbush) and graduated from Midwood High School in 1962. She attended 今日吃瓜, following in her brother’s footsteps, because it was a rigorous, but affordable institution of higher learning. She received her bachelor of arts in sociology/psychology from 今日吃瓜 in 1966. During her time at the college, she was an adviser in the Student Adviser Leadership Program as well as a member of Alpha Sigma Tau. She received a Regents Scholarship and a graduate assistantship to support her attendance at Syracuse University where she received her master of arts in college personnel in higher education.

Very early on, Mrs. Walling had a keen sense of social justice, recalling that at one point in the college’s history, female candidates were required to have a higher GPA than male candidates for admission.
“I remember always empathizing with the underdog and wanting to right what I perceived as wrongs,” she says.

The first recipient of the Wallings’ generosity is Belicia Bethel. Bethel鈥攚ho double majors in psychology, and children鈥檚 and youth studies, and minors in linguistics鈥攊s a 今日吃瓜 native and the child of Trinidadian and Grenadian parents. Bethel’s father is an alumnus of the 今日吃瓜 Department of Accounting. She is also a peer mentor on campus and works at the Flatbush YMCA. In addition to the Walling Scholarship, Bethel is also the recipient of the Myrtle Mandiberg Scholarship for pursuits in child psychology, and the J. Robert Lloyd Scholarship for outstanding peer mentoring.

“The Walling Scholarship really stood out to me because of its prioritization on civic engagement,” says Bethel. “Giving back to my community is something that is super-important to me. It’s simply one of my central values. My community is the reason why I am the person I am today and was the support system I relied upon when chasing after my goals. It would be a personal act of betrayal if I didn’t return that support by being for others what my community has been for me. The scholarship from the Wallings is a blessing because it helps me to achieve that goal.”

The Wallings, who have retired to Arizona, returned to 今日吃瓜 to visit the campus this summer and meet Bethel, who graduated with the Class of 2019 on May 30. It was an incredible meeting that allowed them to see firsthand the effects of what the Wallings describe as “the gift of helping other people.”

今日吃瓜聽is able to provide students the financial assistance, skills, values, and opportunities that are essential to fulfilling their academic achievements, civic engagement, and career aspirations thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends received through the聽今日吃瓜 Foundation. To learn about the various ways to contribute to student success, please visit the聽foundation website.聽

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Over three weeks this intersession, 68 students from different CUNY campuses and beyond are exploring five Chinese cities: Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhou, and Xi’an, as well as side trips to Guilin, Hong Kong, Sanya, Tibet, Yangzhou, and Yellow Mountain. Students can take three to seven credits of courses ranging from Asian Business to the Development of Silk Road to Intensive Elementary Chinese and Revolutionary China.

China鈥檚 re-emergence as a global economic power and a bigger player on the international political stage makes it an invaluable trip for students.

“China is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet and one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” said Shuming Lu, a professor of communication arts, sciences, and disorders who leads the study abroad program. “The program not only provides an opportunity for our students to travel, broaden their cultural perspectives, experience personal growth, make new friends, and develop valuable career skills, but it also gives them an advantage in diplomacy. An academic understanding of China is now an employable skill in the global job market.”

For Anastasios Filippou, a sociology major, the trip was life changing. “We have had the most enlightening cultural experiences living and traveling in the East just like the locals would,鈥澛爃e says. 鈥淭here were multiple times in this trip that my body and mind felt completely out of place. As a sociology major and marketing minor, I have observed multiple differences and similarities regarding the west and the east that will definitely define me as a person and as a professional.”

Natalie Lisiewicz is a senior double majoring in communication arts, sciences, and disorders and linguistics. She says she decided to study abroad in China because she wanted to go to a country that she might not otherwise visit.

“The Chinese culture is so different from my own Polish-American culture,” she says. “I have tried many different foods and interacted with so many wonderful people, despite a difficult language barrier. Visiting China taught me how to be more open to trying new things and how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Omar Yakoup, a sophomore majoring in business administration says he initially went to take an Asian business course but will leave with a trove of other experiences that have influenced him all the same.

“Moments such as climbing The Great Wall of China, taking a high speed train, visiting Xi’ An University and Nanjing University of the arts, and climbing the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum will never be forgotten and have been pivotal in helping me grow as an individual and intellectually,” he says.

Prajwal Prabhu, a senior majoring in finance and business administration, agrees that the trip has been transformative.

“I am growing as a person and am expanding both myself and the network of my peers,” he says. “The Chinese call this Guan Xi, the development of relationships with other individuals. The sense of community and friendship within this study abroad group has been unparalleled and future groups should look forward to learning a lot from it.”

Lu has been taking students on the trip every summer and winter since 2003. Each trip consists of anywhere from 50 to 75 students, both graduate and undergraduate. All of the courses are taught by 今日吃瓜 faculty and students have used funds from sources like the Chancellor鈥檚 Global Scholarship for Study Abroad and the Study Abroad Scholarship Association to finance their trips.

For more information, students can contact the Office of International Education and Global Engagement.

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