Multimedia Reporting Fall 2022

 Daniel Andrade

Technology in Schools

HOST INTRO: Most grade schools in the United States have returned to in person learning, returning students to a classroom and back to a social environment. Many schools, however, are keeping technology a large part of students’ learning curriculum, using many different platforms such as Zoom, Teams, and Google Classroom. Daniel Andrade has the story. 

AMBI: 4^th grade Children’s classroom

TRACK: In a fourth grade classroom of Mission Kids Elementary, students are running amuck, playing games and excited to be surrounded by their peers. I am here with Jennifer Pandolfo, a mother of five and the Director of Mission Kids Elementary, who believes that while this increase of technology is necessary for the students, it may start doing more harm than good.

ACT: JENNIFER PANDOLFO: Everything is put on Google Classroom. We are able to use smartboards and have video-based curriculums, and that helps people who aren’t as good at teaching a lesson. Over the last couple years, they had to use their computers, that was all they had initially. It is not going away. So, I think it’s necessary for our children to learn it, but we have to be aware that maybe there is a point where it’s too much. 

AMBI: Silence

TRACK: While for college students, using technology to this extent would be beneficial in their professional careers, grade school students are now seeing this new expectation put on them. COVID seems to be the source of this boost in technological use, and middle school students have been the center of this new increase in technology. 

AMBI: Computers Typing in classroom

ACT: ETHAN BRITO: Everything was on paper. Nothing was really on a computer. They taught us about it in 3^rd grade, but I was like, “I’m never gonna use this”. And then COVID happened, and everything was on the computer… it never really made a transition back.

ACT: CARLOS MONATNEZ: When COVID hit, we started to use zoom, we used that for practically all our year of 2020. One of my teachers likes to call the kids from 2020, “COVID kids”. That’s all they know. All they know is Zoom and all that. They’re not used to the fact that we’re in school.

AMBI: Silence 

TRACK: We return to Jennifer Pandolfo, who is also a mother of five, to speak on how she manages her children’s technological usage.

ACT: JENNIFER PANDOLFO: They don’t even know how to write down assignments. They come home, they probably use the computer most of the day at school and then they come home and sit right in front of the computer. 

TRACK: She says they have to be very intentional about getting the students away from screens—however, for some students- especially those with special needs, it can be an especially great tool.

ACT: My second grader has a disability, and so technology has become a huge part, not necessarily any different than it would be, but I am happy for the technology that is available to her. For example, it is very difficult for her to write. And everybody says, “Oh, we’re just going to be using a computer” and it is true, she can navigate plucking letters on a computer easier than she can write a letter.

TRACK: Technology will not be going away. And while students do need to learn to increase their technological literacy, we need to be careful that we do not over saturate students and have them know more than looking at a computer screen. With The Baruch Times, this is Daniel Andrade.

By: Hyunji Ashley Kim

Host Intro: The pandemic has upended what many people think of as normal. MayoClinic reports that since the pandemic, the rates of anxiety and depression have increased substantially especially for college students as a study found that 1 in 3 students experience significant anxiety and depression. One of the famous memes on Tiktok is the sound of someone  screaming “I want to go home” as it writes “When it’s 10 pm and you want to be in bed but your friends insist on going out” on the screen. Ashley Kim visited one college in New York City where students say the social scene has been… a little weird since being back on campus.

AMBI: Students chatting in the lobby, by the elevators, etc.

TRACK: I’m here in the plaza outside Baruch College’s vertical campus. Students are eating lunch, skateboarding, and chatting with each other in between their busy schedules. It’s been over a year now since students have been back in person, but Jobaer Hossain says things are still not quite the way they were.

ACT: “The pandemic did have an effect on me as it made me more of a recluse because I was at home most of the time and didn’t interact with my friends physically. So when we came back, I had a hard time speaking up publicly or just even being social with people again.” 

TRACK: Hossain is a lower senior majoring in CIS at Baruch College. Alan Koyfman, a junior at Baruch majoring in Finance, says he’s observed the same thing.

ACT:  “This was something that was super prevalent when I went back to campus as you would see that most people didn’t want to talk to people and make friends even when ‘in person’ classes resumed and it was really frustrating on my part”

TRACK: But for Koyfman, the silver lining was that it served as a bit of a wake-up call.

ACT: “The pandemic certainly changed my perspective of conversations and how I view my relationships with people. I started focusing on improving my communication skills as I felt that I have been super introverted before, especially when I saw that everyone was going into their shells.”

TRACK: I spoke with Teresa Hurst, the director at the Baruch College Counseling Center about the effect she saw in students’ social skills and mental health due to COVID. 

ACT: “A lot of students were isolated being far from friends or peers here at Baruch, or their families in other countries for international students. A lot of students struggled feeling disconnected which then could affect someone’s skills in terms of making friends or knowing how to build relationships, or communications… Across the nation, the symptoms of anxiety and depression has gone up in general for college students across time, especially during the pandemic,too. The stress from taking courses, nervousness about grades, and getting jobs. There was added stress as students might have lost jobs which increased financial stress and anxiety about if they were going to be able to pay for school and finish their degrees…”

TRACK: 

As people around the globe are finding the balance between the new normal after the pandemic and the inertia to go back to the life we once lived before COVID-19, I hope and wish that everyone but especially college students’ mental health sees a huge improvement. 

For Baruch College, this is Ashley Kim in Manhattan.

Host Intro: In today’s day and age everyone utilizes their cell phones and other technology as means of communication, entertainment, and much more. What happens when something we depend on so much is used as a vehicle to attempt to trick and damage us? Leonard Melnik spoke with several individuals pertaining to their experiences with scam messages.

AMBI: Sound of MTA train approaching on the tracks (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)

TRACK: I am sitting with Ben Hecker on the MTA, he is a game design major at NYU who has recently released his own video game and has been telling me about a really fun social game he deployed in his class. While the FCC warns that text scams are on the rise, that does not seem so to Ben.

ACT: BEN: Um ,scam texts I mean they are a thing. They aren’t a big deal for me at least, they are usually in the form of “Your venmo account got signed into recently, click this link to fix it”. But every time I get the message the phone number is different and the link is really sketchy looking.

TRACK:  What Ben has just described is called smishing, it is a type of attack where the scammer will disguise themselves as a legitimate entity and try to trick the victim. According to BleepingComputer there has been an exponential rise in this type of attack.

TRACK: While he is very aware of scams and won’t fall for one easily, Ben also does not have a lot of public information that could be used in such scams.

ACT: BEN : But also I tend to be more careful on the internet and can imagine that other people who are less careful probably get a lot more scam stuff because their information is more out there.

TRACK: Now I am on Sheepshead Bay, speaking to Nicole who is a pre-med student. She shares a similar experience with Ben, and personally noticed a trend opposite to the FCC.

ACT: NICOLE: I actually noticed a decrease in scam messages when I purchased my new phone.

TRACK: While maybe her new phone is better at deducting scams, she also experienced Smishing attacks

ACT: NICOLE: Sometimes the messages tried to fake a company like AT&T

TRACK: When I asked her what the texts usually contained, she told me that they usually provide some sort of positive incentive.

ACT: NICOLE: It usually included a small paragraph like “Claim your prize now!” and then a link to some obscure website that I never clicked.

TRACK: While she had never clicked on one of the links, I asked her if she ever responded to the texts
ACT: NICOLE: No never, actually on one occasion I simply wrote “Shut up”.

HOST INTRO: For CUNY student athletes, this is only their second season of competition since everything was shut down by the pandemic, and many find themselves overwhelmed trying to find their footing again. Student athletes everywhere tend to be pretty stressed balancing their course loads with their demanding athletic schedules. According to a recent study by Northeastern University “95% of male and 85% of female athletes report higher stress compared to 52% of non-athlete students.” Elissa Leung spoke with several student-athletes at Baruch College and found that this stress is compounded even further for students at commuter schools.

AMBI: Nat sounds of athletes chatting in level B2.

TRACK: Baruch’s athletic facility, known as the ARC Arena, is located in the basement levels of the Newman Vertical Campus building. The walls are abundantly covered with the school color, blue, and the trophies of the previous champions. Student-athletes gather here in between classes and in their off time to socialize with others, work on homework, and wait anxiously for practice.

AMBI: Nat sounds of men’s basketball practice.

TRACK: Jackenson Edme, a Baruch sophomore and a member of the men’s basketball team, frequently spends time down here to study for his classes. Between his classes and commitment to the basketball team, he says it’s a lot. 

ACT: JACKENSON: Yeah sometimes I feel overwhelmed and depressed. 

TRACK: He tries to stay positive by reminding himself that he’s lucky.

ACT: JACKENSON: Many people don’t have that opportunity but I do and I try to take it serious and be a student-athlete by trying to take care of my education and basketball and try to balance them I hope.

TRACK: As a second year student-athlete, he has developed new habits and learned from his freshman year.

ACT: JACKENSON: The covid year got everyone lazy I think. But after that year I tried to catch up with my work, I tried to do the same thing I did in high school which was not helping so I had to improve. So this semester I try to study in the morning and at night which is pretty good.

AMBI: Nat sounds of women’s volleyball practice.

TRACK: Isabella Doring, a sophomore on Baruch’s women’s volleyball team, has also been making adjustments. She’s had to, because she commutes from upstate New York—an exceptionally long commute even for a mostly commuter school like Baruch.

ACT: ISABELLA: A little over 2 hours each way and people thought I was absolutely insane for doing that last year and they were definitely right it is very crazy.

TRACK: She has practice or games 6 days a week, so she’s had to find ways to make those commutes productive. 

ACT: ISABELLA: I’ve definitely learned how to manage my time around the bus so some days depending on what’s going on in school like I’ll use the bus time as like Grind Time, study, get those assignments done, but other days I’ll really use that time to just relax and have me time and listen to music and take care of my mental health a little more so I feel like it forces me to kind of get that time in for myself.

TRACK: Like Doring, other Baruch student-athletes find extra time in their commutes to either study or reset mentally. Regina Kelley, a senior on the women’s tennis team, travels from Westchester everyday for school and finds her commute therapeutic.

ACT: REGINA: I would take those commute times to walk to school from Grand Central because that gave me like nice outdoor air even though it’s the city so it’s not that great but it’s better than nothing and it helps me think and clear my head and it reduces my stress.

TRACK: Kelley feels that Baruch being a commuter school has a large impact on student-athletes like her.

ACT: REGINA: I definitely think it’s affected sort of my grades in a negative way. I think that being at school and having everything on campus would greatly reduce the stress of the student athletes. I know a lot of student athletes who commute and they get home at 11 o’clock at night from practice and they can’t study, they have to sleep.

TRACK: But student-athletes like Doring say they’ve grown a lot through these challenges. 

ACT: ISABELLA: I would say you’re so much more resilient and strong and capable then you really think you are because all this stuff I didn’t really have a choice you’re just kind of thrown into it and you just have to make the most of it.

TRACK: The women’s volleyball and men’s soccer teams will compete in the CUNYAC playoffs this week to finish off Baruch’s run at the fall CUNYAC championship berths. For Baruch College, I’m Elissa Leung.

HOST INTRO: Since 1976, the College of Staten Island has been classified as an NCAA division III school. In that time they’ve won 108 conference championships. They’ve been so successful that three years ago, the Dolphins were invited to move up to Division II. But, in 2020, all plans were put to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, after two long years of online learning, CSI’s student athletes will get to compete at this higher level for the very first timeSamantha Sollitto has the story. 

AMBI: The light chatter of baseball parents as they sit on the bleachers at CSI’s baseball field, watching their sons play a scrimmage game. 

TRACK: It’s a brisk autumn day here in Staten Island, perfect weather for chatting and relaxing as we watch a scrimmage baseball game. I’m here at the College of Staten Island as the baseball team plays feverishly in preparation for their spring season. Although it’s fall, practice starts early for the boys, given the school’s recent acceptance into Division II. 

ACT: MICHAEL MAURO: We have to up our game a little bit. Practices are longer, you know we’re allowed to practice really throughout the whole year. We used to take off two-three months in Division I where we didn’t hit or even throw the ball, but now we kinda go right through all 12 months the kids are doing something. 

TRACK: CSI head baseball coach, Michael Mauro knows the stakes that come with this big move. Being the longest-tenured head coach on staff, Mauro has had his fair share of DIII games and firmly believes that DII will be a little more challenging for his boys. 

ACT: MAURO: It’s a total different animal than Division III. A lot of these kids in Division II are Division I kids that weren’t really playing on their team or maybe academically couldn’t make it in the Division I school and they dropped down to Division II, so the quality is just so much different, but it’s been exciting doing it too. 

TRACK: The students themselves have also felt the difference when it comes to playing in a higher division. Tom Marten, a CSI junior, hasn’t had the chance to play with the baseball team while they were in Division III due to the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a curveball at his college career. Now, he gets to experience Division II with the rest of the team, exploring brand new territory for the player. 

ACT: MARTEN: D2’s definitely a bigger challenge than D3, the level of competition goes up, the pitching, the pitchers locate better for baseball especially. Practice has been more intricate, we focus on the little things a little bit more and it’s taken a little more seriously by all the guys.

AMBI: The splashing of water at CSI’s pool, as I interview a track runner who also works as a lifeguard for his school. 

TRACK: The baseball team is just one of the many sports affected by this move to Division II. Track star Kyle Quesada works as a lifeguard for the school when he’s not in class or at practice. He says he’s also feeling the pressure.  

ACT: QUESADA: D2 is a little more competitive than when we were D3, so there’s a bit of a change when it comes to our practice now. There’s a little more pressure, but there’s not as much pressure as if we were D1. 

AMBI: Baseball parents, once again, chatting and cheering on their sons as I interview a cheerleader while we watch the game. 

TRACK: Sports like track and baseball feel that the move is intimidating, but other less traditional sports see this as an opportunity. For cheerleader Deanna Soueid, she feels the change is not scary, but rather important for helping cheerleading at CSI be recognized as a sport. 

ACT: SOUEID: I feel like there’s a lot of misconception between us and the athletic department, people still view us as a club, but, we do hold titles for CUNY, a lot of titles that other teams don’t have, so I think the move to D2 especially now that we have a new athletic director, I think he’s really interested in trying to make cheerleading known to be a sport. 

TRACK: She says one of the biggest impacts of their change in status will be having more resources. 

ACT: SOUEID: A lot of the coaches are working harder to recruit people from out of state rather than recruiting just from Staten Island or just New York. I know the basketball coaches talked to me about going to Texas and recruiting people all the way in Texas and I feel like funding is a big difference too, like the funding we’re getting to remodel the buildings and everything is really, I feel like, the biggest difference now that we’re D2.

TRACK: With sports finally in full swing, players and coaches alike are confident that the upcoming season will be one for the books. For Baruch College, I’m Samantha Sollitto.