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Meet Papa Khan.

A short narrative of Shanice Jones, a 14-year-old artist, who admires drawing portraits of people.

College students grapple with uncertainty about their future in the middle of a pandemic

HOST INTRO: With the coronavirus pandemic set to cause another recession that’s potentially worse than 2008, the people who are poised to inherit this uncertain economy are college students and recent college graduates. As many young people are currently trying to finish the year in the midst of disrupted school schedules and lost jobs, they want others to know that they are also struggling. Younger adults who have just started entering the workforce are seeing their jobs — and possibly their futures — disappear. For more on this story, here is Diana Shishkina.

AMBI1: Soft slamming of books, flipping of pages.

AMBI2: Natural bedroom room tone

TRACK: Amanda Elliot, a senior at Hunter College has been studying for months for the  MCAT, or Medical College Admissions Test. While loss of graduation and job security is one aspect of students’ worries, there is another major one that some seniors are facing: applying for postsecondary education, including grad school, law school, and medical school. Elliot spoke to me about her struggles as a college senior reacting to the coronavirus and also attempting to apply to medical school this summer.

AMANDA: For me, dealing with the repercussions of the coronavirus is really stressful and anxiety-inducing because once CUNY had closed, everything suddenly became uncertain. You know, how would we finish our assignments, complete our final papers, projects, presentations, how do we graduate on time.

TRACK: As she’s dealing with trying to pass her final college classes, Elliot has also tried her best to fulfill her role as a campus leader and mentor and check in on the students she was working with before the pandemic. Trying to balance all of her commitments from home has sometimes proved to be a challenge.

AMANDA: You know,  young people really are doing a lot, it’s not just about maintaining themselves, but you’re also maintaining a network — family networks, social networks, school networks, work networks. And people really underestimate the importance of young people in doing that.

TRACK: Elliot’s biggest worry, however, has been getting ready to apply to medical school later this spring. Before the pandemic started spreading, each week of Elliot’s life was planned out on a timeline, including all of her numerous academic and professional commitments. The coronavirus quickly disrupted her routine.

AMANDA: For me, it kinda really threw me, and I had to suddenly adjust all of the things I had planned. Once social distancing was enacted, and stay-at-home orders were given, everything that was pre-scheduled was canceled. And for me, that meant that my MCAT was canceled.

TRACK: The MCAT is a standardized test that is required for admission to almost all medical schools in the United States. Elliot explained how she did not receive any clear communication about how the virus would affect the exam until she found out her exam date got canceled in a mass email. The email forced her and others like her to reschedule her test day, even though testing slots usually fill up months in advance.

AMANDA: So basically, they were saying, you know, good luck finding a spot and kinda just sending us off to do that on our own. It’s not like it’s just one person trying to reschedule, it’s several people vying for the same spots, so it’s just a matter of refreshing the page and searching for it. So that came with its own anxieties. For me, it’s very stressful because a lot of the studying and preparation you do is very dependent on how much time there’s left until you take it.

TRACK: With some postsecondary schools supposedly opening their applications as early as this May to apply for the Fall 2021 school year — which is when Elliot wants to start medical school — many applicants are stressed because they don’t feel like they could fill all of the requirements needed for some of the more rigorous schools.

AMANDA: The reason I’m even, you know, worrying about this is because, in order to apply this cycle, a lot of the deadlines are upcoming and I need to have the MCAT scores to present. I just felt like there hasn’t been much accountability for that, for the effect that this could have on this cycle’s applicants.

TRACK: A lack of communication and accountability is a common sentiment echoed by many students. As colleges and employers attempt to grapple with a situation they have never really faced before, students are feeling pressure to go about their lives like they used to before the pandemic, while also occasionally being berated by their parents and teachers for not taking things seriously or not doing more to help out just because they’re spending more time at home.

AMANDA: I feel that as a CUNY student,  I haven’t really had the same opportunity to think about how can I be part of the solution, how can I contribute, how can I help with everything that’s going on because I frankly really haven’t had the time. And it’s upsetting that we’re expected to go back to business as usual.

TRACK: Jessica Barakat, a 2019 graduate of Baruch College, is feeling the same pressure and frustration that Elliot expressed, even though she’s not currently applying for grad school.

JESSICA: The coronavirus pandemic shut down my job. I’m a production assistant on a live TV show and we’re officially off the air until things calm down, so there’s nothing I can do, even from home. I’m not working at all at this point.

TRACK: Barakat’s dream is to eventually become a producer on a TV show, but the only way to really break into the business is to get real-life experience. She was hoping to do just that with her internship at the Liquid Lunch news show, but with the production paused until further notice, Barakat is unsure whether to hope that she can resume her job soon or to start looking for other options.

JESSICA: Naturally, I’m as frustrated as everyone else is, because we’re self-quarantining and I’m scared because my mother and I both have health issues to an extent. So if one of us was to get the virus, it wouldn’t bode well.

TRACK: Barakat, like Elliot, also empathized with students who are not being taken seriously by their employers and educators while being at home, because she believes that many of these students are navigating through a very uncertain time right now and are also taking on more commitments.

JESSICA: I think younger people have it really bad right now, especially seniors that are graduating. A lot of these students are trying to balance multiple fully-online classes with internships and jobs. I don’t even know how students in more hands-on classes are managing, like medical students. I can’t imagine what they’re going through.

TRACK: Barakat is still annoyed, however, that some people are still not taking this pandemic seriously. She believes that some of her privileged peers and “spring breakers” in general think that they are above the coronavirus, even as their neighbors and loved ones get sick.

JESSICA: I know some people who aren’t really abiding by the recommendations of the government and health professionals. The people that are frustrating me the most, however, are the spring breakers and other groups of younger people who are basically acting like we are not facing a very easily spreading virus right now. CBS recorded some partygoers in Miami, and the students basically said, “If I get it, I get it.” It’s disgusting! They literally just care about their right to party and don’t realize what a major health crisis we’re collective battling.

TRACK: Even though Barakat is annoyed at some young people who aren’t taking their health and the health of others seriously, she is still proud of how New Yorkers have come together and supported each other, and how resilient the city has been through its worst moments.

JESSICA: I feel a great sense of community with everyone else who’s going through this, because, quite literally, we’re all in it together. We have no choice but to band together and fight this disaster, while social distancing of course.

TRACK: Currently, it doesn’t seem like students stand to gain anything for learning in the midst of a pandemic. Colleges such as New York University and Stanford University have refused to lower or refund their hefty tuition fees, even though students cannot currently access facilities that they’re paying for. Other colleges are refusing to refund room and board fees, despite students having to leave campus because of COVID-19 concerns. Finally, most college students were left out of the government’s most recent stimulus package bill, even though many of them are also tax-paying workers whose income was affected in some way. For Baruch College, this is Diana Shishkina in New York City.

Host Intro: With COVID-19 in full throttle, the constant worrying of New Yorkers rises. Worrying that I might add is justifiable given that other media outlets like The New York Times are stating that most COVID-19 cases are in the U.S. Estimated Number for the United States: 636,700 cases and the number continues to rise.

Among those concerns include, mental stability, healthcare access and financial burden lifted as well

Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has recently extended PAUSE order he placed on New York State. April 15 was the hopeful goal and now May 15 is the new light at the end of the end of the tunnel. People in low-income neighborhood are being hit the hardest from COVID-19.

Many job industries will be halted in terms of production. The New York City Housing Authority is no exception.

Baruch College’s Jahlil Rush has more on the story

TRACK 1: With Essential Businesses on the frontlines and non-essential businesses on the sidelines, the economy is in a frenzy. Now While NYCHA is considered an essential business, many NYCHA residents and workers are concern about the treatment that they are being given during this pandemic. Listen to CBS 2 New York’s Jenna DeAngelis as she spoke to two anonymous NYCHA employees, one who has claimed to have contracted the Coronavirus while on the job and believed that NYCHA was not protecting them properly.

Reminder: the NYCHA employee chose to remain anonymous due to fear of facing professional retaliation.

AMBI: CBS 2 New York NYCHA Report
– Employee 1: They’re not supplying us with the proper equipment, safety equipment… My Fear was getting sick. But even bigger fear is being asymptomatic, not knowing it spreading it.

– Employee 2: I contracted this Coronavirus from my job. They didn’t give properly give us any PPES and still has us going into apartments.

TRACK 2: I spoke to NYCHA Clerical Associate, Rita Mccawthan. Mccawthan explains how NYCHA how responded to the coronavirus from her point of view and whether she believed NYCHA offices should have closed permanently or not. She also clarifies what steps has department has taken to ensure safety of their remaining employees during the COVID-19 Crisis

ACT 1: “Basically, you know my position is; My position is Clerical Worker. As precaution, we all wear mask in the office, we all wear gloves in the office, we do the social distance of being six feet apart in the office. We don’t necessarily congregate with each other unless we have to.”

ACT 1: “As far as the tenants as concern, we try our best to not have them come into the office but that is easier said than done because the tenants still do come into the office. We have letters on the doors and everything stating ‘that due to coronavirus, we’re trying our best to keep the social distance between everybody and protect everybody just as well as protect ourselves in the office but also try to protect you. Se we’re telling you to please stay in the house as much as possible.”
Track 3: As the interview went on, Mccawthan also clarified her importance as an essential worker and how her office further adjusted to social distancing.

ACT 1: “We on the frontline lines too. We’re considered essential workers. So yeah, I do have to go to work and then you have some that do work from home, but it depends on what their positions are. If their housing assistants, yeah some of them work from home. Some of them come to work then they switch up. Some of them work from home, the other ones that didn’t at home they work in the office. They switch up the other days. They go home and the other ones come in. So, we do try to take as much precautions as possible. You know, everything that we can try our best to do but again we also try our best to protect our tenants as well. We deal with the tenants more or less on the phone than allowing them to come into the office if they don’t have to. The only way we are really allowing them to come into office if they have an appointment where they really need to talk to them and THEN they’re not allow to go into the housing assistant office. They have to be talked to from the window in the waiting area.

TRACK 4: Mccawthan was also asked whether or not her department in NYCHA was supplying her with the essentials that she and the other employees needed. Here is her response:

ACT 1: “They give us mask; They give us gloves; But I also bring my own too. They also give us wipe. When the wipes run out, I still buy my own. I add on to whatever they give me. So, it not like with my job I’m just sitting there and I’m wide-open and I have nothing wipe my desk down with or the phones that I’m on. Even though I’m on that phone, the other secretary has to use that phone, the other secretary behind her has to use that phone. So, if you don’t have what they call earplugs to wear. For me we try to use the speakerphone rather than to always pick up the phone of we don’t have to. But again, sometimes you can’t hear…or so should I say the tenants don’t seem to hear us. So, we do pick up the phone. But we wipe it down on an everyday basis

Track 5: We moved the topic over to whether or not NYCHA should have completely shut down and how with limited resources how prioritizing takes center stage.

ACT 1: “To be honest with you No I not gonna say they should close all the way around and the reason why is because there’s no guaranteed you can’t get it if you’re sitting in your own household. You understand? So, you definitely have to take the necessary precautions that are thrown out for us to take, which is basically cover up and that’s the best we can you. If you tell us to stay home on a regular basis, you won’t have nobody there to try to keep the facilities as clean as possible, you won’t have nobody there to deal with repairs and then what you’re gonna have the tenants screaming out ‘NYCHA Doesn’t do this, NYCHA Don’t do that’. They already say NYCHA doesn’t do half the things that they want. But because of the coronavirus, we Definitely can’t do all the things that they want
the maintenance people can’t go into certain apartments depends on what the nature of the problem is.

TRACK 6: Lastly, she explained how despite the limited resources NYCHA has, how her department prioritizes what is important when it comes to the tenants and their issues in their homes

ACT 1: “It’s not that Housing is picking and choosing what tickets they want to. But the top priority one that have to be done. Top priority means that if your stove is about to blow up, they gotta go find out why that stove is about to blow up before 911 gets there if 911 don’t have to come. But you got stoppages, you got sinks running over, they gonna go do that. But even the ones that are not top priority, they try their best to get to you. But like I said, you can’t send everybody’s apartment. This is what we can’t do and its only because of what we are going through because of this coronavirus.”

Conclusion Track: NYCHA sent an email on March 13 instructing employees to ask tenants if they were infected with COVID 19 and to only enter if it is an emergency. While NYCHA refused to speak to CBS 2 on air, they were told that they received 10,000 new masks that have since been distributed to staff with more on the way. For Baruch College, Im Jahlil Rush

COVID-19 Concerns Calls for Virtual Graduation for Baruch Class of 2020

Host intro: Growing concerns progress amongst the Baruch student population as the number of COVID-19 cases rises in New York City. The Center for Disease Control has reported over 200,000 cases in New York City, one-third of the nation’s population. Local officials have placed restrictions on all public gatherings. This includes all graduation and commencement ceremonies. Baruch’s graduating class of 2020 floats in limbo, uncertain if the situation will subside in time for a ceremony to still carry on. The administration and students await further information on the possibilities of a virtual ceremony. Though this option would be the safest route, the effects on the Baruch Community are substantial. Here’s reporter Dashawn Jones with the story.

AMBI1: (Applause, Cheering:)

AMBI2🙁 Subsidted echos of clapping)

 

TRACK 1: A grand applause is what many graduates and beloved family members were anticipating for the class of 2020’s commencement celebration. However, due to recent efforts of decreasing the spread of COVID-19, a statewide mandate was issued banning all public gatherings for non-essential purposes until further notice. This is all terrible timing for ceremonies, including that for the graduating class of 2020 at Baruch College. Students face the burden of moving on to the next chapters in their life during an unprecedented time without the traditional celebration previous graduates experienced. It has sparked many conversations among students and faculty of the possibilities regarding a virtual celebration. I connected with student Carlos Ramos, current Baruch senior graduating this semester, who would be extremely disappointed if the administration moved forward with a virtual ceremony

 

ACT 1: Honestly, I’ll feel really sad…. disappointed… devastated.  We’ve been going to school for 4+ years, waiting for that moment to walk across the stage, getting a degree, taking a meaningful picture; being able to create a memory. It’s the defining moment of every graduate’s life to walk across the stage. Graduating virtually isn’t rewarding at all. It’s really going to be a big disappointment. Just thinking of it now makes me feel so sad..so sad.

 

TRACK 2: As the mediary between the student population and administration, Baruch’s Undergraduate Student Government has received numerous messages from future graduates affected by the ban. Students believe Baruch USG would be aware of the most recent updates before a mass email is sent to the entire campus. USG Board of Directors Member Meyer Estaville had a few remarks regarding the administration’s possible moves to a virtual ceremony.

 

ACT 2: I actually just got off a call with the dean of student life. Essentially what’s being discussed is a virtual ceremony. All of the details aren’t finalized but they’re trying their best to make it as good as possible. A lot of students are still looking towards an in-person ceremony. We know life at Baruch isn’t as a traditional college so they understand its important for students to have an in-person ceremony with their families. In addition, they are exploring possibilities of s seconded ceremony in person at a delayed date. 

 

TRACK 3: The official decision of the graduation outcome will be funneled down to all CUNY schools by Chancellor Feliz V. Matos Rodriguez. Though a statement has not been made, many faculty members of the Bruch administration believe a virtual ceremony would be the best option to maintain safety and adhere to the guidelines of the nation. Assistant Director of Operations for  Divisions of Enrollment Management and Strategy, Natalie Valesquez, believes it is highly probable for a digital celebration to replace the traditional graduation for 2020 graduates

 

ACT 3: As for a ceremony in person later this summer, frankly, I don’t see that happening. I could only imagine the amount of work, time, and months of planning to produce an event like commencement requires. It’s not something that can be thrown together overnight. Our students deserve better than that. Considering the day to day, month to month charges that we’re facing as a city, it’s difficult to plan anything. I just don’t know if that going to be a reality, unfortunately. 

 

TRACK 4: As COVID-19 continues to disrupt all aspects of everyday life, we will see more routine procedures reinventing the manner in which they are conducted. While graduation from college is truly a special time, students might face the reality that a transition to a virtual platform will save lives. Though each hardworking Baruch student deserves an appropriate commencement, these unprecedented times call for reform. Only time can tell what will happen in the coming weeks. Baruch students and faulty will remain hopeful that the situation subsides, and normal programming resumes.  For Baruch College, this is Dashawn Jones in New York City.

 

Host Intro: Nearly 17 million Americans filled for unemployment. The highest number of unemployment claims filled in the history. Due to pandemic situation, the number of unemployment rate has been increasing. The U.S department of labor released the report that shows the overall rate of unemployment has increased to 4.4%. Covid-19 also affected businesses, and financial sectors are facing losses. The business sectors Includes restaurants, bars and entertainments where people are more in contact and close to each other. Coronavirus has a highest risk of spread, so companies in these industries are the first to be affected, causing the unemployment of workers. Here’s Zarifa Ahmadi with the story.

Track: Various small industries negatively impacted by covid-19, people who lose their jobs are the ones who face the most of financial problems, some of the workers are not even eligible to apply for unemployment benefits. It’s a hard and challenging time for them to pay rents, bills, and to feed their families. For the people, the timing of the job loss is questionable but, in this situation, nobody can do anything. Most of the students are part-time workers as well. Students face the problems of unemployment. A student named Fatima from St john’s college was working at CVS and now, she is been out of work for the past 2 weeks. The CVS store temporarily closes to slow down the spread of virus. Let’s hear from Fatima.

ACT: (Fatima) I currently work at a local pharmacy and due to the pandemic, we have been experiencing a lot of staffing issues. we actually had a positive case of corona virus at my pharmacy and that led to a lot of people been quarantined and we had low staff and a lot of our staff took leaves and absences which led to our pharmacy temporarily closed for the last two weeks so currently I’m unemployed and its been really hard. My heart goes out to anyone else experiencing troubles either health wise, mentally, physically, or financial troubles and yeah, I just want everyone to know that we will get through this.

Track: Due to overwhelmed of unemployment website, people are facing technical problems to file their unemployment claim. As mentioned earlier about 17 million people across the nation filed for unemployment benefit.

ACT: (Singh) Honestly, I feel um helpless like there’s not much more I can do.

Track: Singh is a full-time student at John Jay college and was advised by his employer to file for unemployment as a result of the recent health crisis unfortunately.

ACT: Unfortunately with me being laid off I do have to use the money that I was gonna use as tuition, which is also my emergency fund I do have some of that money and I might not be able to take classes next semester if I’m not able to get it through on the unemployment website.

Track: According to Department of Labor report, on a typical week the Department of labor receives about fifty thousand calls and about three hundred and fifty visits to their website the last week of march they received 8.2 million calls and over 3.4 million visits to their website.

ACT: It was very high ceiling because it would take this to like the last page where you filled out a bunch of information then it would automatically just crash and bring you back to the first page.

ACT: I apologize for the pain it is must infuriating to deal with I am telling you we have every technology company, the company working on it we’re spending a lot of money.

Track: In a press conference on Tuesday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo apologized for the difficulty New Yorkers faced when trying to apply for unemployment.

ACT: (Andrew Cuomo) The site is so deluge that it keeps crashing because you literally have hundreds of thousands of people at any time trying to get on the site and it continue to crash.

Track: According to the Department of Labor they created a two-fold plan to help New Yorkers applying for unemployment the first part reducing the volume of unemployment application a day and encouraging New Yorkers to apply on specific days based on their last name the second part to increase the capacity of staff to deal well, taken additional staff from other agencies. Zarifa Ahmadi from New York.