The Paw Print

“But first, coffee.” This quote is one many New Yorkers have heard and live by. It’s what we need to jump start our day. Before work or school we drop by our nearest cafe, Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and grab a cup. There’s also the occasional time where we stop by one of New York’s well known coffee carts.  I spoke to a man who runs a cart on 24th and Lexington Avenue right outside of the Baruch College campus.  His cart is in competition, with Starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts but his business still thrives.

According an article published by New York Magazine, there are over 3,000 food carts in the city. Each cart makes an average of around $200 to $300 a day, bringing in an annual income of between $7,5000 to $14,000, for those who work seasonally.

The cart owner outside Baruch says he’s been coming to the same spot everyday for over twenty years. His everyday presence showed. Each day as I waited on the line I noticed as he knew everyone’s order down to a tee. He chatted with some customers and even knew some by name. After about a week of daily trips to the cart he knew my order by heart as well. Before I could get the chance to say “Ice coffee with milk and two sugars” he was reaching for the cup and the ice.

He said that it first starts by getting a permit which is one of the hardest parts. As he discussed it his body posture changed and became visibly bothered just reiterating the process. He continued to say that coming to Baruch wasn’t really his decision. He works for a company.  “Yes I work for a very large company (with) coffee carts all over the city!”

He finished by saying that one of the other stressful tasks besides keeping the cart clean and other small chores is making sure to renew his license every two years, which doesn’t seem like an issue but apparently, the years sneak up on you.

Though many might not carry on conversations with him, the cart owner presence and kindness comes with every cup of coffee and surely that’s been a contribution to his lengthy time here at Baruch.

Summer is the season for lounging around and doing nothing until all of a sudden it’s fall all over again. Some people, however, use the summer as an opportunity to advance and stay productive.

There is a significant difference between the Baruch campus in the fall and the campus in the summer. For example, during the summer, you don’t have to wait 20 minutes for the elevators. Although there are significantly fewer students during the summer, they are just as active as those during the school year.

Baruch College offers a wide range of classes during the summer, from English courses to math courses. Todd, a freshman majoring in finance, said he is taking a college Algebra course. Laura, a sophomore majoring in English literature, is taking an English course. Ben, a freshman majoring in psychology, is taking a psychology course. Why do people take courses during the summer?

Todd said he is taking this course during the summer because he wants to take more advanced math courses during the fall. He said the benefit of taking a class during the summer is that the school building is a lot emptier and calmer than during the school year. Laura said that she is majoring in English Literature and wants to have the least possible classes during the fall. “Having classes helps keep me productive during the summer so I don’t sleep until 3 p.m,” Laura said.

Ben says he wants to finish all the prerequisite courses so that he can focus on taking courses for his major in the fall semester. “It’s annoying not to be able to take classes focused on your major,” Ben said.

According to USA Today, there are three major benefits of taking courses during the summer. The class size is smaller meaning the professor can give individual attention to the student. There are fewer distractions since there is a limit to how many courses a person can take in the summer. This enables the student to focus more on one or two classes. Lastly, it gives the student the ability to catch up or to advance like Todd and Laura.

Summer classes may not seem like the most enjoyable experience in the world, but they have benefits that can help ensure a better school year.

In the early morning, on the way to class at Baruch College one will hear students mingle, feet patter, and the omnipresent chirping of birds vibrating off of the building walls. It’s like a continuous recording over loud speakers. While it may be difficult to spot the small birds that have made home in Baruch’s window panes,  they are undoubtedly a presence in the building.

The birds can be identified as the common house sparrow, the same type of small brown bird that can be seen on the sidewalk.

The birds have been in the Baruch’s “Vertical Campus” building for years- and seem comfortable enough. With seventeen stories they have plenty of room to fly around. The 319 million dollar building can see as more than 15,000 undergraduate students during the school year. It seems that such little birds could easily fly under the radar in the swarm of students, but that’s not the case.

Khira, a student at Baruch for the past three years says that the birds have been here as long as she has. She said that her classmates don’t mind them. She does not know how the birds entered the building; whether it is a maintenance issue or that they simply found a way in.

The bird’s enigmatic presence doesn’t go over the heads of even the most obscure members of the Baruch community.

Madison, a high school student who has taken multiple classes on the Baruch campus, says that she thinks the birds are “dirty”  and a sign of bad luck. “Having birds in a building is a omen of impending doom”. She was very startled when the birds landed near her, so much so that she shot up from her seat.

“They’re a distraction,” she huffed in reference to the birds chirping as she sat down again. However another student, Oriella St-Louis, said that the birds chirping was relaxing, like a “white noise” machine.

It seems that Madison is the minority in the Baruch community. The birds certainly seem accustomed to the students, and the students to them. The birds frequently land near students who work on computers, or have their nose in a book with highlighters and pens thrown about in an effort to study. The students continue on even when the birds land and hop sometimes only a foot away from them; unfazed by each others presence, the birds and students co-exist.

The House Sparrow, the breed of bird that has made its home in Baruch, has a typical life span of three years. But while the birds who call Baruch home may die soon, it wouldn’t be a wild thought that some other common bird could make its way into the building.

As Professor Ian Howe waited for his projector to be fixed, he generously took the time to answer questions about a subject often discussed today: technology. As a teacher, he was asked how all these new devices affect the way he taught and what it meant for the future of education.

Before laptops and other devices, students took notes from the chalkboard. Today, students can come to school and take notes on their laptops, tablets, or phones, allowing them to take even more notes than before at a quicker pace.

Students at CUNY schools, according to Professor Howe, are behind on this usage, as the technology used in classrooms is outdated, broken or not useful, slowing down their learning. “City College is still using chalk,” says Professor Howe, who has been educating for five and a half years at colleges such as City College and Parsons. “It doesn’t make sense for us as instructors to teach you with outdated things. You grew up with technology.”

In his business classes, students use cell phones for surveys, note taking, video recording for projects, and so forth. He says that it makes his job more effective.

High schools in the city have already begun to incorporate technology in the classrooms. Working technology in the classroom can lead to more collaboration, rather than isolation, as some say. At Millennium High School in lower Manhattan, students use Quizlet in Mandarin classes to study new vocabulary and share study guides. Quizlet is an educational software that provides students with study tools.  There are games that connect all students’ smartphones and have them compete against each other. Whoever answers a quiz question wins. The concept is simple and engaging, both entertaining the students and making them more knowledgeable.

Professor Timothy Aubry of Baruch College’s English Department  argues that technology, although it is a useful tool in the classroom, may also serve as a distraction to students. Technology “allows us to quickly present a wide variety of materials” according to Professor Aubry. It is a useful pedagogical tool, in his opinion. But he also observes how students are always on their phone, or always looking for a reason to be on it during his class.

High schools are advancing, and community colleges should be too. “[Technology] makes [teaching] easier when it works because all the students already have it,” says Professor Howe. Although different schools spend different amounts of money on new devices for the classroom, nearly every teen and young adult owns a smartphone.

When the IT worker finished fixing Professor Howe’s projector, students began to present their projects enthusiastically. Professor Howe pointed out the projector screen that did not fit, and how he wished the walls were whiteboards instead of just plain walls. This way, he would have students write their ideas down on the board and collaborate. So much class time had been wasted because of the broken projector.