He wanted to be a theater actor and director, but after graduating, getting married, and having a family, he thought about how challenging it would be to make a living in the field. He was also coming to an understanding—after taking a job as an adviser in the Center for Academic Advisement and Student Success—that he might have an additional calling.

“The more I worked in advisement, the more I realized that this was a job that could satisfy my soul and my need to pay for a mortgage,” says LoPorto, now the associate director of the Student Success Unit.

In his position, he heads a group called the Transfer Student Success Team—a unit generously funded in part by —which offers personalized coaching, workshops, and a variety of other services to transfer students. He also runs the Student Success Connection Coach team, oversees DegreeWorks, and coordinates the college’s DegreeMaps.

You’ve been in the ������Ƶ family for more than 30 years now! How did your experiences as a student here shape the work you do today?

I was a terrible student! I was grateful to be here because I had so many other things going on. I would not have succeeded were it not for a former ������Ƶ dean, Kathy Gover, who mentored me and showed me different opportunities.

So this idea of how transformative CUNY can be, simply by making college accessible, is very real to me. I get how important it is for the college to be as proactive as possible in our outreach. I get—on a personal level—the need for connection and catered programming.

The college received funding for your team of transfer specialists in 2020. What has it been like building that team?

We got the original grant right before the pandemic and told students, “See you in a couple weeks once this pause is over.” Ha! Pretty quickly, we realized this had to be operationalized online, and funny how life works, but that turned out to be beneficial. That created a greater opportunity to engage with students that didn’t rely on them coming to our space at a certain time. It helped change the dynamics of how and when we engage our students. It changed the way we reach out to other colleges.

It’s been great building the team and seeing the satisfaction they get when a student graduates or finds that professor they were looking for. The team is made up of all CUNY graduates who understand that CUNY students live complicated lives. We’re here to smooth out the parts of their lives that we can.

You continue to work in the theater world. Do you see a connection between that world and your role in advising?

One of the pillars of theater-making is that everyone throws out ideas and you collaborate and respect everyone’s contribution. My experiences as a director leading casts and crews have helped me apply that here. I’m not afraid to tear something down and start again. That leads to innovation. We have to do that here sometimes to meet the needs of a new generation of students. It’s taught me the flexibility I need.

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He is the son of two first-generation college graduates, one of which is a City University of New York alumna; his mother was a graduate of Queens College in 1993. He was born in Rockville Centre and raised in nearby Seaford.

Casto credits his parents with providing an environment that emphasized intellect, humility, and drive. “My mother and father represent the self-motivation and love for life that is born out of sheer resiliency during uncertain times,” he said of his upbringing on Long Island. He also credits his younger sisters, Sophia and Isabella, as influences. “They navigate social terrains and pressures I will never know with strength and integrity.”

He attended Plainedge High School in North Massapequa where he was vice president of the National Honor Society and an ambassador to the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Foundation. He was attracted to ������Ƶ because of its comprehensive English department and distinguished faculty.

Casto has a 4.0 GPA and was named to the Dean’s List every semester he has attended ������Ƶ. Highlights of his academic accomplishments include work in a diverse range of endeavors. He was a member of the Honors Academy Scholars Program and often spoke at Scholars Open Houses. Casto also represented the Honors Academy at Middle States Commission on Higher Education events. He interned in the English Majors’ Counseling Office and worked as a writing tutor in the Learning Center. He has published poetry and prose in several issues of The Junction, ������Ƶ’s annual literary magazine created by English majors.

Chosen to speak at the 2018 Northeast Regional Honors Council Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, Casto presented a paper, “Easing into Empathy: A Proposed Introduction of Dramatic Texts to Increase Student Awareness,” which advocates the integration of contemporary plays into secondary school curricula. He recently presented his senior thesis on representations of adolescent identity in contemporary American drama at the 2019 National Conference of Undergraduate Research in Atlanta, Georgia.

Casto has been exceptionally active in the theater world, appearing in more than 70 regional, community, and off-Broadway productions in Long Island and Manhattan. He has appeared in both lead and ensemble roles in works ranging from musical comedies to Shakespearean tragedies. Since 2015, Casto has worked as the piano instructor at the Young Peoples’ Cultural Arts Workshop of Massapequa. He was the education and community outreach intern at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor in 2018. Last summer, he was named a Local Poet of East Hampton.

He aspires to become an English educator and arts administrator in a cultural organization and hopes to teach underrepresented genres and writers.

After receiving his bachelor of arts in English, Casto will take an academic gap year to pursue a position in either an arts organization, humanitarian effort, or political campaign. He will also apply for research fellowships and travel. In graduate school, he plans on studying education and public policy. Says Casto, “the Scholars Program at ������Ƶ gave me the platform to speak about my literacy advocacy at conferences and cemented my commitment to lifelong learning. I will be able to take the skills I acquired in college and pass it on to my peers and future generations.”

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Nicole Solis-Ramirez is a member of the Class of 2018 graduating with a bachelor of arts in English and a bachelor of arts in history, with a minor in Puerto Rican and Latino Studies. Solis-Ramirez, who hails from York, Pennsylvania, is of European and Japanese descent.  She made the Dean’s List every semester she attended ������Ƶ. She was also accepted into the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, where she conducted research on a series of Roman coins from 100 B.C. The data she assembled during the semester will add to Department of Classics Associate Professor Liv Yarrow‘s ongoing research in that area. She also made the Department of English’s Chairperson’s List of Outstanding Scholars in 2017, and works part time in the ������Ƶ Learning Center as an English tutor.

Solis-Ramirez’s husband is Mexican American, and she is the mother of four children, ages seven to one, two of whom are currently enrolled in the ������Ƶ Early Childhood Center. She says she works to ensure that her children are educated about their heritage so that they are instilled with a sense of pride. She is a full-time student, a mentor in the Peer Mentoring Program, and an elected member of the Community Education Council for her home district in Brooklyn. She credits the Magner Career Center for helping her to prepare for the job market by providing resources such as cover letter and resume review and career advisement. She was accepted into ������Ƶ’s Master of Arts English Program and hopes to one day become a college professor.

Solis-Ramirez shared her thoughts on how identity, history, and literature intersect, and what impact all three have had on her and her family.

“There are layers to rebuilding a system that does not erase or ignore the works of marginalized perspectives in literature. The Internet and social media have given people a platform that is special in the way that it crosses age, race, and gender barriers. Yet, living in this unique moment that offers us an opportunity to celebrate marginalized voices is not enough. Changes need to be made at a larger institutional level and we, as the people who are the foundation and support of these institutions, have a responsibility to hold them accountable.

“On an individual level, we need to hold ourselves responsible for unlearning Eurocentric and colonial ideologies. In my own experience, I was never exposed to literature or literary characters that represented me. I never questioned why some books were considered ‘classics,’ and what it meant to have characters of color being depicted by white authors. My educational experience at ������Ƶ made me more aware of how unaware I was. Just because someone is a woman does not mean that she cannot contribute to the patriarchy. Just because someone is other than European does not mean that they cannot contribute to Eurocentrism. The acceptance of the Eurocentrism of literature is compliance— we need to hold ourselves and our institutions accountable for the silencing of marginalized perspectives.

“As a woman who is multiracial but white passing, my struggle has not necessarily been the same as other marginalized groups. Growing up in a small, predominately white town, I think that my siblings and I were very aware that we would never be accepted as white or Japanese. From a very young age, I loved reading; literature was my great escape. However, I never found authors who vocalized feelings through their characters that were similar to my own.

“Partially because of how those that have preceded me have been silenced and because those with similar experiences were not present in the literature that was introduced to me, understanding my own identity has been a continuous process with no starting point. Yet, another layer of my struggle lies in the fact that my grandmother, who immigrated to the United States from Japan, was silenced. My grandfather did not permit my grandmother to teach her children her native language. There was no sense of pride instilled in my family lineage. Perhaps I silenced my own voice because of my feelings of inadequacy.

When I think about marginalized voices being heard in spaces where they have been silenced, I think of my children. I want them to hear voices similar to their own, and I want them to be able to speak. My partner was born and raised in Mexico, and because of the many political discussions that are currently present in the United States, we have worked very hard to instill a sense of pride in every cultural identity that exists within our children. Because these voices have been historically silenced, the most important lesson I can teach them is that their voice is significant because of who they are.”

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“I want to start a nonprofit organization in Trinidad, provide mental health counseling services for adults, but also children in their adolescent stage,” says Anisee, who will be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology this May and plans to pursue a master’s in mental health counseling. She is eager to dispel some of the taboos that still surround mental illness in her mother’s home country. “People need to know that it is okay to be open about mental illness so that they can seek help.” She also wants to make sure that the services are there for those who do reach out. “I want to provide preventative care so that we can intervene early in a patient’s illness.”

On course to graduate in 2020, Abigail, who is majoring in health and nutrition sciences, but is looking to switch her major to chemistry, has plans to go into chemical engineering, specifically pharmaceuticals. “I want to create medicines that do minimal, and ultimately, no harm to the body,” she says. “Abigail may go to Trinidad to shadow an aunt, who is one in a line of traditional herbalists in our family,” Deborah adds.

It is clear her native country resonates deeply with Deborah Alves, who came here in 1990 because she was pursuing a better life. “We were a beekeeping family in Trinidad,” she says. “Last summer on a trip to Greece, I visited beekeepers and thought, ‘I want to be an urban beekeeper and set up a cooperative in Brooklyn.’ I can’t begin to tell you how vitally important encouraging and maintaining a healthy bee population is.” Deborah who is set to graduate in 2019, will be traveling to Greece this summer to more closely research how to build a cooperative, thanks to the ������Ƶ Rosen Fellowship.

As ingrained as Trinidad is in the lives of Deborah and her daughters, so is ������Ƶ: Anisee and Abigail both attended the school’s STAR (Science, Technology, and Research) Early College High School at Erasmus High School. Their mother began with an adult literacy program at ������Ƶ. After she earned her GED, she applied and was accepted to the ������Ƶ Bound High School Equivalency to Degree program. “That was my beginning here, in 2014. But I transferred to BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College) because I could not do pre-Calculus,” says Deborah, laughing. She completed her foundation courses, including math, and returned to ������Ƶ with an associate degree in liberal arts. “When I first decided to try for a college degree, a few of my friends wondered why I didn’t just look for a decent paying job and leave it at that. But I wanted more.”

Like many other college students, all three work: Deborah as a college assistant at CUNY EDGE (Educate, Develop, Graduate, Empower) and a mentor with the Black and Latino Male Initiative; Anisee as a teaching artist at the ; and Abigail as a tutor for core math at the college’s Learning Center. She also works as a sales associate at a boutique in Soho, and models on the side.

With their schedules full to bursting, there is often little time for them to see each other, except in passing, even at home. “And now when they say to me, ‘mommy, I don’t have time to do the dishes or other housework, I’ve got homework,’ I get it,” says Deborah. Still, they do manage to meet for lunch and make time together off-campus to participate in J’ouvert—the annual spring carnival whose origins lay in Trinidad, but which is now celebrated widely throughout the Caribbean, and in September in Brooklyn. Deborah is known in Brooklyn for her handcrafted carnival costumes; her daughter Anisee also designs and helps with details such as the fancy feather work seen in the elaborate headdresses.

When it comes to pursuing her degree at a later stage in her life, Deborah’s daughters, including her eldest, Charnele, have been “very supportive and encouraging,” she says. And Anisee and Abigail share an understanding of the hard work it takes, and a vision of working locally and globally for the greater good. They also share her wry sense of humor. “When they were little, and used to ask me to do their schoolwork for them, I would say ‘you have to figure it out for yourself—I’m not going to be in the classroom taking the test for you.’ Now they turn it around and say the same thing to me. And they are right.”

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Teanu Reid

B.A. in history

I have had an amazing experience in my journey from college student to college graduate at ������Ƶ. The college has pushed me to be successful academically and encouraged me to be socially responsible by providing numerous opportunities for civic engagement and community service through its clubs and events. The college has even given me the opportunity to travel through study abroad programs.

I have had some of the most supportive faculty who created a great environment to foster growth academically and professionally. Along the way, I have gained tutoring and teaching experience as a volunteer history tutor at the Learning Center. As a volunteer tutor, I helped students, who were usually not history majors, with their reading assignments, essays, and exams, and tried to share with them what my professors had shared with me.

I also had a chance to develop professionally through my time as a college assistant in the Division of Student Affairs. Combined, I feel like I have a clear understanding of academia and a better sense of what my future holds if I pursue employment in a college or university. No journey is without its road bumps and throughout my time as a student there were several things I had to overcome. Despite the fact that I didn’t qualify for financial aid because of my parents “high income,” their income on paper wasn’t reflective of the inconsistent financial support I actually received. I worked diligently to receive scholarships and other forms of merit aid to finance my own education the best I could. Additionally, I had to maintain a balance between scholarship applications and my coursework, my job, volunteering, club involvement, and family responsibilities.

I did all of this while also combatting stereotypical expectations of young black women. From this entire experience I learned that I am a very strong-minded and strong-willed person, and with careful planning and pockets of support, I can achieve goals that I have set for myself. I’ve learned to have patience, to trust myself and believe in my ability to get things done, and to reorient myself as needed when things don’t go as expected.

The post #������ƵGrad2017: Now Ready to Pursue Her Ph.D. at Yale University, Teanu Reid ’16 Reflects on How ������Ƶ Prepared Her for Success appeared first on ������Ƶ.

September is Magner Month and ������Ƶ alumni who have utilized and been helped by the center and its staff, or act as donors and mentors, have returned to share their stories with the entire campus community.

Nicole Dillon ’13, Program Associate at New Visions for Public Schools

The Magner Career Center definitely had a major impact on my college and professional career. Specifically, Ms. Guarin-Klein became a guiding force for me. I remember walking into her office during my first semester as a transfer student. At the time, I was a sales associate at Staples, and I wanted so much more for myself. I was confused and overwhelmed with which direction to take. Ms. Guarin-Klein gave such simple, yet profound advice that stuck with me. We talked through all the things that I was interested in professionally, and came up with a plan. A few months later, I landed my very first internship in the Human Resources department at Warner Music Group. I greatly attribute this to the help of Ms. Guarin-Klein. I have had a few more encounters with her that have helped me tremendously professionally. I have also attended several workshops at the center that have polished my skills, and gave me the ability to network with professionals. All in all, Ms. Guarin-Klein and the Magner Center were my saving grace as a young, confused transfer student at ������Ƶ.

Polina Ferd ’14, Research Assistant at Weill-Cornell Medical College

The Magner Career Center has served me as the biggest tool throughout my undergrad career. Though I had found a position on my own, the Magner Center counseled me to take another, initially unpaid internship that I knew would better benefit my future career path. I am now in negotiations with that company for possible hire. Natalia Guarin-Klein in particular was a great mentor for me ever since I met her as a freshman through the Honors Academy program. I believe every student at ������Ƶ should be required to meet with a career adviser from the Magner Career Center. ������Ƶ has vast opportunities for its students—fellowships, study abroad programs, possible stipends, and internships.

Sean Smirnov ’09, Associate at BR Ventures

In 2003, I arrived in the United States from St. Petersburg, Russia. I was 20 years old and homeless; I slept in Central Park. I performed odd jobs to survive: Washed dishes at a summer camp, did day work in demolition and construction, sold photography in Times Square, etc.

In 2005, I enrolled at ������Ƶ. During my first semester, I went to every event at the center that I could squeeze into my class schedule. I also learned about ������Ƶ Learning Center and became a chemistry tutor there. Eventually, it turned into several teacher assistant roles and grew into a private tutoring service.

The Magner Career Center is a bridge between academic studies and a professional career. It allows students to capitalize on knowledge obtained at school and helps to put things into perspective. In addition, the center creates the direction for student development by providing them with metrics used by potential employers, allowing them to view their knowledge and skills through the perspective of their future careers.

I would like to continue the tradition and provide interested students with access to high-achieving speakers, as well as specifically tailored career guidance. Back in the day when I was the founding president of Pre-Health Professions Club on campus, we collaborated closely with the Magner Career Center to provide opportunities for students interested in health-related careers. The center played a crucial role in setting people on long-term career paths. I would like to continue this work by creating stronger ties with graduate programs around the country and encouraging our students to be a part of the effort.

I graduated ������Ƶ with a B.S. in Chemistry and B.A. in Psychology in 2009, Magna Cum Laude, and went to University of Massachusetts Medical School to pursue my M.D./Ph.D. degrees. Now I am a part of the inaugural New York City Cornell Tech M.B.A. class at Johnson School of Management at Cornell University—the most innovative M.B.A. program in the world. It has been a long path, but I will always remember where it began: at my first Magner Career Center session, “Choosing a Career Path.”

Orly Wahba ’04, Founder of Life Vest Inside

As a ������Ƶ alumna, I have found the Magner Career Center absolutely wonderful to work with. I have had the opportunity to meet a great deal of excited, motivated, and dedicated students who have come on board to serve as interns for my nonprofit, Life Vest Inside. Each of the interns has been a pleasure to work with and have become key players in helping to spread awareness of our mission and vision. I believe that experience in the field is crucial, and students who take advantage of internships during their college years have a tremendous amount to offer once they graduate. I am a big advocate of ������Ƶ and I’m always open and willing to participate in any way I can—from joining panels, to mentoring students and/or bringing interns onboard to work with Life Vest Inside.

Irene Waxman ’70, Executive Director of Human Resources at Estee Lauder

The Magner Career Center has done a wonderful job of helping students bridge the road between college and the workplace. The staff is extremely dedicated, and the programs are very comprehensive. I would encourage ������Ƶ to take advantage of the services that are offered by the center.

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“My goal is to help people, especially children. I intend to double major in art and psychology and pursue a career in art therapy,” she says.

It was not always clear how she might be able to achieve her goal. When she first arrived in the United States in October 2012, she was a graduate from a high school in Jamaica. But when she attempted to enroll in college, she was informed that she required remedial coursework that would put her more than three years behind schedule. Rather than register in an American high school at the ninth-grade level, Bernard instead decided to sign up for a General Educational Development (GED) course. Shortly afterward, she took the required exam and passed.

There was still the matter of getting into college. With recent changes to admission standards at the City University of New York (CUNY), students who receive GEDs often are not able to get into the senior institutions. Bernard applied to ������Ƶ—because, she says, she wanted not just an education, but a good education—and was accepted thanks to a new gateway program called ������Ƶ Bound.

The brainchild of Sharona Levy, Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK professor, the ������Ƶ Bound program provides a path to college education for GED students who may have initially not been considered for admission.

“It seemed clear that with the right type of supported first-year program that uses national and local best practices, students should be able to succeed,” Levy says of the program, the first of its kind at CUNY senior colleges and one of the few around the country. “And if they aren’t able to have a successful semester for whatever reason, the program helps them find a better place to continue their higher education career in the hopes that they can still succeed and perhaps come back to ������Ƶ at a later stage.”

In 2013 the program accepted 30 students, including Bernard.

“We designed it to give them a rigorous try out,” Levy said. “If they’re motivated, we can get them to where they need to go. They just have to put in the work.”

Currently, students applying to the program must have a cumulative GED score of at least 2,700—and have achieved a minimum score of 500 in the English and 500 in the math portions of the exam. They must also be interviewed in person. Once admitted, they attend a four-day orientation. They also agree to attend classes on a full-time basis—making them eligible for financial aid—meet regularly with academic advisers, and show up for tutoring sessions. And they are held to the same academic standards as any other ������Ƶ student.

Penelope Terry, director of undergraduate admissions and recruitment, is responsible for reviewing each application and identifying candidates who meet the program’s criteria. “We admit a cross-section of students from every demographic,” she says. “These students broaden notions of who we might imagine GED students to be. What unites them is their determination and self-motivation.”

Sophomore Juma McCurren is a prime example. Faced with a devastating personal loss, McCurren dropped out of high school so that he could work full-time and help support his family. He had intended to return to school once his family was economically stable, but other personal obstacles prevented that from happening. It would be years before he could finally obtain his GED. But even then, he found himself coming up against roadblocks.

“I wanted to, finally, pursue college,” McCurren says. “At an open house for prospective students at a community college, I was asked what year I received my high school diploma, and, when I disclosed that I had a GED, there was a pregnant pause by the interviewer, followed by, ‘Oh, you didn’t graduate.’ I doubt that she intended to insult me, but I was filled with the same kind of shame that hindered me for so many years because I didn’t finish school when I was still a teenager.”

Initially, McCurren was not accepted to ������Ƶ. He then reapplied through the ������Ƶ Bound program.

“The work is challenging and completely fulfilling. I’m excited to see where I’ll go from here, says McCurren, who has not decided on a major, but describes himself as a closet writer and is looking into the college’s creative writing program.

Funded by the CUNY Black Male Initiative (BMI), ������Ƶ Bound takes a holistic approach to helping students achieve. Students in the program are part of “learning communities” designed to foster camaraderie among the participants and facilitate acclimation to college life by ensuring that the students take some of their courses together, and participate as a group in other co-curricular and extracurricular events. These communities also allow faculty and program interns to work closely with the students and provide individualized attention.

With programs like ������Ƶ Bound, ������Ƶ, which has its own GED course housed under the Adult Literacy Program, is keeping pace with national trends indicating that students who receive access to these types of resources are far more likely to complete their undergraduate work and obtain baccalaureate degrees.

“From my experience, the reason many students are not able to complete high school has little to do with their academic prowess,” says Richard Vento, director of the ������Ƶ Learning Center who provides academic guidance and support to students in the program. “������Ƶ Bound provides a select group of persistent students with an opportunity to reach their full academic potential and change the course their lives forever.”

Professor Levy says that the program has helped build the college’s connection to the surrounding community and hopes that the program gains traction beyond ������Ƶ.

“I have received calls from other schools as well as local politicians who share my excitement,” she says.

One of those politicians is Reverend and Assemblyman Karim Camara, who represents the 43rd assembly district in Brooklyn.

“Historically, CUNY has always played a role in educating the children of New York,” says Camara. “BMI is quite significant and helps ensure and protect access and equity for black and Hispanic young men entering the CUNY system. Transformative academic programs like BMI and ������Ƶ Bound endeavor to reaffirm CUNY’s historic commitment to all of our communities for a quality college education—an indispensable asset in the 21st century. I commend CUNY Senior Vice Chancellor Jay Hershenson and Elliott Dawes for devoting resources to maintain these programs.”

Levy believes this is just the beginning of out-of-the-box approaches to the admissions process, student mentorship, and successful outcomes. Bernard and McCurren are but two of those outcomes: Bernard’s lowest grade was a B in her first semester and McCurren is averaging an A-.

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“Quiet,” he keeps saying as he makes a circuitous route through the West Quad Center and back to his post in the dean’s office of the School of Education.

He’s a little disappointed because he thrives amidst the bustle, which might be somewhat surprising to some because Watson is autistic. For a dozen years, he has been working in the School of Education, where he has cemented his role as a venerable and indispensable Guy Friday. He also volunteers for the men’s basketball team.

His presence on campus is conspicuous, not because of his disability but due to his omnipresence at college events, his well-worn bright-yellow L.A. Lakers jerseys, and his penchant for popping into various offices to debate the New York Knicks’ latest coaching quandary or to crack a few jokes.

But if Watson is a highly visible example of an autistic person in the college community, his peers in the student population are largely the opposite. According to the Center for Student Disability Services, there are eight self-identified autistic students on campus, but likely many more who either don’t identify themselves or who may be undiagnosed. Most have a high-functioning form of the disorder but may have some speech, social and executive function (planning, problem-solving, multitasking) deficits that typically warrant the need for support. Thanks to a $19,000 grant the college recently received from CUNY’s university dean for health and human services, those students can now receive more coordinated and holistic assistance.

If recent numbers reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bear out, the college, and most other higher-education institutions across the country, may see many, many more students who are on the autistic spectrum in the future. According to a March report by the federal agency, one in 88 American children has some form of the disorder, a 23 percent increase since its last report in 2009.

The grant — which ends this month (although college officials who work with autistic students hope its legacy will be some institutionalization of their efforts) — funds training for faculty and staff members who work with autistic students, a mentor program for students with the condition, and some marketing efforts so that all students know that help is available.

“College students on the spectrum have to self advocate,” explains Susan Longtin, co-director of the Advanced Certificate Program in Autism Spectrum Disorders. “That’s very different from their experience in high school, where their teachers know about their diagnosis and they are given very specific support according to their needs. In college, they have no such network.”

Longtin and the co-author of the grant, Ilene Tannenbaum, director of the Health Clinic, are hoping to bring together departments like theirs, the Magner Career Center, Personal Counseling, the Center for Student Disability Services and the Learning Center to better coordinate support.

“Everyone has the right to reach their potential,” says Longtin. “Some people just need a lot more support than others.”

And some people, like Watson, prove that once given some support, they will give back a lot more.

Deborah Shanley, dean of the School of Education and Watson’s boss, remembers when she first met him, her first day at the college. “This man was sitting on a chair by the file cabinets and I asked him who he was,” she recalls. “He wouldn’t speak to me. He just sat there like a bump on a log with no eye contact. I told him I’m not moving until he comes around. One day I saw this little movement in his eye and I said, I gotcha.”

Watson, whose reticence is a part of his disorder, had been participating in Brooklyn Transitions, a program housed in the School of Education that aims to help young adults with disabilities gain life skills and employment. Shanley, who has a background in special education, talked to officials with the program, as well as Watson’s mother, and decided that he could work for her.

Initially, Shanley and officials with the transition program helped Watson with some travel training and time-management skills. They gave him a beeper so that they could track his whereabouts. “I knew it would work,” says Shanley, known affectionately to Watson as Didi. “Michael showed us he could do it.”

He also showed them he could thrive. Through his love of basketball, he quickly found a home with the college’s men’s team as a volunteer, and from there he attached himself to most of the other sports as well.

Alex Lang, assistant director of , says that whenever there is an event or some work to be done for the teams, Watson often out-hustles the paid staff. “Mike will step in and help without being asked,” he says.

In fact, Lang believes there may have been no bigger ������Ƶ Athletics booster in the history of the college. In the time he has worked here, Watson — who every day sports a CUNYAC championship ring that he earned with the men’s basketball team in 2009 and 2010 — has missed precious few games, home or away. “He also remembers every single player who has ever played for any of our teams. He remembers people I don’t,” says Lang.

And, according to Shanley, he helps us remember what we value.

Ultimately, “Michael is helping us walk the walk,” she explains. “Not only are we supposed to be preparing our students to live and work among all members of society, but our strategic plan talks about fostering an inclusive community. I can’t think of a better way to model that.”

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