Sophomore year was a year of making a lot of big decisions and reflecting. I had become
the treasurer of the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters and started working as a babysitter for
the Barnard Babysitting Agency, meanwhile being an active member of other clubs and
organizations on campus. I enjoyed my involvements outside of my academics and they served
as an escape, but were also very therapeutic.
When I entered college I knew exactly what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do it. I
was doing terribly in Mathematics and although I still wanted to teach mathematics, I no longer
had a desire to continue taking these classes that I had and would fail terribly. I met with my
adviser and we had a long conversation on the purpose of college, and life after college. One
thing that I learned from our discussion is that college is a time where you should be taking
classes that you enjoy and are truly interested in. It reminded me of conversations with friends
about courses that they truly enjoyed and often times I yearned for that feeling. Although there
were a couple of classes that I had enjoyed, I took the courses for other purposes. Many do not
get the opportunity to attend college, let alone to take classes in subject matter that interests them
outside of the classroom. Eventually with the guidance of my adviser I changed my major to
Urban Studies and kept my Education concentration. I knew that whatever I do, I must work with
children, I must teach and I must open up my own school.
This past summer, I took two courses to prepare myself and to knock out some of the
requirements for my major so that I wouldn’t be too far behind. I took a course on the history of
New York City and the other on anthropological perspectives of the city; I enjoyed them both.
After the completion of these courses, I immediately began interning with the East Harlem
Tutorial Program. The East Harlem Tutorial Program is a comprehensive program that serves to
motivate and prepare students for college and encourages young people to engage in community
service. The program focuses its attention on the minorities of the East Harlem community. The
mission of this program aligned with my own which was why I chose this site to use for my Con
Edison Internship Grant for which I applied at Barnard and was accepted. I worked with third
graders for four weeks of the internship and completed office work for the other 3 weeks. I
worked on math, science and English with the students, serving as a second pair of eyes and
hands in the classroom. Oh, can I get used to being called Ms. Marianna! That experience was
phenomenal and one that I will continuously reflect on as I begin to think about that I would like
my own school to look like.
I remember stressing a lot last year because I was afraid of not knowing how I was going
to accomplish the goals I had set for myself had I not followed the plan that I set in stone.
Towards the end of my sophomore year after having my worst semester thus far, I learned to
enjoy the process of whatever it is, whether it’s writing a paper or accomplishing a goal, and not
to place so much value on the end point. As an officially declared education minor, I am so
excited to finally be taking courses that I enjoy. For the fall of my junior year I am taking a
Junior Colloquium Course on Shaping the Modern City, GIS and Case Studies, as well as
Psychology of Education and Contemporary Issues in Education. In addition, I will also serve as
the Vice President of the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters for the 2015-2016 academic year.
I look forward to having my best semester yet.
-Marianna Beaute
