Interview by Katie Edelen, Visual Arts Major
with Jennifer Poroye, Double Major in Music and Environmental Geoscience, Sustainability Intern for SODEXO
What is your name and pronouns?
My name is Jennifer, and my pronouns are she/her/hers.
What is your age and major?
I’m nineteen, I’m double majoring in Music and Environmental Geoscience. I’m also a sustainability intern with the marketing services for SODEXO, which is a part of our dining services. My role is basically to promote sustainability efforts and promote sustainability within the dining services on campus.
Where are you from?
I’m from NYC, Queens Far Rockaway to be exact.
What types of hobbies or activities are you interested in?
Music is a big one. I like writing music, I play the ukulele a little bit. I like writing in general, short stories or poetry, it’s very therapeutic. I like to read too when I have the time but I usually don’t have time to. I also like walking through nature and that sort of thing.
Has campus made you feel welcome?
I think so. In general, I kind of had the mindset that I would be the minority, it’s not the first time I’ve been a minority in an academic setting. But there are a lot of groups on campus that I feel are looking out for me and including me, especially because they
know my identity and that I’m a minority. For example I’m in the scholars mentorship program, along with the AC² program. This program caters to STEM majors who are minorities, they’ve been super helpful and supportive. Despite not being on campus last year, which was my first year, I felt really supported by those groups. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to make it through my first year if it wasn’t for those two communities. [In regard to working on campus] I feel included, I feel respected. It’s pretty cool.
How does the community here at New Paltz differ from your home?
Like I said, ethnically I guess, besides that though, not too much. The community I am surrounded by at home is very artsy, with a diverse group of people. I feel like the people that I know are generally diverse. I went to a performing arts highschool so the environment feels similar, a lot of people with similar interests, which is cool. It’s different because I’m from the city, this is a small town, a suburban area set more within nature. Also everyone drives here, that’s definitely a big difference and I feel like I should learn how to drive.
What personal journey brought you to your current role?
As a student in general, being a 2020 highschool graduate was not that great. Trying to figure out colleges was a challenge, I never got to visit New Paltz before I decided to come here. This was one of my safety options, I was also looking into other high end performing arts schools that were more pricey. I thought “lets see what happens.” Then COVID happened and I wanted to be more financially conscious, so New Paltz was a good option for me. It also has a good balance of arts programs and STEM programs, which a lot of other institutions don’t have/don’t allow you to do both. The ability to double major in arts and STEM led me here. My first year of college was completely online. I heard about the sustainability ambassadors program/sustainability committee, and I wanted to get as involved as I could despite not physically being on campus. I’m interested in sustainability and I want to be more sustainable and be involved in that realm of helping others become more sustainable. It’s been really cool being a part of this committee. It involves working with professors who are committed to sustainability and trying to implement this idea into their education courses. There’s a subsection called the Carbon Neutrality Team, they focus on making the campus 100% carbon neutral. I joined that as well. We had this group chat and one of the leaders of the Carbon Neutrality Team sent us an ad looking for sustainability interns as part of the dining program on campus. It involved working in the sustainability field and it’s a paid internship, that sounded perfect for me. Especially because I was feeling insecure about whether I would be able to afford to come to New Paltz. I still didn’t know how things would be once I moved here. I applied and thank God, I got a position as a sustainability intern with the campus dining services.
What issues or challenges are you confronted with?
As a student double majoring, and I know it’s because I chose this for myself, I have to pile on a lot of credits every semester to fulfil all of my degree requirements. The way my programs are set up, most of the classes have prerequisites so you have to follow a particular order to move ahead. It’s a little weird and it makes it more challenging to have a normal schedule and not be completely overloaded with work. Since I have a different advisor for each major it can be hard to find a good compromise of classes for me. Both will recommend me to take five classes for one major, forgetting that I also need to take classes for the other major, meanwhile I still need to take my gen eds. It’s often left up to me to figure out what the best options are. It’s difficult to have two advisors working separately trying to guide me in different directions. Sometimes I think if I knew it was going to be this difficult, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place, but I’m still doing it. I just wish I got more support in that area.
Living off campus can be tough at times too. It’s great in terms of having my own space and being able to cook for myself. I want to live a healthier lifestyle, so being able to make those choices for myself and living off campus gives me more freedom to do the things I want to do for myself. But being off campus can make it more difficult to make friends, or to feel part of the campus community. Getting to campus can be a challenge too, it’s a 15 minute uphill power walk for me. That’s just something I’ll have to get used to.
Financial aid has been great, since college in America as a whole isn’t very fair or easy for people to afford. I just wish I didn’t have to feel like I need to do the most that I can, apply to as many scholarships as I can, doing this and that. I feel like I’m doing so much just to be a student here. I wish I could just focus on being a student without having all this pressure on my back.
[Regarding my job in the dining hall] For example, Today I was working at the compost system making sure that people compost properly. I stood there for five hours showing people what they could and couldn’t compost, where things are supposed to go. There’s music playing, everyone wearing masks, some people have headphones in, or they’re in conversations so it’s hard to get their attention and communicate with them to do my job properly. I don’t like to get in people’s faces or have to yell at them about putting their trash in the right bin. That’s part of my own personal challenge. I’m interning for the marketing team along with other interns who focus on graphic design, videography and social media. Because those other jobs are more marketable than sustainability, it sometimes feels like sustainability efforts are not prioritized as much and I don’t feel as needed; or that sometimes my suggestions are put on the backburner. I feel like I’m not making as much of an impact as I was hoping to in this role.
Why do these challenges exist?
It just feels like sustainability isn’t viewed as important as the other aspects of the marketing program. For example, World of Wings is a dining location opening on campus. All the other marketing interns have their specific roles and jobs to aid in the process of getting the location opened. For me, there’s this program where we take the excess food that isn’t used on campus and give it to other programs in the community, such as a program that helps recently released prisoners transition back into society, and we would give excess food to programs such as that. It’s sustainable and socially conscious. I want to be excited to be a part of it but it hasn’t started yet because of logistical challenges. But if it was more profitable I feel there would have been a stronger push to start the program. Nothing is really happening so I’m just like, what can I do, I want to be doing more.
Living off campus without being able to drive is an issue. It’s hard to grocery shop, to learn where things are around town, and having to walk everywhere.
What are your most important sources of success and change?
Community. I think you need a lot of people working together to succeed, to be open to more opportunities, to hear other people’s perspectives and get help from other people. Being a part of the communities that I’ve joined has been super helpful. Obviously hard work and doing your best are a part of it, but being a part of a community takes care of a lot of your needs so you don’t have to feel alone in working towards your goals.
What are changes that you would like to see and be part of?
I wish there was something on campus that provided more ways for students to get around. I know there’s some buses but having smaller cars or something that could help students get where they need to go, like getting groceries. Essentially, better options for commuting students living off campus would be really helpful.
I would like to see sustainability made into more of a priority. Obviously they are trying because I have this intern position, but I wish there was more effort put into it. I know they already have a lot on their plate so I wish there was a way for me to take more of a leadership role. I don’t want to put more on their plate, but I thought that was what my position was for, however there’s only so much I can do as a student. Being able to take those leadership roles, have a bigger impact, and doing more important work than standing by the garbage making sure people compost correctly.
I’d like to see more funding for the arts programs as well. Since I’m double majoring I see both sides of it. I go to the music hall which is in a dorm and it’s much more outdated than the newly renovated science hall. I wish that effort in renovating was spread to other programs.
I would also like to see more funding provided to groups on campus that are already working to help students. Such as the Scholar’s Mentorship Program, the Education Opportunity Program, The AC² (AMP & CSTEP Community) Program, Commuter’s Lounge, and others.
Another thing that I would want to change or see changed would be to have more versatility or flexibility when it comes to the classes you have to take for your specific major. I like the majors that I am studying now but it’s not exactly what I want to do, they don’t have the specific concentration that I want to be doing. There’s other classes that align with what I want to do, they’re closely related but they’re outside of my major. I wish I had the option to take those classes. For example, I’m studying environmental geoscience and the course load is more geology heavy, but I’m more interested in biology. I don’t want to major in biology but I’d like the opportunity and flexibility to take more biology courses.
Who else needs to be pulled into the conversation?
People like me, really anyone. The people you don’t think of when you think of students, like students who are working, the students who are taking more on their plate than they need to, students who are minorities or marginalized, the students who have different paths to college, transfer students, students that aren’t on campus, or students who may not have the best financial situations. I think too many people think of college students and assume it’s so easy for them to succeed and to do well, like if you do A, B, C everything will be fine. But that’s not true when you have so many other responsibilities. Being a historically marginalized person, in a new space, in the middle of a pandemic can be a really heavy weight for a person to carry. Hearing about people who have that kind of weight on them might make other people think twice about what we experience, and to consider us when they’re making decisions that impact us.
I think people talk about self-care and mental health a lot, it’s like the latest trend. But sometimes it’s not about needing a “mindfulness day”, it’s about systemic changes that could make a student’s life so much easier. Suggesting mental health days or meditation doesn’t address the real issues. Some students are having a really difficult time and we should be focusing on getting to the root of those issues, the systemic problems that cause this. I can’t point to specific issues but there should be an effort in finding what those issues may be. Not everyone has the time to take care of their mental health because of things that the school is perpetuating. It feels like a joke or almost a slap in the face when we are told to prioritize our mental health but at the same time we are expected to do all these other things. It can be hard to stay sane.
Interview by Katie Edelen, Visual Arts Major as part of a collaborative Interview Book Project in ARS 331 Photo Books and Installations.