I transferred to Central my sophomore year. I was at an all-girls private school my freshman year. I started getting interested in photography when I was in eighth grade. I was really into black and white photography, and that's when I bought my first camera, a Canon A300. Now I just bought a new camera, a 35mm. It's really cool to go into the darkroom and develop photography, if you're interested in manipulating the prints. None of the schools I've gone to have had darkrooms. But once I transferred to Central there was a studio across the street called Urban Arts, so I go there all the time and use their darkroom. It's really great. I don't have to pay for the negatives, and I can just develop the negatives right there.
Both of my parents went to college. They pretty much supported whatever decision I wanted to make about what I did after high school. They wanted me to do something that my life could benefit from. It didn't have to be college necessarily, just something that could take me somewhere. College, for me, was the next level. Next year I'll be going to Rhode Island College for two semesters. I was waitlisted at Eugene Lang in Manhattan, so I decided that I'd transfer from RIC to Eugene Lang, after the spring semester. I'll be majoring in psychology and minoring in photography. I like observing, seeing how things occur and why they do. To me, psychology is the study of human behavior, how people act in their environment, how it affects them as people. My mom took psychology in college, too. I didn't take the psychology class at Central, but I read my mom's books from college.
Academically, you can see that a lot of kids at Central are trying to succeed because we've started a debate team and an academic decathlon team. There's a drama team here as well. English is also great, because we have an Early Enrollment program here, where you can take college-level English and get credit for it. So the courses definitely do prepare you for college. But we need to do better. There's a split between the faculty and the students and we need to come together and find a truce rather than running away from it. I feel like academically we are improving, and students are performing better this year, but not to their full potential. They should be challenged more so that they feel they need to come to school, instead of sitting back and hanging out with their friends.
My English class went to Brown University and heard Professor Weinstein talk to us about Jane Eyre. I think that if we had more opportunities like that we'd benefit a lot. I think the students would feel compelled to learn more, rather than sit back and watch the world pass by them. Because the world happens without your permission. It's time that we stand up and take advantage of the things that are right in front of us, that we take for granted all the time.
Central has taught me to perceive things much differently than I had before. I came here knowing that I would be different than the other kids, but in a way, my being different makes them want to look at things differently. I think if you present them with a way to think outside the box, then that's much better than being clustered in your own thoughts.
When I first came here, I really didn't want to stay. But time and time again, I'd find the little things that would make me want to stay. And eventually I got settled. You've got to find something about the school that can work for you. You make the school, the school doesn't make you. Mr. Mallardo is a great teacher who really encourages you to think on your own, not just adopt other people's thoughts. Even in the classroom I can speak very honestly with him about what I feel and he'll tell me what he believes, and we'll find some common ground where we both agree. To be able to tell your teacher what's honestly on your mind without having to hold back is a great thing. Honesty is the best thing a teacher can give you. That encourages you to think, and not to settle for anything that's not yours.
Gerry Kue>>
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