Student Stories

Some people go to university and can’t wait to get their degree and move on. And then there’s the people like me: you can’t keep me away from the classroom. And believe me—people have tried!   

In most professional circles, a conversation about economics is a conversation about the stock market, bonds, interest rates and dividends. For Jaylin Ward, it’s about something else: solidarity. The Bronx native’s fascination with building a solidarity economy is rooted in experience as an activist.

If you asked me five years ago whether I thought I’d be a year into my B.A. in Urban Studies at a school in Midtown Manhattan, I might have laughed. And yet, here I am, with my eye set on a big career change.

At Sushi Yu, a no-frills Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, there’s a menu option called the Ramos Sushi sandwich. It’s named for Rafael Ramos, who would gather union shop stewards and other union folks from Local 1501 of DC 37 to meet there regularly on Thursday for about a decade.

This semester has been a powerful chapter in my journey as a student, union member, and emerging leader. At CUNY SLU, I’ve made meaningful progress toward my Bachelor of Labor Studies major, and I recently learned that I only have 14 credits left before I graduate. This realization has been incredibly motivating and reminds me of how far I’ve come.

The writer and critic Susan Sontag once noted, “A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.” It makes sense, then, that 2026 Valedictorian Christine Clemmings has a keen interest in the nuanced mechanisms that keep New York City humming.

And just like that, another semester at SLU comes to a close. For any fellow students that I didn’t get the chance to meet: my name is Carmen and I’ve been serving as your Student Union Secretary this year and as SLU’s Graduate Delegate to the University Student Senate.

The Manhattan view from Ayetuoma Owheruo’s 39th-floor office in the World Trade Center could not be more of a contrast from the lush landscape of his grandparents’ farm in Nigeria.

SLU students joined in the events at the CUNY Student Women’s Leadership Conference last month, a one-day whirlwind of speakers and networking. SLU Director of Student and Community Affairs Rochel Pinder was proud that five students attended this year, the largest number yet for the annual event.

Here at SLU, food insecurity isn’t just about hunger – it’s about stigma, survival, and the kind of community we choose to build. For many students, the challenge of accessing food is not only financial, but social – shaped by whether they feel safe, seen, and supported enough to ask for help.