ALUMNI COLLEGE OUTREACH DAY

Young alumni came out in force recently to offer college advice to several hundred current Tech sophomores and juniors. Alumni College Outreach Day was organized by Tech’s Office of College Services with support from the Alumni Foundation and the Parent Teacher Association of Brooklyn Tech.

Giancarlo Malchiodi, Coordinator of College Services/Advisement, cited a reciprocal benefit of this activity: “Current Technites get direct, unfiltered feedback from peers about individual colleges and the college admission process,” he said, “and alumni become engaged in the life of the school sooner.”

After opening remarks by Alumni Foundation staff members Renee Brown ’95 and Liliya Magalnik ’01, Malchiodi moderated a panel discussion comprised of: Zhen Ni Zhou ’03, Columbia; Izra Izrailov ’08, Babson; Katie Zavadski ’09, Harvard; Kwadwo Opoku-Nsiah ’07, Colby; and Rosemarie Mazzone, Director of College Services.

The approximately 40 alumni participants then moved to classrooms for smaller, more intimate discussions with Tech students. Three panel sessions gave students a variety of perspectives.

Natalie Yasmin Soto ’05, a Hunter College graduate now pursuing a PHD at Cornell in English Literature, downplayed her college accomplishments. “I did more work in high school,” she confessed and remarked that she returned to Tech today because “I always wanted to be involved.”

Sujoy Dhar ’11 decided to attend this event because when talking to college representatives, “You don’t know what to believe and you trust alums more.” Michelle Duong ’11 agreed and explained that alums “have been through what we’ve been through.” Derrell Brown ’11 was curious to see how their descriptions of the campuses “compared to the college websites.