Zion Baldwin ’17, from the south Bronx, NY, is currently a junior at Binghamton University, studying English with a concentration in creative writing.

ACADEMICS - My most interesting academic experience thus far was working on a research project with the Independent Undergraduate Research in the Humanities. I took a class with this department in the fall of 2018, and I worked with professor Leo Wilton of the Human Development department. In my research I argue being African American means that you are inferior within the American education system. African American students internalize this inferiority as cultural dissonance, causing various problems in the classroom that are not effectively confronted. Doing this research allowed me to build certain skillsets, including public speaking, writing, data analysis and reading comprehension. This research expanded my knowledge of classroom settings across America, and ultimately it made me value the opportunity of attending college.

 

EXTRACURRICULARS – I am a member of the College Progressives and the Frances Beal Society. The groups are synonymous, but FBS is a smaller collection of people of color. Our groups bring awareness to any injustice on campus or in the off campus community. We are involved in our community and we protest often. A notable memory I share with my peers is when we went to the Broome County Jail in our University’s town (this center holds the largest number of prison inmates in New York State). I currently work as a writing tutor for my school’s educational opportunity program as well as the Student Support Services nonprofit. I love writing and I love helping others.

 

CFS PREPARATION – An underrated opinion, but CFS helped me understand that college is a marathon not a sprint. Because of my struggles at CFS and my time being disciplined, I understand the gravity of resilience. CFS helped me with a lot in terms of my mindset for handling college academia and time management. I talk about this often with my fellow alum brothers and we all agree that CFS really helped us to know the correlation between working hard and playing hard, so this means when it's time to work, we put our heads down and cut out distractions, but when it's time to have fun we go hard responsibly. All of the writing at CFS helped me to develop my writing skills, and I can confidently say that I am one of the best writers at a large university having received consistent recognition and winning awards thus far.

 

ADVICE FOR GRIFFINS - My advice to you guys is to 1) Realize the gravity of the opportunity in front of you and know that because you are at CFS means you have much potential, you are worth being there, and doing so much more when you leave! 2) Realize that CFS and life is a marathon not a sprint. Embrace failure young Griffins! A minor setback is worth a major comeback, and it’s what I live for!