Student, Faculty, and Alumni Stories

  Serigne Cheikh Kara Cisse, Colin Powell School Alumnus and Staff Member, Selected to Become Military Intelligence Officer The Colin Powell School extends our warmest congratulations to Serigne Cheikh Kara Cisse for being selected to serve as a Military Intelligence Officer in the US Army. Cisse has been a dedicated administrator in the Dean’s Office since 2017. A native of Senegal, Cisse joined the Colin Powell School community as a student, earning his bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics and his master’s degree in international affairs. He also… Read More »


  “Facing and Overcoming Challenges Leads to Growth” - Alexander Honor, Aspiring Psychotherapist, Receives Scholarship to Further His Studies Alexander Honor, a senior in the Psychology Department at the Colin Powell School, is this year’s recipient of the Dr. Marilyn Seskin Scholarship. This funding for this award comes from a gift to CCNY from the late Dr. Seskin, who graduated from the CCNY Psychology Department in 1970 and remained a firm believer in the college’s mission of supporting first-generation college students. In this interview, Honor discusses his struggle… Read More »


  “The Things that Scare Me are What I Need to Focus on” - MPA Student Naomi Moskowitz on Her Struggle to Rebuild Her Life “There is beauty in change,” says Naomi Moskowitz, a student in the Master in Public Administration (MPA) program. “If something is not working for you, then figure out a way to change it.” After being raised in an orthodox religious community that severely limited women’s education and opportunities, Moskowitz made the decision to leave and forge a new life. In this interview, she tells her story of working full-time and caring for her children while… Read More »


  “Never Forget Your Roots” — Student Government President Andrew Salmieri Reflects on His Path as a Student Leader    Andrew Salmieri, a third-generation Italian-American from Brooklyn and current senior at the Colin Powell School, rose from senator to vice president to president of the student government at CCNY. In this interview, he recalls the tightly-knit family relations, the gifted and talented programs, and the Catholic school teachings that laid the foundation of his worldview, which is oriented toward service and social justice. Specifically,… Read More »


  “Do Internships!” - South Bronx Native Michael Cruz Tells His Story of Returning to College and Building a Career in the Foreign Service       “You are unique, and you are the only one who can tell your own story,” says Michael Cruz, a Colin Powell School alum who recently won the Charles B. Rangel Fellowship in International Affairs, a prestigious award for aspiring foreign service officers at the US State Department. A native of the South Bronx and child of Puerto Rican parents, Cruz developed a keen interest in international affairs and aspired to serve… Read More »


  Alejandro Espinosa on Overcoming Autism and Finding a Path into Public Service at the Colin Powell School Alejandro Espinosa first visited the City College campus as a five-year-old learning to ride a bike with his uncle. Little did he know that he would later become a Climate Policy Fellow in the Colin Powell School and be featured on the Today Show reflecting about General Powell’s impact on students like him. As a child and adolescent, Espinosa faced the challenge of being on the autism spectrum. As the child of Mexican immigrants, he also needed ESL support.… Read More »


  Senior Aryanna Khan’s Journey from the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis to the COP26 in Glasgow As a child growing up in Bangladesh, Aryanna Khan often had to miss weeks of school due to flooding exacerbated by the climate crisis. With an intuitive understanding that climate change is both an environmental and a social issue, she chose to study both biology and sociology at CCNY. She was selected to join the inaugural cohort of Climate Policy Fellows at the Colin Powell School and recently participated in the Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, where she… Read More »


  Exploring the Other Side of Economics: How Lesly Calle Discovered the Solidarity Economy as a Path to Reduce Social Inequality  Senior Lesly Calle started at CCNY as a Chemistry major. As Calle’s awareness of social inequality grew, she switched her major to economics and international studies. She has dedicated herself to studying economic democracy, worker ownership, and community wealth-building as methods of eradicating inequality by deeply transforming our social and economic institutions. This led her to become both a Climate Policy Fellow and Racial Justice… Read More »


  Reflective Paper of General Powell impact on my life  My name is Serigne Cheikh Modou Kara CISSE and I am currently a Graduate Student in Economics at Colin Powell School - City College. I graduated with my Master’s Degree in International Affairs at City College of New York on June 03, 2019, the last day when I had a final handshake and last selfie with General Colin Powell. I also spent my undergraduate life at City College majoring in International Studies (with concentration in International Relations) and Economics (with concentration in Financial Economics).… Read More »


  How Remote Teaching Spurred Adaptation and Innovation: Reflections from Professor Mehdi Samimi   Professor Mehdi Samimi joined the Colin Powell School’s Economics and Business Department in the middle of the pandemic when all classes were being conducted online. Here, Samimi shares his reflections on his first full year of remote teaching:   Teaching online was initially challenging for me for several reasons such as not knowing the audience, lack of online teaching experience, lack of direct immediate feedback from the audience, and technological difficulties… Read More »


Last Updated: 01/15/2020 15:46