Received SJU Campus Gold Life Award

College had gone by quickly in the last few semesters. I felt disconnected from the university and the community that I’d grown with and became a part of once the lockdown began. Classes weren’t being held in-person, sporting events, and neither was my club. SJU SATA (Student’s Advancement for Technological Advancement) was a close passion-project of my friends and I before its conception, when we’d been divided tech focused clubs at the school. We’d built a community where students could congregate over a shared passion, learn, laugh, and experience the community that the tech gives. We’d grown used to weekly meetings and workshops, greeting all the familiar faces that returned, and eagerly introducing ourselves with anyone new and interested. Each week we would execute an important, meaningful, and entertaining approach to teaching tech. And at the end of the week the whole board would meet again, just as passionate and caring as the last. Once the pandemic hit, we were tasked with a unique task: maintain the club’s environment and routine for our members, innovate and invent new approaches to teaching (and what to teach), all while doing this digitally. I was lucky enough to have an immensely talented and driven board of members behind me and my other co-president, Isaac Sierra, and we headed right into the eye of the storm. Each week we would meet in similar fashion, planning and organizing our roles for the digital space. Our biggest adjustment was our marketing, finding new ways to reach our existing audience and branch out, without the grace of in-person communication. Without fail, each week we would have a great turn-out of students eager to get their fill on Computer Science or Cyber Security. We would livestream the event in Zoom for our attendees and record each session; following the meeting I would edit and upload the video of the meeting for everyone that couldn’t make it. I’m incredibly proud of the work that we accomplished as a team and the work I committed, giving me a discipline and higher threshold for responsibilities through a great medium. I was pleasantly surprised to be recognized by St. John’s University’s Division of Student Affairs with the Campus Life Gold Award, “for outstanding leadership and dedication to campus life”. I hope the work and passion that me and my peers had for the betterment of students and education inspires those who follow.