McCarthy Center and CSB+SJU Students pose on the Highline during NYC Study Tour
New York City Study Tour
Written by: Brianna Kreft ‘22
The Empire State, the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps. No matter what you call it, New York City is a city full of vibrancy, culture, and history. Over winter break, the McCarthy Center took advantage of all the learning opportunities the city has to offer, by taking a group of ten students on a five-day long study tour of New York City. The group not only visited the sites, but also learned about sustainable urban living, New York history, economics, and much more. Additionally, the students met with CSB+SJU alum and McCarthy Center supporters who live and work in New York. The study tour hit the ground running on the first day in New York. After touching down at LaGuardia, maneuvering the subway for the first time, and unpacking 6 McCarthy Magazine
in the hotel, the group walked to dinner at Angelo Bellini. There, students were not only met with delicious Italian food, but great conversation with two St. Ben’s alum: Skylar Gast, CSB ‘21 and Sameera Sheikh, ‘19. Skylar told the group about her work as an audit and assurance assistant at Deloitte, while Sameera shared her experiences working as an inbound advisor for the Fulbright Program. Sameera. Both Skylar and Sameera are past McCarthy Center student employees, and they enjoyed telling the group about their highlights from working at the Center. Students were impacted the most by hearing Sameera’s testimony of what it was like to attend CSB+SJU as a student of color. She spoke of the hardships she felt, but was also very genuine when she told the group that the McCarthy Center was her safe haven on campus. Her vulnerability in sharing this showed the group the importance of creating safe spaces on campus for all students. The students also learned the important lesson that one does not need to study
