An Optimistic Mindset Ayoko Kessouagni is a member of the Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers University-Newark.

Photo courtesy of Ayoko Kessouagni

Ayoko Kessouagni never thought of herself as a business person. But after she realized her passion in life is fashion, and that she wants a career in the fashion industry, a business degree started to make sense.

I was trying to integrate having a set goal in terms of a career path, but also following my passion for what I want to do with my life, said Kessouagni, a member of the Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers University-Newark who is enrolled in Rutgers Business SchoolNewark and New Brunswick. I found out I could integrate being a marketing student with having a concentration in the business of fashion.

Kessouagnis business school experience got started earlier in the summer through the B-STAR program, which brings a select group of business students together ahead of the fall semester. Through her growing network and guidance from the group, she has already landed aninternship opportunity with a local fashion brand.

When asked if she could describe her outlook as she starts her Rutgers experience, Kessouagni said if she could use one word, it would be hopeful.

These days I try to keep an optimistic mindset, and so all I can feel is hopeful for the next coming years that I do well in school, meet more people, and delve into my career choice even more, and that somehow the world works its way into understanding Black Lives Matter and the issues people of color face, Kessouagni said.

Photo courtesy of Jaisuan Martinez

Jaisuan Martinez could always be found in the nurses room at school, even if he wasnt sick. By his senior year of high school, the Plainfield native was shadowing nurses at JFK Medical Center.

That made me realize that nurses are so important in the health care field, because they have such a good connection with patients. They are advocating for everyone, he said. Nurses are always there for their patients and can create bonds and create change in a lot of situations in hospitals for patients.

Martinez, who is enrolled in the School of Nursing, part of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, said hes excited to work hard and become the first person in his family to get a college degree, with a long-term goal of practicing nursing abroad in a developing country.

After graduating high school in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, family members and teachers asked him if he was sure he still wanted to go into nursing. He didnt hesitate at all with his answer.

It makes me want to do nursing even more. Were in need of more nurses. Any help that hospitals can get with anything is very important, he said. Since nursing is something Ive wanted to do for a while, I would never second guess it. Its part of the job description. Thats what Im signing up for and I want to make a difference.

Photo courtesy of John Crespo

John Crespo is taking full advantage of the research opportunities provided to Rutgers undergraduate students. The aspiring medical researcher, who came to New Jersey from Puerto Rico in 2010, participated in a nine-week summer virtual research project run by professor Nathan Fried at Rutgers University-Camden. Crespo who also participated in the Rutgers Future Scholars program for first-generation and economically disadvantaged students received a lab in a box to set up a research station at home to study the common fruit fly to gain a better understanding of chronic pain, cancerand the coronavirus.

Its been a blessing to take a research program like this, he said. I get to come up with my own hypothesis and find my own results. Being able to do this before entering my first year is honestly amazing. He said the program has helped him refine his ability to think critically and get a better understanding of the research path he may take in the future.

Crespo, a biochemistry major enrolled in the Camden College of Arts and Sciences, is entering his first semester with 35 academic credits under his belt. Hes off to a head start, and said he wants to start researching cancer because he has lost several family members to the disease.

Working from themakeshift lab at his home in Willingboro was Crespos first experience with medical research. He said the experience makes him excited to keep on researching and hes hopeful that Rutgers will give him the opportunities and the personal and professional networks to reach his goal of earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry and becoming a research scientist.

Photo courtesy of Deena Jahama

Deena Jahama, born in America, raised in Jordanand living in New Jersey since 2011, is joining Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. An expressive paint handler who uses visual art to explore identity and myths, Jahamas passion is making art that tells the stories of Middle Eastern women and other underrepresented groups.

Finding myths from different stories helps me connect my narrative with stories of the past and prove to myself and to other people through my art that women are not confined by the mainstream, Jahama said. There are stories out there that work to add a dialogue about the things that are not talked about for Middle Eastern women, or women of any kind.

Jahama said shes disappointed that she wont be able to be on campus and in the studio to start the semester, but after its safe to return to campus shes looking forward to living, learningand creating with a community of artists.

Im hoping to test my boundaries and also the boundaries of art and how far it can go, she said.

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Rutgers Welcomes the Class of 2024, Full of Hope in Uncertain Times - Rutgers Today