Group proposal

Why are City College of New York students lonely?

A guide to making the CCNY social community better

Fig. 1: A rendering of the proposed student center

November 4, 2024

Building with the Beavers:

Gisselle Rivera
Sumaya Liana
Shah Akther
Kevin Romero

Introduction:

The social community that students are (or aren’t) part of and the social support that is provided by that social community that students do (or don’t) receive greatly impacts their academic life. This impact is so great as studies show that students that are part of a social community are more likely to receive social support and this social support which they receive is what “positively predicts academic engagement, i.e., the group of university students with more social support will have higher degree of academic engagement, and conversely, the group of university students with less social support will have lower degree of academic engagement” (Bian, Chen, and Zhu, 2023, p. 1). However there is an ever increasing trend of college students identifying as shy as found by the study “iGen or shyGen?” where “Undergraduates self-reported higher mean levels of shyness across sequential groups: The Gen Z pre-pandemic and Gen Z mid pandemic groups had higher mean levels of shyness than the millennial group, and the Gen Z mid pandemic group had higher mean levels of shyness than the Gen Z pre pandemic group” (Schmidt, 2023, p. 3). This results in a fragmented social atmosphere which at The City College of New York (CCNY) is further augmented as there is no student center to speak of; this makes forming relationships difficult as there is no set place where students converge to participate in activities or simply have a mental break from the stresses of class.

Not only do academic sources clearly state that social support positively predicts students academic engagement but, when CCNY students themselves were asked in a survey as to whether or not they thought a student center would positively impact the social atmosphere the answers were overwhelmingly yes with only one no:

Fig. 2: Responses from CCNY undergraduates

It is of the utmost importance to the CCNY president’s cabinet and body as a whole to not only foster a learning environment but also one in which attendees find it easy to engage with fellow students. This is why the construction of a student center is unavoidable; not only will it provide the campus with a greater sense of community and a place to relax from the mental stresses of class but it would help attract out-of-state students and greatly help retain current students seeing that CCNY has trouble retaining students through graduation.

Action Plan:

At CCNY there is a shortage of social community on campus. We would like to integrate a student center where the current NAC parking lot is located. We chose this as our location in order to make sure it’s at the center of campus so students can navigate and access it easily. Most importantly keeping finances in mind and avoiding the cost of purchasing new land and or demolishing any of the surrounding buildings . As many people possess automobiles, it would be a problem if we were to remove the parking lot. Therefore, the three story 45,000 square foot (Devineni, 2016, p.6)student center will be constructed above the parking lot.

First floor:

One of the most crucial areas of your student center will be the first floor. As students don’t get enough time for their meals because of their busy schedule extracurricular activities, studies etc, will allow them to manage their time more wisely. Foods here will be affordable keeping in mind that the majority of the people here are students. Where Students will have access to a variety of foods in the cafeteria or food area. For three main reasons, we decided to serve the food on the first floor. The first reason is to make things easy for the students, so they can go and grab the food and move to the floor they wish to be at rather than using the elevator to go to another floor and be back. The second reason is to make sure the upper floor stays quieter offering students a calm environment for their use. Finally, the food section will be visible to more students as soon as they enter, which will help with revenue generation. In order to make that more effective for the revenue generation it will be connected with the NAC building through a bridge.

Second floor:

As all students studying at college, it is not uncommon for everybody to experience mental fatigue and mind fog as they are often under the stress of exams, labs, homework assignments, presentations, and sometimes, a part-time or even full-time job, besides the significant reasons why regular aerobic exercises are great for the human body, which include a reduction in the odds of developing heart disease and diabetes, more subtle reasons, yet still important to students, including changing the brain in ways that protect memory and thinking skills (Godman, 2014). This is why we at Building with the Beavers propose the second floor of the student facility be dedicated entirely to sports. With a total square footage of 45,000, this place will be ample enough to hold two dedicated tennis courts, four pickleball courts, two badminton courts, and one futsal court.

The entire story will consist of acrylic flooring, as this type of flooring is compatible with all of the sporting courts that will be available. Pouring a single type of flooring will not only speed up the time it takes to construct the story, but the flooring requires the least amount of maintenance, leading to lower (if any) yearly upkeep costs. Due to the nature of the sports that will be played, the height of this story will range from 35 to 40 feet.

Fig. 3: a layout of the proposed second floor containing the athletic courts.

Third floor:

Some students have free time in the CCNY campus community or attend classes after class. Students have nothing to do, and they feel bored and overwhelmed. Based on the situation on the third floor, we are trying to make indoor games such as Karom, chess, ping pong, video games, etc. Indoor games offer cognitive benefits, including improved memory, problem-solving, and decision-making. They also aid physical development, creativity, social interactions, stress reduction, and improved focus and concentration. Engaging in indoor activities often provide some features of adaptive play equipment, in order to enhance the overall experiences. Overall, creating indoor games may promote a healthy and enjoyable learning environment. Usually, students feel peace and don’t feel stressed out as it heals their mental health. They also contain meeting rooms and a nap area (a quiet place). But it will be separated so that the two do not collide. These meeting rooms will contain both long tables and chairs. Some meeting rooms will be small, and there will be other meeting rooms that will be on a larger scale, making sure that a variety of groups can meet, ranging from slight to larger groups of people. This is to ensure various students can meet in our student center. The nap rooms will have nap pods this way students are able to sleep and rest before starting their next class, with a certain time limit each student can stay allotting to 30-45 minutes.

Construction timetable:

Fig. 4: The construction timeline, completion of the building estimated to take a little over a year.

Costs and Benefits:

Costs: Below you will find the costs for the construction of the new building and the big ticket items with their respective associated costs:

Item	Cost (USD $)
Complete building construction	$54,000,000.00 ($400 per square feet)
Cafeteria tables and chairs	Tables and chairs: $18,150
Two tennis courts, four pickleball courts, two badminton courts, and a futsal court	Tennis Courts: $130,000.00 Pickleball courts: $180,000.00Badminton courts: $30,000.00Futsal court: $40,000.00
Sleeping pods, chalkboards, whiteboards, table tennis tables	Sleeping Pods: $10,000.00Chalkboards: $ 1,200.00Whiteboards: $842.00 Table tennis tables: $1,000.00
Total	$54,411,200.00

Benefits: The benefits of our new CCNY student center are students’ ability to engage with one another easily, build a community, create friendships, engage in indoor aerobic activities which have been proven to improve students’ mental health as well as their physical health. The student center could host in-school tournaments of chess, tennis, pickleball etc. where professors, undergraduates, and graduate students alike are welcome to participate, this would further contribute to social integration. But also engage in a relaxing environment away from the stress of college life. But also hopefully inspire students to take up hobbies or discover new passions.

Our Team – Building with the Beavers

Shah Akther is a second-year computer engineering student at The City College of New York. She is from Bangladesh, where she grew up, and moved to the United States when she was 10 years old. Besides being a student, she has a side hustle of doing henna (a temporary tattoo typically done on the hands), which can sometimes require 8 to 10 hours of work in one place. Because of that, she considers herself a patient person. She also enjoys bowling a lot and won the MIP after just playing for one season for the first time in her life, which reflects her dedication. Beyond her academics Shah is interested in meeting new people, as she loves to learn new things and build connections. Her ultimate goal is to secure a job with a trusted engineering firm.

Gisselle Rivera is a second-year computer science student at The City College of New York. She is a born and raised New Yorker, who was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Besides being a student she also works a part time job, where she learned the importance of team-work, patience and being fast paced as well. She enjoys reading and playing video games in her free time. One day Gisselle hopes she will have the opportunity to work for a game developing group to create and develop video games.

Sumaya Liana is a second-year Biomedical Engineering student at The City College of New York. She was raised in Bangladesh; when she was 14, she moved to the US. She currently lives in Jamaica, Queens, with her family. Besides studying, she loves to sketch, sing, and go on walks with her mother, which all provide a way to refresh her mind and concentrate with more incredible energy with enthusiasm for studying. Besides studying, she helps her mother with house chores such as cooking. Sumaya is often described as a very calm and hardworking person. She also likes to meet new people; if anyone needs help, she is always happy to help. Studying and doing kind work may guide her future goals and dream job.

Kevin Romero is a second-year mechanical engineering student currently studying at the City College of New York. He is a New York native having been born and raised in Queens. He is described by his peers as being patient, active, and calm. Whenever he isn’t attending classes or studying for them, he is either working in the construction industry or playing tennis up and around the New York City courts. After completing his studies at the City College of New York he hopes to work within the aerospace industry.

Conclusion:

Academic research as well as CCNY students themselves support the idea of the establishment of a student center to better the social community around campus. This student center would serve as a hub for CCNY students to meet, relax, and grab food on the go, providing an experience that current and future students will enjoy for many years to come.

References:

Chen, C., Bian., F., & Zhu, Y. (2023). The relationship between social support and academic engagement among university students: the chain mediating effects of life satisfaction and academic motivation. BMC public health, 23(1), 2368. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17301-3
Devineni, N., Ramalingam, K., Vulis , L., Greene , D., Fenichell , A., Bugala , A., & Crescenzi, U. (2016, December 16). Castor project narrative. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-04/documents/ccny_narrative_508.pdf
Godman, H. (2014, April 9). Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills. Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/regular-exercise-changes-brain-improve-memory-thinking-skills-201404097110
Institution data profile—Cuny city college. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/institution-profile/190567
Jaeger, K. (n.d.). The cost to build a tennis court for a school or sports club (2024). https://sportsvenuecalculator.com/knowledge/tennis-court/tennis-court-cost/
Schmidt, L. A., Brook, C. A., Hassan, R., MacGowan, T., Poole, K. L., & Jetha, M. K. (2023). iGen or shyGen? Generational Differences in Shyness. Psychological Science, 34(6), 705-713. https://doi-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1177/09567976231163877