The Peopling of New York City seminar was the most comprehensive look at immigration I have ever experienced in all my years of schooling and living in the city. Although I had previously learned about immigrants and the diversity of New York City in history class and textbooks, those lessons never translated into reality. For this class, though, the combination of field trips, guest speakers, research papers, and the interview project collectively taught me what immigration in this city is really like.
My favorite project of the semester was definitely the immigrant interview. I relish the stories my parents tell me of their immigration and integration experiences when they first came to New York more than twenty years ago. However, I had difficulty when I conducted my formal interview because I was not accustomed to asking open-ended questions and being completely thorough about every detail. Nonetheless, I learned a great deal from my respondent and I got a comprehensive glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of an immigrant in New York City.
The statistical profile was more challenging, because gathering the numbers, determining which would fit into my paper, and making the graphs was very time-consuming. I learned many new technological skills and it was an enriching experience to use the Census data as well as theresources in the Baruch library. All in all, this class was a great starting point to understand the complex issue and importance of immigration to our city and our nation.
