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Name, school: Ruqayyah “Rocky” Abdul-Karim, CC
Claim to fame: CCSC 2010 council (aka pouring beers at Lerner Pub and giving out free t-shirts), President Emerita of the Black Students Organization, Undergraduate Recruitment Committee (hey tour guides!), co-chair of the Multicultural Recruitment Committee, avid fan of in-text parenthetical thought
Where are you going?
I am (finally) leaving New York for a two year fellowship in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health in DC.
Three things you learned at Columbia:
- The sophomore slump is a very, very real phenomenon. 2013, you’ve been warned.
- It’s not that serious, regardless of what the “it” actually is…
- I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the Core. CC actually had a really profound impact on the way I’ve shaped my philosophy on mentoring and community involvement. And I think Aristophanes’ story about soul mates is sweet in a cheesy kind of way.
Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer:
Liz Lemon said that Oprah says that you teach people how to treat you. I like giving really great hugs. Not sure how they relate but you’re all smart people…
Any war stories from the War on Fun?
If things go according to plan, I will before the end of the semester…
Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?
By random chance, you’re more likely to have a pleasurable experience from the latter than the former and I’ve never been much of a gambler…
Any advice for the Class of 2014?
I can’t remember the names of most of my professors over these past four years, but I can tell you what the weather was like the day I moved into Carman. What you learn in the classroom will pale in comparison to the amazing things you’ll learn about yourself, other people, and the wide world out there by just interacting with other students. Coming out on the other side of it all, it really is the best/worst/exciting/scary/amazing/transformative four years of your life.
Any regrets?
Discovering the exact source of the stank in the big reading room on Butler 4 and neutralizing him/her in a bubble like the Febreeze commercials. Also, spending 2 hours writing this Senior Wisdom instead of doing my loooong overdue lab report.
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57 Comments
@dont know you but I am now a fan because of this: “Liz Lemon said that Oprah says that you teach people how to treat you.”
@Rocky is freakin amazing… she is def the senior that i look up to the most… she is one of the coolest ppl ive met at CU….. i hope all goes well for u Rocky ^_^
@Cliff ROCKY I LOVE YOUUUUUUU
@rocky is a demigod this woman knows how to bring good cheer to any situation. can’t imagine columbia without her. thank you rocky for all you have done and for being an inspiration and source of reinvigoration for many!!
@I love her! She’s so awesome!
@Anonymous bwog, please do a senior wisdom for rajat roy.
@ew please do NOT
@ok so back to the original post…
This was an awesome senior wisdom. Rocky is probably the only reason I applied to Columbia (she saved me from the deceptive snatches of Barnard) and she’s been so incredibly influential in my years here. It’s been a pleasure knowing her from high school until now. I will be sad when she graduates :(
@iCwutUdidThurr hee hee…deceptive snatches of barnard.
@great let’s hope this doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy!
@Anonymous As a film major, I can attest to the fact that you can keep taking those fun classes you just “know” you won’t major in if you feel so inclined. Not everyone has to be an econ or poli sci major.
@Anonymous This was supposed to be a response to this post:
“being a freshman is awesome. being a sophomore sucks. it is depressing. for those in carman, you leave the 24/7 party and enter the hermetic life of the other lame-ass dorms. you lose about 90 percent of your “friends.” half of your classes are not fake anymore (i.e. lit hum and frontiers/uwriting). you stop shopping random classes that you know you won’t major in (i.e film) and start loading up on classes you will major in (i.e economics and poli sci). you also do not have as many campus events or just stop going to many since they lose their appeal after a year. the freshness of college life fades after freshman year–that’s why second year is called sophomore and not freshman II.”
Doesn’t make any sense down here. My bad.
@two words mandelbrot fractal
@Haha Chad Kia Chad Kia was a disaster but the kids in the class were amazing, esoecially Molina and Ruqayyah! Love them
@HAHAH that story, whether true or false, is completely irrelevant and absolutely hilarious.
@Anonymous2 haha yea vote that shit up
@Anonymous LOLZ
@so... I am taking this semester off from CU, so to make some money, I took my neighbor’s kid to see Finding Nemo at the theatre a little while back. This movie pretty much ruined my night, and I will tell you how. We went to the theatre on a Friday night while I was baby-sitting (he was like 4 years old at the time by the way). It was a little warm out so I stopped and got us each a Big Gulp. That was my first mistake. This kid drank an entire Big Gulp of Mountain-Dew on the way to the theater (which I later realized contains a very high level of caffiene which he is not allowed to have). He said he didn’t have to go to the bathroom before the movie, so I guess you can see where this is going. The theater itself was absolutely freezing, and this kid complained about it the entire time. The movie was a little boring and looked really fake. You could tell it wasn’t real and was just a bunch of silly-puppets, but he was only 4 so I guess he bought it (I hope he doesn’t really think fish can talk). Bla Bla Bla, the fish gets lost or whatever, lots of talking, then BAM! Shark Attack, and the kid screams and immediately proceeds to dive under the chairs, and come back up with his pants soaking wet. Great, kid. You said you didnt’ have to go BEFORE the movie, so now you decide to go DURING the movie. Later on the movie whipped this kid up into a caffiene frenzy, and he takes off his wind-breaker and starts whipping it around his head, and it hit this kid behind us and the zipper tagged him in the ear. The other kid’s mom gave me a dirty look, so I tried to explain that my neighbor’s kid wasn’t very smart because he is only 4, but then I didn’t want to start an argument so I held back my tongue. The worst part actually came when the movie was finally over and we went out to eat at McDonalds. I thought it would be cute to order the kid a fish sandwich since we just saw a movie about fishes. He took a couple of bites and asked why it tasted so bad, so I simply told him what it was. So then the kid, no joke, starts throwing-up all of his fries, and what I guess was a whole lot of mountain dew all over the chair and the floor. Then he gets seriously mad at me and does the now-vomit-covered-windbreaker frenzy. He was mad because he thought I was trying to get him to eat one of the fishes in the movie or whatever. He refused to clean it up or eat the rest of his sandwich so I just took him home. We tried to have a discussion about the difference between his sandwich in the movie, but he simply said “I hate you” (great argument, kid). In conclusion I would NOT reccomend this movie due to my awful experience with this bratty kid. Also, as I mentioned earlier it looks kind of fake. Later.
@yo get a senior wisdom from marilla li
@yesss i agreee!!
@yes! she’s awesome! do it!
@Anonymous i want free food, post something about free food!
@OMG “And I think Aristophanes’ story about soul mates is sweet in a cheesy kind of way.”
YES! YES! YES! Symposium, only because of Aristophanes, and Don Quixote were the respective semester’s obsession for me.
@Anonymous Is a fellowship a job? Maybe we are starting to get on the right track, but we still are not there yet..
@Anonymous just shut your whiny trap already. you try finding a job in this economy.
@Anonymous lol, the economy is in full swing mode dude….if u can’t find a job now, when do you expect to get one?
@Anonymous it’s only starting to recover … and all those unemployed people with EXPERIENCE want their jobs back. dude.
@dude its definately not…but atleast we got some diversity.
@hmm yes, yes it is.
@CHAD KIA! Can we just talk about the fact that this is the third senior wisdom from Chad Kia’s lithum class?
@Anonymous Whouda thunk
@ahh FUCKing sophomore slump is ruining MEEEEE
@clever i see what you did there…
@as a freshman i really don’t understand the concept of “sophomore slump” (in all seriousness). can someone enlighten me with what i should avoid/expect come sophomore year?
@Anonymous reality sets in — aka, this place sucks
@answer being a freshman is awesome. being a sophomore sucks. it is depressing. for those in carman, you leave the 24/7 party and enter the hermetic life of the other lame-ass dorms. you lose about 90 percent of your “friends.” half of your classes are not fake anymore (i.e. lit hum and frontiers/uwriting). you stop shopping random classes that you know you won’t major in (i.e film) and start loading up on classes you will major in (i.e economics and poli sci). you also do not have as many campus events or just stop going to many since they lose their appeal after a year. the freshness of college life fades after freshman year–that’s why second year is called sophomore and not freshman II.
I can continue, but does the sophomore slump begin to make sense young one?
@Amen Basically you have twice as much work and 1/2 the motivation to do it, as well as 1/4 the amount of fun in your life.
@wow perfect and spot-on. you brought back some terrible memories, there.
@not really or alternately,
you quickly find out who your true friends are and don’t have to deal with flaky, fake orientation week “friends” anymore. you start taking classes in your major and realize that you love what you are studying. you meet people who also love what you are studying and have those clichéd conversations promised to us in the admissions pamphlet until 3 am. You stop going to campus events (except to pick up free food) because you have figured out more exciting things to do in the city, like open bars, dancing, and music performances.
it is completely up to you to make your own happiness.
@... when you’re in SEAS, the sophomore slump is not up to you. it’s work work work and work even harder or die and transfer to CC
@SEAS true story.
@SEAS 2012 He speaks the truth!
@... = SEAS girl its “She” :D
@Harmony Hunter something about harmony and stuff
@l o l who are you…
@Stem You are becoming weak, more was expected of you.
@senior Best 2014 advice yet. so so so so so true!
@Anonymous haha, the cheese/ oral question- exactly my sentiments
@awwwwww I love her soo much!! Such an inspiration, she’s done everything I can even imagine trying.
@Anonymous so I’m not the only one turned off by that smell! It smelled like old vomit mixed with 10-day-old unwashed gym socks. How do people study in that room??
@how is it possible? how is it possible that she doesn’t remember the names of her professors? I’d be pretty upset if that were the case for me.
@Anonymous I always thought no one else noticed that horrible smell. It’s on one side of the room, so I don’t think it’s a person. Smells like old grilled cheese.
SOME ONE DO SOMETHING.
@malayan athletic see i think it has something to do with the periodical room..perhaps some sort of chemical/preservative?
@total and complete win!
genius! I do not know you hun, but totally my loss.
that stank needs to be neutralized
@i don't know her either... …but i agree :) she seems awesome
@yay awesome. one of the better people i have met on this campus full of self-indulgent douchebags.
@John Ruqayyah interviewed me during columbia admission process- i love her!