Fall 2010 - Lehman College

Remember When?
Crossing an Ocean to Find Her Voice
What brings students from far-off lands to study at Lehman, and how do
they manage to adjust not only to the experience of college but also to
a new culture and often a new language? Sophia Tewa’s journey began
in Paris, the city of her birth, brought her to Lehman and to selection as
a campus correspondent for CNN, and then continued at the CUNY
Graduate School of Journalism, where she completed her master’s
degree in 2010. Hundreds of students like her, representing more than
100 nations, are studying today at Lehman.
by Sophia Tewa (B.A., ‘08)
I visited the campus of Lehman College in the
summer of 2005, a day before leaving the city for a long road trip
across America. New York was my starting point, and I came back
a few months later to start my studies at Lehman. I was nineteen,
and I wanted to see the world. It had to start somewhere. I left my
home country to study at Lehman. I didn’t know yet that I would
find there all the ingredients I needed to learn the craft of writing,
filming, and producing news.
I wanted to be a journalist, and Lehman trained me along the way.
But I also took atypical classes in various fields. I learned about
French cinema, Asian art, African American history, the Cold War.
I always wanted to travel, and Lehman exposed me to universal
subject matters. In each of my classes at Lehman, I met people
who challenged my perceptions and opened my mind to new ideas.
Born and raised in Paris, I had the chance to be exposed to different
cultures and nationalities, which was not much different from
the Bronx. I worked with classmates from all over the country on
thought-provoking projects.
Lehman College is not only where I got my bachelor’s degree in
multilingual journalism and forged my skills, but it is also where I
discovered that I could achieve my goals. It was an unusual major
in an unusual city, a college in the center of New York City, far
away from home. To my eyes, the campus was so vast, a small city
within the city; so different from the small-sized university I had
transferred from in France.
To my eyes, the campus was
so vast, a small city within
the city; so different from the
small-sized university I had
transferred from in France.
I quickly saw that the College was right for me and fit my
striving spirit. My instructors valued student participation and
dialogue. I found my aspirations and my voice in their classrooms.
I developed my print, broadcast, and interactive media skills with
veteran professionals. At Lehman, my professors introduced me
to the world of journalism and the media industry. My experience
and internship prepared me to apply for a master’s degree at the
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
I spent most of my extracurricular time writing in the Student Life
Building. I honed my writing skills there at The Meridian, Lehman
College’s long-time student newspaper, for which I was the news
editor and reported stories. I learned TV and studio production
inside Lehman College, at Bronx Net. I also wrote articles in French
and English for the other campus paper, The Bronx Journal. This is
where I learned how to express myself and film and produce quality
journalism. To extend my knowledge, I decided to intern at several
news stations while studying at Lehman. My classes exposed me
to the field of broadcast journalism, but while studying I also found
jobs and internships in the news industry. It wasn’t an easy enterprise,
but Lehman College trained me all along the way.
Did you come from another nation and culture?
Continue the conversation about international
students and their impact on Lehman by emailing
us at lehmantoday@lehman.cuny.edu.
36 Lehman Today/Fall 2010 – Winter 2011