“Humans of New York” is a phrase well-known to the average New Yorker. Brandon Stanton has featured the minds and thoughts of people on the street since he created the series in 2010. Hunter is its own microcosm of the city, with a wide variety in its 20,000 humans. So to acknowledge and feature our own diversity, we are presenting this homage to the Humans of New York. Welcome to Humans of Hunter!
“I regret not taking care of myself earlier in life, when it comes to mental health. I just started going to therapy and to a psychiatrist. I kick myself for not doing it earlier. Maybe I could’ve felt better, maybe I could’ve had more motivation to finish things earlier and not miss plans and not sleep in all the time.”
Lila Amin | Sophomore | Clinical psychology
“The reason I’m going to Hunter now is because my family was going through some hard shit. My mom was supporting us and trying to put my brother through college. When things got tough we all had to quit school and help out. I worked my ass off and now I’m putting myself through school. Hopefully I’ll get my degree, get a good job and make the money to pay my mom back.”
Kathrine Stokes | Transfer Student | Economics
“I’m the second oldest of seven. And so I’m basically helping raise them; the youngest is 6. We’re five girls and two boys. Growing up it was all us girls in one house and my dad. It was always fun with being all the girls, and then boys were born. My aunt has six kids, my mom has seven, my mom’s mom has eight. They’re annoying but I can’t imagine not having as many siblings as I have.”
Sumer Doleh | Sophomore | Sociology
“I started school at Albany. At the time, my favorite artist was Chance and a girl in my tour group at Hunter was wearing a Chance the Rapper shirt. We ended up dorming together and that was totally random. We both came to Hunter together. And now we are moving in together and starting our lives in New York. It’s warmer here, if you can imagine.”
Vanessa Marzullo | Sophomore | Nutrition
“I regret listening to others over myself. Earlier in my life, I used to care a lot about what people thought of me. That made my self-esteem very low. When I came to college, I realized my opinions do matter. I do what I want to do. I switched my major from pre-med to econ because that’s what I enjoy more. My parents wanted me to do pre-med but I want to be happy.”
Igal Sultanov | Sophomore | Econ, Math
“My biggest inspiration is my mom. We come from a low-income family. She works seven days a week to support me and my sisters. I want to be successful and get a good job. I hope to get her a house so she doesn’t have to struggle and she can enjoy life.”
Annie Lin | Junior | Biology
“I am a performer. After college, I would hope to continue pursuing theater but I’m in school for speech pathology to work with performers. That’s my plan B. I always hope to have music in my life. I did a performance here in January and that was the high point of my Hunter experience.”
Tori Lopez | Junior | Speech Pathology
“Sometimes the most unlikely of people will become your best of friends. We went to Hunter High School together and only bonded when we came here.”
Natalie Kozbial | Freshman | English
“Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to Congress. I’ve been working on this project for the Equal Rights Amendment, which basically guarantees all people, especially women, equal rights in this country. So we went as a coalition of students because they’ve been proposing this amendment in Congress for over 100 years now. It was so inspiring to be in DC and at that hearing.”
Lexi Fisher (left) | Sophomore | Chinese, Public Policy
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a doctor. I want to be a pediatrician. I feel like I’ve been placed on this earth for a reason and I feel like my reason is to heal people and to help people, especially kids. When I went to Egypt I was really really young and I saw this child and he was hurt and he was just on the street. There was a family living in a crevice of a building, which is insane. That’s something that really stuck out. After that, I just sat and observed and took it all in.”
Mayar Safwat (Right) | Sophomore | Biology, Chemistry
“I’m from Northern California and my tattoo reminds me of a time when me and my friends would hike. We called this the ‘Lone Oak’ and we would go up there and hang out. It surveyed our town where we grew up. PS: Unless you have a physical condition, don’t take the elevator up one floor.”
Ivan Dolido | Senior | Media
“I don’t really have a favorite memory from Hunter. The people are not the friendliest. I’ve made like two friends, maybe. When I was at BMCC before, I made like 20 friends. It’s just a different vibe. Everyone comes to class and goes. Nobody wants to just really hang out. People seem to be in a rush all the time. And the buildings could look a little better.”
Naomi Garcia (Right) | Senior | Media Studies
“I think my favorite Hunter memory will be when I leave.”
Johanna Arias (Left) | Senior | Media Studies
