Dear fellow student/seeker of knowledge, If you’re reading this then you want to see my work, so be it, you get to ponder on my amazing and extremely academic writings.

I’m Eric Tymko and this is my work portfolio, you’re welcome to view any of my assignments for Bridges of Success.

I’m a student at City College of NYC and this site was created for my Bridges of Success class which required us to learn more about the school and topics relating to activism, participation in-school events, etc. Overall the class is an interesting idea and I’m glad I’m taking over the class that it replaced when I made my schedule, glad I ended up here. There was a lot that went into my assignments for this class and their exigence to specific problems presented by the teacher that help to fuel creativity in creating a specific narrative like having to present an elevator pitch to a person who’s very important. The class has overall been a huge help in preparing for things we didn’t expect to need to prepare for.

One of my proudest pieces would have to be the New Feature Story and the fact that we were given an opportunity to write about the campus, its various clubs, and the benefits they bring. For my piece I wrote about Project Sunshine which is an organization that helps hospitalized kids to feel like kids again, being kept in a hospital for that long of a period of time isn’t the best environment for child and it can take a toll on their mental health, Project Sunshine is here to help with that. A specific section from my paper that I’m quite fond of is the backstory, “The organization was started by a Joe Weilgus when he went to visit a friend of his at the hospital … Joe came across countless kids who were hospitalized and had absolutely nothing to do, just a week later Joe began appearing at the hospital in clown attire and ready to entertain the kids.” (News Feature Story Final Draft). The reason this part is my favorite because it’s such a simple beginning to something so great that is helping kids in countries such as Israel, Kenya, etc.

Directly after the News Feature Story we had to create an alternate piece of media that was based on the News Feature Story but essentially in a different format, yet another interesting challenge presented by my professor. I had some trouble coming up with an alternate piece of media but I landed on turning my paper about a organization that helps kids into a slideshow that might be presented to hospitals/schools that the organization might want to partner/work with. My slideshow had to look very professional and presentable because my fictional audience would be people in suits, lab coats, and very deep pockets to fund Project Sunshine. In the end I made a slideshow that I was proud of and achieved its purpose of presenting Project Sunshine in a friendly and informative matter.

The most beneficial assignment of this class I’d say was the LinkedIn profile which is going to be an amazing help later in life when I eventually graduate college and need to start branching out in the world and connecting. My current employment at McDonalds is alright but I’d like to have something that provides better pay, better coworkers, and overall a better environment. I want to develop my LinkedIn profile as time goes on but the benefits have already shown themselves with me being able to connect with fellow classmates and see what they’re up to.

The elevator pitch was interesting but not a personal favorite of mine due to the fact that I’m not sure how likely I am to remember this pitch in a random situation. While I definitely want to practice it and make sure I can put it to use at a given point I just think I could get nervous and forget it due to putting myself on the spot. I don’t always do great when having to present myself to other people and this was almost exactly like that due to me having to try to make myself sounds appealing as an employee but not to the point that it’s very obvious that I’m trying too hard. This assignment proved to be a fair challenge and offered a lot of learning for me as I get older and further into the professional world.

Overall, I still have much to learn but luckily I still have plenty of time at this school which will hopefully prepare me for whatever I should expect from my adult life and deep dive into the confusing but necessary world of professional employment. Assignments like these sound like a waste of time but in reality are more beneficial than you think and are overall worth investing time into because they’ll be more familiar to you later in life when you have to see them again.