Last month, Queens College hosted the premiere of an upcoming episode of the Amazon Prime series The College Tour. The episode put a spotlight on the opportunities and accomplishments of Queens College and represents the first time that CUNY school has been featured on the series. With its focus on ten QC students, the episode showcased the diverse experiences on campus, from academics to student activities to athletics.
The College Tour, hosted by Desi Williams in this episode, is a series that showcases different colleges from the student perspective, offering prospective students a window into colleges and universities worldwide. In its opening narration, the episode, which is now available on QC’s website in advance of its debut on Amazon Prime, calls Queens College “an engine for social and economic mobility” due to its “affordable tuition, high academic integrity, and supportive staff.”
At the premiere event, which members of The Classic attended, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards spoke in advance of the screening, praising the college.
“Queens College has been named one of the nation’s top five institutions for affordability, access, and student success, and [is] consistently ranked among the best colleges in America, and that’s the definition of hope and opportunity,” Mr. Richards said.
Denise Maybank, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at The City University of New York, attended the premiere. She said, “This is a showcase like none other. …It shows the diversity of who our students are and what they bring to us to help change us as well.”
The president of Queens College, Frank H. Wu said that the premiere “couldn’t have gone better.” President Wu praised Jay Hershenson, QC’s vice president for communications and marketing for organizing the event. He also said that about 400 people turned out for it, including elected officials, students, and family members.
The Classic spoke with some of the students who were featured in the episode.
Featured student Stavros Georgiou said, “Everyone was so amazing and they all highlighted a different aspect of the school.” He said that “all of the students that were in it were really great. It was a fun experience, really.”
“It was wonderful to see people from so many different walks of life and different degrees just kind of show who they are and do their thing,” said featured student Makhai Grainger. “It was just a wonderful experience to see how it all came together. We shot this months ago, and we worked with an incredible team on this. It’s been a joy.
Featured student Stephanie Giraldo Debreu said that the process of filming was an “amazing opportunity.”
“You can feel your eyes sparkle when you know your stuff, including your major, and you want to showcase [it] everywhere,” she said.
Another featured student in the episode, Lauren Mistretta, described the audition process everyone had to go through: “I spoke about my experience [at] Queens College through the Macaulay Honors Program, and from that they selected me to be one of the students [for the episode].”
After the audition process, “we had the actual filming,” she said, “which was really fun.”
On the final product, Lauren said, “The editing crew put it together really nicely, and it was really incredible to see it on the big screen today.”
Queens College professors who attended the premiere also shared their opinions on the premiere.
Aniko Szucs, an assistant professor of drama, theater, and dance at Queens College, said that her students don’t “just [see] these stories as a source of inspiration,” but also as an opportunity “to learn about the different clubs” that Queens College offers. She also said that she is “super excited” that her students “[had] the opportunity to see all of this.”
Professor Sin-Ying Ho, who teaches Ceramics in the Art Department at Queens College, admired the authenticity and emotion of the episode. “The video is really well made and [has] a lot of spirit. The dialogue was well prepared and the students were really speaking from their hearts, and I think [that’s what] touched me.”
