This blog post was written by sophomore, Hailey Rizzo.

New York City has started a fire inside me that will never die. Every time I go to this beautiful, crazy, exciting city I fall in love more and more. I’m sure this applies to many other people as well. After visiting for my third time, I was able to determine that my dreams are possible, all thanks to the big city. I never realized the amount of opportunity the city has to offer until this most recent trip. This NYC trip was amazing, but there were a few things that stuck out to me and made me understand that the city is where I want to end up.

1. Seeing past GCC graduates

Growing up in a “small town” and going to a school such as GCC, I thought I would probably stay in upstate New York forever. After a lot of thinking and especially after seeing the GCC alumni at their current jobs, it gave me hope and made me realize that the city is the place I need to be in order to make it in this industry. It was amazing seeing every one, and it was hard to believe the amount of success they’ve already had even though they only went to GCC a few years ago. That was definitely very motivating and encouraging. All of their advice helped me answer many questions I was wondering and I’m grateful they took the time out of their busy schedules to speak with us.

2.  Buffalo David Bitton

This was my second visit to Buffalo David Bitton and I almost forgot how much I love that company. Diane Alexander is so amazing and after listening to her talk she showed me how much passion and dedication you need to have to be in this industry. Not to mention how much hard work you need to put in. She is someone who I respect greatly and I’m definitely going to try to get an internship at Buffalo next year.

3. FIT College Visit 

After it was time for every one to go home, I stuck in the city and took a tour of FIT with my parents. After looking at multiple schools for my next step, I am very happy to say FIT is most likely where I will end up. The people there were incredibly helpful and the school itself was very pleasing. Also, the dorms are right across the street, which made me feel better when I thought of moving to the big city. Like any big city, New York can be a little intimidating, but FIT made me feel safe and comfortable. The school is amazing and I can’t wait to see where I will be in a year!

These three events were a few of the many things that made New York such an amazing trip.

Here are a few pictures below of a couple things I saw, and a very crazy transformation of myself from last NYC trip to this NYC trip.