Name: Fatama Rahman
School & Year: FCLC ’17
Major/Minor: Computer Science and Visual Arts
Hometown: Bronx, NY (the boogie-down Bronx)
Campus Involvement: Commuter Freshman Mentor program and the Commuting Students Association, Winter Ball Committee and the Chair of the Senior Week Committee, Global Outreach, and captain of New Student Orientation. I work as a web communications intern at Fordham University’s Development and University’s Relations Office, where I work on Fordham’s website. And I started my own club, tentatively named Tech Studio. 1) Why did you decide to create your own club on campus? Well, it’s not that I wanted to start my own club but I wanted to create an environment and community for the computer science majors on campus. I went to Rose Hill to attend the computer science club meetings and it made me envious that there wasn’t a community like that at Lincoln Center. Personally, I had a lot of trouble adjusting to the computer science curriculum and finding resources in the tech community. I wanted to learn more about programming than what was offered academically, but I always felt frustrated not knowing where to go for help. I was sure that I wasn’t the only one.
2) What is the primary goal of your club? The primary goal is to create an inclusive, friendly, and resourceful community for the techies at Lincoln Center. It doesn’t just primarily focus on computer science and computer science classes. We’re trying to incorporate everything into computer science. I know how to use Photoshop so I want to show the club how you can create an animated drawing using Photoshop, HTML, and CSS. I show how with Javascript, you can create a virtual drum just using keys on the keyboard. And that’s just the gist of it.
3) What is it like to be involved with senior week? It’s very different from being involved as a committee member last year to being a chair this year. Honestly, it’s a lot of pressure because my committee and I are basically responsible for the last thing you remember before graduating. My goal this year is to make it innovative, fun, never-done-before, and unforgettable and I think with what we have planned so far, we’ll reach that goal.
4) What do seniors have to look forward to for senior week? Well, there’s a brand-new event that has never been done before in senior week history, but I can’t reveal the details. We are also changing venues for one of our biggest events. We start off the week with the kickoff with a special secret theme, which I can’t reveal yet. We then go into bowling and wine tasting (not together). Then, we’ll do a special luncheon followed by the boat cruise. And we end it with the family reception, where we invite all the graduates and their families to attend a beautiful reception.
5) What is your dream job? My dream job is to be a project manager. It doesn’t matter to me whether it’s at a high-tech company like Google or Facebook or a startup, as long as I get to work with hackers, hipsters, and hustlers. [And by that I’m referring to the quote I once was told by a business professor. He said you always need three types of people: hackers (the engineers), hipsters (the aesthetic people), and hustlers (the business people). My goal is to be a combination of all three.]
6) If you could eat dinner with anyone in the world, who would you choose? I would choose Reshma Saujani. She is the founder of Girls Who Code, an organization that advocates for women in the STEM field, particularly computer science. She has gotten the organization to partner with major companies, such as Goldman Sachs and Facebook. She has even learned about the gap between men and women in the computer science field, all without a computer science degree. She’s so inspiring to me because she delved into a field she has no experience with and done amazing things to advocate for women in that field.
7) Who is your celebrity crush? Obama.
8) What are you going to miss most about Fordham? Honestly, I’m going to miss the people. It’s hard to find such a welcoming community elsewhere. I’m also going to miss just being able to sit in a class, take notes, and learn from such intelligent professors. I won’t miss the 8:30s though.
9) What last piece of advice do you have for Fordham students as a senior? You should be involved on campus in things that you have a passion for. If at least one person thinks of you after you’ve graduated, then that’s your legacy. It’s not about quantity; it’s not about the number of people who remember you. It’s the way they remember you.