Participates in Workshop Created by Ciro Scala, Who Returned to CUNY After Nearly 60 Years, Finished Two Degrees and Established a Program to Help Students Overcome Barriers to Their Success
Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, City College alumnus Ciro Scala and President Vincent Boudreau.
Nearly 60 years after he reluctantly dropped out of City College under the stress of working full-time and commuting from Staten Island, Ciro Scala went back to school in 2016 and earned both an undergraduate and master’s degree from City’s Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Now he’s fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a teacher, and he is giving something back. To help first-generation college students navigate the same kinds of pitfalls he faced when he was a young student, he launched and leads a series of workshops to help them cope with challenges that can impede their success.
Scala speaks to the classroom.
Scala’s story was recounted in a recent article in The New York Times, and among those who found it inspiring was CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. On Tuesday, the Chancellor attended Scala’s first workshop of the spring semester, where he participated in a discussion about “imposter syndrome,” the tendency of some high achieving and aspirational people to doubt their abilities and qualifications, diminish their accomplishments and feel like they don’t belong.
Chancellor Matos Rodríguez addresses the workshop.
Speaking to the 50 students who attended, the Chancellor recalled his own bout with self-doubt, when he was working on his Ph.D. in history and teaching undergraduates at night. “Most of the students were older than me,” he said, “and I thought, ‘Oh my God, they’re going to think, look who they have teaching history.’ So I grew the most amazing bushy beard to seem older. Even though I was at a very good school, I had my degrees, I had all the credentials, they would not take me seriously. So I grew this beard and I did this because I thought I was a fraud.”
A City College student presents during the workshop.
Scala told the students that he came from a family that didn’t value education but he was determined to be the first among his siblings to go to college and hoped to become a teacher. Circumstances forced him to drop out, he said, and it broke his heart. But he never gave up his aspirations, even after he built a highly successful career in the textile industry. “I had my own business, became a big shot, traveled all over the world. My wife and I had a great life,” Scala said. “But I always felt incomplete. All I kept saying to myself was, ‘I want to come back. I have to come back.’ City College never left me. And finally I came back, I went to school every day and I met [students like] you guys and learned more.”
Students at the workshop participated in an Imposter Syndrome Bingo exercise.
Scala recently began teaching history in a Brooklyn charter school, achieving his lifelong goal. He told the students to believe in themselves and take advantage of every opportunity they find at school. “This college is a hub for first generation students,” he said. “I’m one and I met so many when I came back. You’ve been told this and it sounds trite but you are special.”
City College President Vincent Boudreau speaks during the workshop.
Also speaking at the workshop were City College President Vincent Boudreau, Dean Andrew Rich of the Colin Powell School and Hawai Kwok, a CCNY psychology professor who shared her own story of growing up with imposter syndrome.
Scala speaks next to Chancellor Matos Rodríguez.
