Transformation and evolution are part of our daily lives. Just like the butterfly featured on the cover, my goal is to evolve and transform into something new.
It is a great pleasure for me to share my experience as a first-year student with you. My name is Danna Acosta, I am 19 years old, and I am from Dominican Republic. I am currently studying Communications at City College of New York, which is a fundamental step for me to begin forging my professional path and investing in the knowledge that will help guide me towards the future with wisdom, making me an independent person and giving me skills that prepare me to adapt to all kinds of circumstances.
Being accepted into City College was more than amazing news for me because it allows me to combine my passions from various perspectives, such as art, photography, entrepreneurship, and communication, which is the most important because it allows me to make a connection between these fields. In the Fall 2025 term, I can say that I encountered many obstacles at the beginning to adapt, but thanks to the great support services that this college offers, I was able to improve.
The purpose of this digital portfolio is to showcase my projects in the FIQWS 10108 HA14 – Composition of Individual & Society class, including: Critical Analysis, Research Essay, and Self-Assessment.
In the Critical Analysis, I must demonstrate my skills in examining a text that I connected with deeply during this semester, showing that I understand the content and can explain my ideas, interpretations, connections, the author’s purpose, the elements, and the target audience. Therefore, I decided to select the text by Oglesby, Nathan Dufour. “Would Plato Tweet? The Ancient Greek Guide to Social Media. For the reasons that I have had great admiration for the way philosophers taught in ancient Greece, my interest was primarily in showing that they left us a legacy of knowledge and learning that we have in society today. This article aims to demonstrate how these philosophers would be perceived with today’s developed means of communication. I also had the opportunity to analyze Plato’s Phaedrus, Penguin Classics Edition, 2005, from which I gained insights into how argumentation helps to promote critical thinking.
Research Essay: The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that throughout the semester we worked on various topics, from which we would select one and conduct detailed research on it, taking into account different perspectives on how it has shaped and affected society. The essay should present arguments, analysis, evidence, a thesis statement, coherence, and clarity on the topic. One of the topics covered in this class was the media, making it a key subject to include. Therefore, I decided to explore the connection between media and psychology, and I used audio media platforms to examine how these platforms, especially podcasts and radio, influence the behavior and emotions of the audience. This essay required finding five academic sources to support the arguments.
The self-assessment, the purpose of which is to reflect on what you learned this semester and how you improved, is a crucial part of this project. It’s very important to detail your old habits in comparison to the new knowledge or skills you acquired during the semester. You should make four statements about areas in which you improved and support them with evidence.
