Gary Aguayo Oral History

Aguayo described his experience growing up in East New York. He recalled the schools he attended and limited scope of the curriculum. After graduating high school, Aguayo enrolled in Farmingdale College and later transferred to York College; he described the differences between the two schools. Aguayo decided to leave New York City to attend graduate school at Florida State University where he earned a Master in International Relations. He moved back to New York and started working in higher education.

Aguoyo began working as an academic program manager at Queens College SEEK in 2016 overseeing the tutoring center. He describes the initial moments of the pandemic and going into lockdown and the new challenges with managing tutors and students experiencing issues with COVID which included deceased family members, contracting the disease, access the technology required to complete assignments and virtual class meetings. Aguayo closed by offering his opinion and hopes for the SEEK Community moving forward in the pandemic.