Moshe Shetrit

The City College of New York

142 West Beech St

Long Beach, NY 11561

2/8/2023

Prof. Pamela Stemberg

The City College of New York

160 Convent Ave

New York, NY 10031

Dear Professor Stemberg,

My name is Moshe Shetrit. I am currently in my freshman year at The City College of New York. I grew up in Long Beach, New York with my three siblings. Unfortunately, living close to the water has its downsides, especially during hurricane season. We were very affected by the damages done by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and dealt with those damages for many years. That year we had to bounce around different places to stay. At first, we moved in with a family friend for a few weeks. Then, we rented a house in Atlantic Beach until the Summer. After that, we moved into an apartment for about four years. During those years, we spoke with contractors to fix the damages done to our house by the hurricane. G-D’s plan was for us to not move into our old house, so we ended up selling the house in its current stage of being fixed. We ended up buying a new house a few blocks away from our old house, keeping us in Long Beach. Growing up I always enjoyed working with my hands. Whether it was building LEGO with my friends or by myself or even working on house projects with my dad. The Jewish people have a holiday where we stay in a hut for about a week. Even though it can be a bit frustrating, I enjoy building it with my dad each year. I always knew I wanted to pursue a career that involved using my hands, so I am currently working towards a major in Mechanical Engineering. 

The difficulties in pursuing this major are all the science and math courses I need to take. When it comes to math, I am usually able to understand it but when the time comes for an exam, I completely blank out and forget how to do any of it. I am not a great test taker in general because of the added pressure to get it done in under 3 hours. My success in pursuing a career in Mechanical Engineering is like I said earlier that I’m good with using my hands. For example, last week a friend of mine needed help taking down his basketball hoop and installing a new one.  With ease and my familiarity with tools, I was able to take down the basketball hoop. The struggle was putting up the new one because it didn’t come with all the screws and bolts, we needed. So, I just ended up recycling the materials from the old one and it fit perfectly. After doing this, I want more challenges as a future mechanical engineer where I will have to improvise and think outside the box.

Sincerely,

Moshe Shetrit