A native Brooklynite and a third-generation Brooklyn College student, junior Carrie Ebbin is determined to carry on her family’s legacy and radiate her home borough’s spirit. She is a Macaulay Honors student and a business administration major in the marketing track. This year, Ebbin is stepping into her role as president of the Undergraduate Student Government, where she will promote on-campus events, advocate for policy changes at Brooklyn College governance meetings, provide student support, and much more. Besides her academic achievements, Ebbin loves to take in the sights and sounds of nature on long hikes, is an avid painter, and can even recite the alphabet backward! Brooklyn College is part of your pedigree! We’re very much a Brooklyn College family! Both my paternal and maternal grandfathers were students here over 50 years ago. Then, my mom and dad were students here at the same time, which is how they met. My dad was the vice president of student government, and my mom ended up becoming vice president and then president, like me. Plus, most of my aunts and uncles went to Brooklyn College—my uncle even proposed to my aunt here! All of what I do is in my blood. I care so much about Brooklyn College, which is why I put so much energy and work into it. What’s it like being student body president? I worked hard all summer, on top of my internship, to get ready for the school year. There were a lot of projects going on, like getting ready for events and setting up the new Bulldog Connection system. I love helping out. If a club or student is struggling, we can step in and help them or just have a positive influence on their experience. What sparked your passion for marketing, and how has it inspired what you do now? When I was 12 years old, I made my own gymnastics Instagram account, and it gained 350,000 followers within two years. That was a characteristically strange thing for me to do because I’m very much an introvert. I realize that sounds ridiculous now because I’m the student body president, but being a public figure is not something that appeals to me. The gymnastics account exposed me to social media. Since then, I’ve shifted to marketing behind the scenes, which I’ve been doing at internships for a bunch of different companies now. And I think that’s also part of the reason why I joined student government. You’ve had internships at major companies, including in the healthcare industry. What were those experiences like? Yes—this summer I interned at a large insurance company, Elevance Health. My internships were good experiences in general because there was a lot of room for me to explore different areas of marketing that I haven’t been able to explore otherwise. And working for a big company is also a great experience. Every time my mentor within the company taught me a professional skill, like hosting a meeting, or setting up a presentation, or communicating with someone difficult, I knew I could bring this skill back to Brooklyn College because these are very transferable things, which was great. How would you describe your experience at Brooklyn College? I love the student life and community. I used to want to go to a big state school with dorms and get the “real” college experience. But then I came here and found my place. There’s a lot going on, like niche clubs that you can be part of, and then there are also broader student clubs that you can get involved in. I think that it’s really beautiful how you can be part of select smaller communities and then also expand into the larger Brooklyn College community.
