The BIC Class of 2020: Visionary. Nimble. Poised to Transform a Post-Pandemic World.
In May, the BIC Class of 2020 didn’t just graduate. This powerhouse class was able to stop an unprecedented pandemic in its tracks. While the semester went off-line in mid-March, these students dug in. They defended exceptional portfolios. Pitched final projects to Diageo, the multinational beverage company, in a dynamic, three-hour Zoom session. They proved that their Class of 2020 wasn’t just about having 2020 vision. It was about being fearless.
With 37 students, BIC’s biggest graduating class EVER originated from points east of New York City: Denmark, Norway, and Italy. And even further: Armenia, Morocco, Iran, China and Russia. Many came from the south: Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Others were home-grown, from Brooklyn to the Bronx. Queens. Even Ohio…
In two short years, students from this class received a record-breaking SEVEN The LAGRANT Foundation Scholarships: Carmen Quang, Carlos Matias, John Holliday-Stewart, Kam Singh, Mohamed Amribet, Ray Sein, and Amera Lulu.
The BIC Class of 2020 had 3 teams honored at The 2019 ONE Club’s Young Ones Competition with a Silver Pencil, a Bronze ADC Cube, and 2 Merits. Hats off to the Silver Pencil winning campaign for Il Makiage by Lorenzo Lasagna, Jose Fresan, Melissa Orr, and Roxie Xie. Our Bronze ADC Cube winners Angel Wu, Kenneth Medina, Diana Arutuyuan, John Holliday-Stewart, and Mohamed Amribet also won a Merit for their Il Makiage print campaign. Merit winners for their Brooks Running Shoes campaign were Carlos Matias, Raymond Sein, Taylor Becker, and Carmen Quang.
Three teams from the Class of 2020 were selected for the One Show Client Pitch -- which is such an honor and heavy lift, that the One Club didn’t even TRY to pull that off this year. Last year, it was Jose Fresan, Melissa Orr, Lorenzo, Roxie, and Amera. The year before, Carmen also pitched with a BIC team.
This class was honored in many issues of CMYK’s Top 100 Creatives: Jose Fresan, Melissa Orr, Carlos, Carmela, Diana, William, and Amera.
In the last two years, our DezMax Scholarship winners have been Carlos, Taylor, and Roxie.
Penelope Herrera was on the team STEM Hive that won $25,000 at Zahn Innovation Center’s Pitch Night. This idea originated at BIC’s 24-Hour Idea Hack in 2018.
Last summer, we not only had a couple of BICsters compete in the BBH Strategic Bootcamp, but Roxie was on the winning pitch team.
Melissa Orr was selected to represent BIC as an AIGA Fresh Grad.
In the past two years that started at BIC orientation on August 22, 2018, BIC's 6th cohort learned how to brand Harlem, sell Heineken 0.0, and helped CUNY Arts engage the largest student body in the world. This Spring, they started a conversation with Diageo’s Seedlip by creating a special society that focused on a magical distillation process. They presented like pros -- strategically, persuasively, theatrically. And then, before the dust settled, one team even killed Sober Curiosity.
At the graduation celebration on Friday, May 29th, the following students were acknowledged for receiving the highest track scores at the May 26th Portfolio Thesis Defense:
Vanessa Caro and John Holliday-Stewart in the PR Track tied with 8.3 out of 9 points.
Melissa Orr in the Creative Track with a score of 8.5 out of 9.
Raymond Sein in the Management/Planning Track with the highest score in the class with an 8.8 out of 9.
The following BIC Graduates received certificates for the highest GPAs:
Melissa Orr with a 3.84
Raymond Sein with a 3.87
Taylor Becker with the highest GPA of 3.88
We also saluted the BIC grads who were CCNY undergrads: Carmen Quang and Kenneth Medina.
Bravo, BIC Class of 2020. We will follow you as you continue to soar, reshape the industry, and create a more brilliant future.
