Maxcely Xavier
Dubai, U.A.E.
Class Of: 2013

Campus: Manhattan
Major: Architecture, B.Arch

Profile courtesy NYIT's Student Update

Maxcely Xavier started at NYIT in the fall, intending to major in computer engineering. But a class in architecture opened the outgoing freshman's eyes to an entirely new path.

It wasn't the first time Maxcely became excited about architecture, though. She grew up in Dubai, a Middle East emirate that has emerged as a global destination in the past decade. He mother worked as a CAD drafter and brought home stories of the city's transformation as its skyline became filled with high-concept buildings. "It was so interesting to hear the background story as Dubai's architecture changed," she says.

Her family missed the last couple years of Dubai's evolution because they emigrated to the United States while Maxcely was in high school. "My parents wanted to make sure my sister and I got a great education." Although Maxcely had wanted to go away for college, it was more important to stay close to her family. As a commuter student, she knows it's important to get involved in student life and volunteers for the Student Programming Association, works for the Office of Student Activities, and is a junior senator for the Student Government Association.

Maxcely has taken her first year of college life in the big city in stride. You get the sense that the frenetic environment of New York City is just right for her. "Walking from campus to Times Square, I just love it. I'm looking up at the buildings and the lights," she says. She talks about Hearst Tower, which is on her route: a combination of old and new—six stories from 1928 with 46 stories added on top in 2006—and green, the first LEED-certified green highrise in New York City. Maxcely says the combination is "great," and chances are, more combinations of old and new and green might be in this student's future.