LaGuardia Community College Fine Arts Major Isaac Ramos Is Named 2024 Queens Creator By The New York Mets And New Balance

LaGuardia Community College Fine Arts Major Isaac Ramos is Named 2024 Queens Creator by the New York Mets and New Balance

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (June 20, 2024) — The New York Mets and New Balance Athletics, Inc. (New Balance) have selected Isaac Ramos, Fine Arts major at LaGuardia Community College/CUNY, as the 2024 Queens Creator. In this role, Isaac collaborated with Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor to design a T-shirt for the Queens community. Isaac’s design honors Latino representation on the Mets team. Isaac’s T-shirt was produced by New Balance and is being distributed to ticket holders throughout this baseball season at Citi Field’s Friday Night DJ booth.

For Isaac, 22, being selected as Queens Creator was both a thrilling achievement and a valuable learning opportunity. “I’m so grateful to be selected as the NY Mets and New Balance Queens Creator,” said Isaac. “I’m very proud of the final design, which shows Latino baseball players against a baseball background. I researched where Latino members of the Mets team are from, and included flags representing Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and U.S.A.”

The Queens Creator opportunity came to LaGuardia via the Amazin’ Mets Foundation through its relationship with the LaGuardia Community College Foundation. For the past two years, the LaGuardia Community College Foundation has awarded scholarships to students from a fund jointly supported by the Amazin’ Mets Foundation and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation.

Dahlia Elsayed, professor and program director of the Fine Arts Program at LaGuardia, stated, “We are grateful to the Amazin’ Mets Foundation for bringing this opportunity to our students, and were thrilled when Isaac Ramos was chosen. It is a major achievement, and we are all so proud of Isaac. As Francisco Lindor says in one of the Mets videos about this project, ‘It’s a huge thing to keep Latino art alive!’”

Arianne Fernandez, Fine Arts lecturer and director of the LaGuardia Community College Gallery, praised Isaac’s talent and character. “Isaac es de la casa, he is ‘Art family.’ We are over the moon for him and this incredible opportunity.”

Isaac is amazed about where his journey from Puebla, Mexico to the U.S. has led him. At age 18, he moved to New York to live with family in Hollis/Jamaica, Queens and pursue educational opportunities here.

“When I arrived, I didn’t speak a word of English. Thankfully, my family recommended the CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) at LaGuardia,” said Isaac. After intensive language classes at CLIP, Isaac enrolled at LaGuardia as a Bilingual Education major.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” said Isaac. “Then during the pandemic, I joined the Fine Arts Club. Our faculty advisor, Professor Arianne Fernandez, saw my passion for art and encouraged me to switch my major to Fine Arts. Now my goal is to become an art teacher while creating my art as well. The art I create is connected to my culture and life experiences growing up in my hometown, but also one to which people with similar backgrounds as me can relate. I take a lot of inspiration from contemporary Latin American artists, as well as the old masters, photographers, and the media.”

Isaac credits his willingness to jump into opportunities at LaGuardia for the professional experiences he’s received.

“I try to participate as much as I can. Through the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) at LaGuardia, I got to work with the LaGuardia Gallerist, showcasing and maintaining artwork displayed throughout the college,” said Isaac. His additional activities at LaGuardia include a mural project for LaGuardia’s Casa de las Américas and serving as president of the Fine Arts Club.

Many of Isaac’s paintings can be found on LaGuardia’s campus, including several on display in the office of LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams.

Isaac will graduate from LaGuardia at the college’s 52^nd Commencement on June 21. In the fall, he will begin pursuing a bachelor’s in arts education at Queens College.

“I had the privilege and luck that for each one of the classes that I have taken, I had amazing professors at LaGuardia that helped me in my academic career—my CLIP instructors, Professor Jason Hendrickson who taught my English 101 class, and my amazing Fine Arts professors Arianne Fernandez, Dahlia Elsayed, Dina Pizzarello, Jessica Boehman, Lorelei Guttman, and others,” Isaac said.

For more on this story, the New York Mets YouTube channel features three one-minute videos about Isaac Ramos and his design process with shortstop Francisco Lindor:

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LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.

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