UTMOST | THIS MILLENNIAL IS PUTTING HERSELF THROUGH SCHOOL BY COLLECTING CANS

On the streets of New York City there is an underground economy of sidewalk hustlers. If you look closely enough, you’ll see it: wannabe rappers handing out CDs, carts selling homemade churros and fresh-sliced mango on a stick, kids doing pole routines in the subway for a few extra bucks, and then there’s always the can-collectors sifting through yesterday’s garbage. Among this assorted riffraff you’ll find Carita, a 21-year-old double majoring in psychology and nursing at Hunter College.

Carita is no stranger to hard work, but unlike other college students, her resume doesn’t include fancy internships at well-known companies or institutions. Instead, she has been working afternoons, nights, and weekends to support her mom, and put herself through school by collecting cans on the streets of Lower Manhattan — a grueling job that is usually relegated to the homeless, immigrants who lack the English language skills necessary to find other work, retirees no longer collecting an income, or the otherwise bedraggled. Read more...