Anna Slabovik's Blog

The community service project has been a big part of my very first semester in  College. Although I was active in high school, it seems that this community service project is much more influential and rewarding than any of the others that I have completed in high school. The steps that I went through to complete it have and will continue to help me throughout subsequent semesters in Baruch College.

In order to research and obtain information about the topic, I went to the databases that were available on the William and Anita Newman Library website. I have heard about these databases in many of my other classes however, it was the library visit with Stephen Francoeur that helped my the most. By listening to his presentation about the databases that were most useful when looking for non-profit organizationsthat needed volunteers, I was also able to be familiarized with the other databases that helped me tremendously with the other projects that I had to complete during the semester, like the Company Project for Business 1000H recitation. Professor Francoeur’s presentation was also an incredible help when looking for the non-profit organization that I was going to work for. The databases that he recommended were an immeasurable help and were the way that I found the organization that my group was going to volunteer for.

As a freshman in Baruch College, I believe that the most important role for me is the role of the student. I’m relatively new to the college experience (though some would argue that it is not the true experience due to the lack of nearby dorms) and feel that for the first semester, my primary goal would be to soak up as much information as possible in order to adapt to the college itself. After all, we attend college to obtain a degree in order to obtain a successful job and build a career. In order to get that degree, we must first learn all that our professors teach us.

Though I believe that learning is extremely important in all four years of college, community service is also extremely important. Since I am in the honors college, I am going to college for free. A lot of my friends do not have this luxury. I am very fortunate to have been accepted to this program from which I graduate debt free, contrary to many of my friends who will have student loans to pay off. Due to all of this, I feel as though I should give something back.

In order to graduate high school, I had a minimum requirement of 50 hours of community service to be completed throughout my four years of high school. Instead of just doing the 50 hours, I completed around 12o hours during the summers of my freshman and sophomore years. In addition to that, I volunteered at a tutoring company and tutored children of all ages in mathematics ever since my freshman year of high school. I am not a stranger to community service and the effects that it has on our community. in fact, I am strong proponent of it and will be glad to continue to volunteer throughout my college career.

When asked, “who are you,” I always have to think before I respond. The answer I come up with is usually this: I’m a bookworm, ballerina, history nerd, and math geek. That is a very unusual combination, but then again, I’m a very unusual person. My definition of fun is very different from that of most of the teenage populace, something many of my friends like to remind me of. I don’t really dress the same way that many of my peers do. If I were asked to describe myself in a single word, I would probably pick different. But then again, there are millions of people in the world that would pick that very same word to describe them. So what makes me so special? I don’t really know, but if pushed I’d fall back on the same thing I mentioned before. I’m a bookworm, ballerina, history nerd, and math geek.

I love to read. I have a pull out couch in my room that’s right next to little lamp. Whenever I get a good book, I tend to sit on the corner of the couch that is closest to the lamp and just read for hours and hours. I tend to favor mysteries and historical fiction. It was my love of reading that lead into my love of history. When you really think about it, the things that people did 100’s of years ago are pretty amazing and I find it fascinating to learn about what life was like for them. So that explains two of the four types of people that I used to describe myself. The other two are very different.

When my parents first brought up the topic of ballet, I said no right away. I didn’t want anything to do with it. But then I went to my first lesson. There was something different about it. It wasn’t what I thought it was and it gave me an opportunity to express myself without really talking. I was always extremely shy in school and I didn’t like public speaking at all. But that first year of ballet showed me that public speaking really couldn’t be that bad and pretty soon, I fell in love with it. Now, nine, almost ten, years later, I quit and I realized that I really do miss it. But ballet is a hobby that really shaped who I am. It gave me confidence and a sense of self that I would have never gotten without it. And I’m very grateful to my parents that made me go to that first lesson.

The reason I love math, I haven’t even figured out myself yet. All I know is that math is at times complicated and simple, and is pretty much the same. I know that if I were to pick a career, it would have something to do with math. That is why I want to do actuarial science. That gives me  a new label: I’m a bookworm, ballerina, history nerd, math geek, and aspiring actuary. Somehow, that doesn’t sound any better. But it doesn’t sound that bad either. I guess that doesn’t really matter, since it is what I am.

Baruch is an incredible school and for the future, I just want to do my best to get my degree and go on to do what I want to do. I expect it to be hard but I’m not afraid of a challenge. My friend told me that I don’t fill any stereotype and in the future I want to continue doing that.

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