Eric Brandman's Blog Spot

When I first started to work on the community service project I told myself that I was just going to use Google to find the non-profit organization because everyone knows that Google has everything. However, I was really wrong and found it difficult finding a non-profit organization that way. So thankfully the librarian, Francoir, taught us how to use the Baruch library databases and I found my non-profit organization fairly quickly that way. This helped me realize how helpful and useful those databases are and I started to use them for class assignments. One support center that I have grown to love is the Writing Center. I went to the Writing Center a couple of times for help in writing a couple of my English papers that were challenging. They helped me out with everything so clearly and every time I come out of the Writing Center, I feel that I am that much of a better writer and more knowledgeable and aware of important writing aspects that I didn’t know before.  I joined two clubs that are very important to me, the Actuarial Science Society and the Handball Club. I joined the Actuarial Science Society because actuarial science is my intended major and they are very active in their events. I joined the Handball Club because I play handball on my own professionally and compete nationally and I know the club is struggling a little bit. So I joined to promote, expand, and organize the club so that it too can be very active in their events and get more recognized. After our class discussion about helping others, I felt that I have not been doing much to help others and been focusing a little too much on myself lately. This is primarily because I have been so focused on school work that I abandoned some other important aspects to life. I think that class session was an eye opener for me and I am getting more involved in my community like I use to be involved, participating in the Great American Clean Up and other social services.

I think that I have a significant role in the Baruch and broader community as a Baruch Scholar and I think the same goes for every other person in the honors program.  Since our tuition is paid for us and we don’t have any financial burdens on us, we are not obligated to work part time to close this financial gap of money owed to the school that many others have. I have several friends in away schools that are having serious trouble with this. For example, this one girl goes to Syracuse, received no financial aid or anything, and pays $40,000 a year. Her parents are helping her out with some and the rest are loans. Before she even graduates college she is going to be financial in trouble and in debt probably about $80,000 – and that’s being nice about the numbers which realistically is probably going to be more. So she is going to be in debt before she even goes to graduate school and I can’t imagine how much more she is going to be in debt. Now she is working as much as she can and can’t focus completely on her studies.

I am in a completely opposite situation than her and because of this, I think we in general and especially I am capable of giving something back to the community. In the greater community, I think it is my job to help out and help fundraise events such as the Breast Cancer Society does. It should be a combined effort of people, setting aside differences and really impacting the community and changing the unfortunate people’s lives for the better.

Not only is it important to give back to the community, but to the school itself. If it wasn’t for the help of others, most of us Baruch Scholars wouldn’t be capable of applying to the honors program because it wouldn’t exist. So if those people felt like sitting back and doing nothing, where would we be now? I think it is very important to use the knowledge, skills, expertise, and maybe if your fortunate enough the money to help others. That is primarily why I signed up for Team Baruch, where I am looking forward to assist other freshmen in their college life experience. I think it is great to have someone to ask questions, help tackle problems that arise, or even just talk to about the school.

So far Baruch Honors has been treating me pretty well. Baruch is definitely harder than High School in the sense that the teachers just mention an assignment once never tell you about it till it’s due and expect you to do a whole bunch of reading for it. I can’t really comment on any professors whether they are difficult or not because I still haven’t taken my first test. After I take my first test and get my grades back, I can see what each professor is looking for or not looking for. So I hate to say that the first test is going to be like an experimental test that counts toward my grade. But as everyone says, you always score the lowest on the first test because you are still getting a feel for the professor.

I like how we have a college advisor that gets to know us on a personal level and a peer mentor. I will definitely take advantage of this opportunity because I know majority of Baruch students have a much larger adviser to student ratio than my class and it’s not possible for them to get to know everyone (already my friend complained about this). It’s also pretty cool that we as Baruch Honors students have our own little building with a study lounge and it makes me feel special.

Although I met a bunch of new people I’m looking forward to meeting more students especially ones with a common major interest. I would say the bigger picture is that I’m looking forward to taking the courses that are required for my major. Now I know we are suppose to take different classes because Baruch students have to get a liberal education and it’s good because we might stumble upon an interesting class and then find our passion for it and pursue a career in that. But to be honest I know what I want to do for years already and I haven’t changed my mind yet and the sooner I take that class the sooner I can find out whether I want to pursue it and possibly change it without having to worry about graduating within 4 years. If I do decided to change it then I know what other field I might possibly be interested in pursuing so why can’t I just take the classes I want to instead of these required classes. I guess I’m still new to this whole system and will understand later but till then I am not too happy about taking certain classes that I don’t have the passion for.