Successful college students take the initiative to seek out resources they need including faculty, peers, staff, support centers, the library, and student clubs among others. How has your participation in the Community Service Project encouraged you to draw upon the expertise of faculty and staff? Which support centers have you utilized? Have you joined a student club? Describe how using these resources for your team project has given you an edge in your other courses and your future success at Baruch. How has your understanding of community service evolved as a result of your participation in the Project?
I could not have even begun to approach this Community Service project with my group had it not been for the various resources that were available during the process. As mentioned in the entry question, these included the faculty, peers, and support centers. My group and I decided to do our project with the NYC Audubon, which is concerned with preserving bird wildlife in the New York City area. Using the databases from our school’s library, as well as the websites provided during the library informational session that we had, we were able to find an organization that was not for profit and also fit our interests. Of course, we encountered certain issues after we started to get into contact with the organization in terms of project description and overall communication between us and the organization. Knowing that our dedicated associate director of the honors program (and our instructor for this course, obviously) would be willing to help us in a heartbeat, we immediately sought his support. I believe that this taught us to have a degree of humility when it comes to getting help from those who have more knowledge of a subject, or those with more experience. It made me realize to a greater degree that the faculty and staff of this college are there to help the students, especially since they went through similar experiences in their lives.
I have joined a club here at Baruch College and have tried to become as involved as I can while still being able to balance my academics. I am currently a member of the IVCF (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) club at Baruch. Even though it may seem like an exclusive club, it opens its doors to anyone of any faith or race. The club has large meetings during club hours on Thursdays and smaller sessions during the week for those who are interested. My way of getting involved and slowly immersing myself into the Baruch community was to join the Treasury Board of IVCF. Although it is a fairly new position to me, I feel that I can get involved with the club while helping it maintain its strength. Community Service is also another part of the club that they stress members get involved in, which is something that attracted me to the club even more.
This Community Service project has really allowed me to gain a better perspective on the world as a whole, and on the importance of communication between volunteer and organization. It is not a process that can be completed in a matter of minutes; rather, it takes a lot of planning on effort on both ends for a common goal to be achieved. The importance of community service, especially with the NYC Audubon, is something I learned a great deal about during this process. I now have a better understanding of what measures are being taken to solve local issues, and the roles that volunteers play in the solution. Organizations like the Audubon cannot function without volunteers to help oversee and carry out various events and projects. One of the most important lessons that I learned from this experience is that by putting a strong effort to get a goal accomplished, it will more than likely get done one way or another. The goal will stay the same, but the way in which it is achieved may not be the same as originally thought. The fact that the goal is complete, however, is what truly matters.