In High School, I assumed “higher education” revolved around one thing: learning. The purpose of college is to learn and acquire understanding, and then use that understanding to achieve some greater, meaningful feat. Upon my acceptance into the Baruch Honor’s Program, I believed I would be expected to achieve academic excellence, and that only. That’s the purpose of higher education, right?

Now I understand higher education and the Baruch Honor’s Program revolves around something with much greater significance: community. Community is what matters because it’s what shapes and defines us.  No man is an island; it’s the people and entities around us that make us who we are.  Any achievement, be it academic, financial, or career-based is truly worthless unless based in some community. It must reflect on the community you’re a part of, and qualify and identify you within the community you seek to be accepted to or successful in. The beauty of community is that is provides purpose and motivation

As Baruch, my role as a student involves being an active member of the community. I need to be building up my classmates as well as myself. I need to be concerned with bearing an image that sheds a positive light on the community. I need to breathe life into the community by being an active, positive force within it. As a Baruch Scholar, my role is even more crucial. I need to be a leader in this community, striving to be an ideal student, classmate, colleague, and friend. As a Scholar, I’ve been granted a tremendous opportunity. Serving the community, by being a positive force of growth within it, is the best (possibly only) way to seize that opportunity.