Ashkarn Singh

The Community Service Project has greatly encouraged me to draw upon the expertise of faculty and staff, even when it’s just a simple thing. One example is the first time I had to print in the library. I had no clue how to do it so I asked the staff members there. Another example is how my friends and I used to just study all together in the library because none of us wanted to find out how to get a room. Eventually, we decided that we should just do it because after that, we’ll always know how to do it. Now we have no problem getting a study room so that we can all study better together.

Unfortunately, I have not utilized any of the support centers this semester, and this is one of my biggest regrets. I hope to utilize both the Starr Career Development Center and SACC. I especially want to utilize SACC so I can make sure that I get the best GPA I can. I also plan to join a student club next semester so that I can become more connected with my fellow peers and have more opportunities to help people. I did not join a student club this semester because I wanted to take my time to get acclimated to college. My understanding of community service has greatly evolved as a result of this project. I was able to actually research the history of an organization and really learn why they do the things that they do, which gave me a whole new outlook on community service and those who start these nonprofits.

In the next three years, I see myself hopefully being close to completing an undergraduate degree in Finance and beginning to pursue a Master’s either here at Baruch or a school like NYU. I hope to have strong business connections built through internships from Starr and other places. I hope I can use these connections to easy land a full time job as soon as I finish my degree. I also hope to have a high GPA and still be in the Honors Program.

Our role as Baruch Scholars is to be model students for our peers in the school. Before entering college, some of us were told that people in college only cared about themselves. We were told that we had to watch out for ourselves, that our professors wouldn’t care about us, etc. It is our job as Baruch Scholars to change this perception. We have to take advantage of all the knowledge we gain in order to help all Baruch students. There are many things that my friends that are not in the Honors Program have not learned. For example, I was talking to my friends the other day and they mentioned how in their FYS class they did an activity where they had to write what stresses them down on a piece of paper and then throw it in the center of the room. While this activity may be nice, our class instead learns about things like how to use the library’s resources, how to register for classes, and where to go for counseling. I was able to tell my friends everything I learned so that they could be informed and hopefully pass that knowledge on to others.

I love how this role of being helpful is reinforced with the culture of service the Honors Program due to the community service requirement. Working in our groups to find an organization to volunteer for has been fun. I’m also looking forward to researching more organizations to volunteer for in my future years and possibly even convincing my friends to come volunteer with me even though they do not have to, just so that we could reinforce the communal spirit of Baruch.

Almost everybody would tell you that high school shaped who they are dramatically. They may tell you about some amazing teacher they had that taught them so much about life, a guidance counselor that they could talk about anything with, or a club they joined where they met their closest friends. For me, there were two things that shaped me in high school. The first thing was joining the wrestling team. Wrestling taught me a lot about teamwork and being independent at the same time. It’s about teamwork because each match somebody on your team wins counts towards your team points. However, it’s also individual because once you’re in a match, it’s up to you to win or lose. Nobody else is coming on the mat to help you take down and pin the other guy, you have to know what you’re doing. Wrestling also taught me a lot about dedication because we had practice every single weekday and many times also on Saturdays. I took everything I learned from wrestling and applied to my classes as well.

The other part of high school that had a big impact on me was Virtual Enterprise. VE was a class where we simulated running a business. We had different departments in the class and everybody had a job. I was the Finance Director, so I oversaw the day to day operations of the financial department and worked alongside the CFO to help prepare for competitions and make sure everything was getting done. In this class, I learned a lot about business and got to use Excel every day. I was even able to put together an inventory system in Excel that updated automatically using another spreadsheet when we made a sale.

As a college student, I hope to expand on everything I’ve learned in high school and use it to become successful throughout my time in college and into my career. I also hope to learn more about the real world because no class really does that in high school. I hope I do well throughout the first semester and not let old habits like procrastination hold me back. I also hope I join a club sometime soon.