Author Archives: Xin Yuan Zhang

Maria and Mr. Medina have always been there for me when I needed them. They have been extremely helpful when I was having a hard time and gave me the ability to loosen up when I spoke to them.

My participation in the  Community Service Project encouraged me to use the resources that Baruch offered me more often. The databases have been extremely useful to me now that I’ve been assigned a various of projects. I think that these resources will come to be extremely useful in my later years. It has been extremely useful, so useful that I was able to help other people with their projects from other schools.

Although I haven’t joined any student clubs yet, I am looking forward to joining TEAM Baruch and becoming a peer mentor.

I’ve used the study rooms of the library for school projects and the printing center for work.

The community service project have basically showed me once again how important giving back into the community can be. Serving a community is a way to better myself. I think that I will grow as a person with the involvement of others and gain social experience.

I always thought about how I should make my four years at Baruch the fullest. Of all the possibilities, they have one thing in common. If you strip the plans down to the simplest idea, it is to play a role. Now the question is, what role should I play?

The school place emphasis on doing well academically. But while it stresses academia, it does not forget to push us students toward clubs and organizations. This is a good strategy to help develop and produce well-rounded students.

With that said, I think my role right now is to focus on my grades and develop relationships with others in school – and become a well rounded person. Once I adjust to the college routine, I will seek to fill in a role. What I hope to become is a person who help guide others to become what I will be. To help others with the transition and show them that college is a place of self-learning and fun.

I am priviledged to go to a good school and not having to pay for tuiton. Because of that, I should appreciate my position and make the best of it. Just as Baruch is giving me an opportunity to go to school without accumulating debt, I should give back to Baruch and the community. This is what the Baruch Scholar’s program promotes.

The experience I take in freshman year will be there when I give them to others, hopefully something they can relate to and learn from. I want to lead and become a peer mentor like Maria.

Who am I? What are my favorite things to do? What makes me special?

I’ve always hated answering these questions. To be honest, I never really cared to define myself. I found no point to it – partially because people change all the time and there isn’t a constant description that will always fit a person and partially because the less people know about me, the better.

Unlike most people around me who can be described as quite static, I, on the other hand, have always been quite dynamic. Sometimes I wished that I were more stable when it comes to my behavior, it’d make things in life a lot easier.

There are two events that occurred so far in my life that can be deemed as life changing. Of course, there are other things that happened throughout the last 14 years or so that I can remember, but I guess I can say they aren’t the major ones, rather ones that can be considered little stepping stones leading to the person I am today.

Unfortunate things happen and they help define you to becoming who you are. Yet I don’t believe that you should be hindered by this misfortunes and dwell in them and not moving forward. I have been hindered enough that it has somewhat stunt my growth. Parts of growing up is leaving behind things that plague you and try to make the best of what you currently have now.

This will lead to me answering the last two questions. As a college student, I should be expecting amazing professors that will enlighten me and show me a version of the world that I am too blind to see. These professors will engage not only I but also my fellow classmates to be interested in learning such subjects that are put in front of us, and gain something that will be helpful to us in the real world.

I, however, do not expect anything from the faculty or students from this school. My only expectation is to do what I came to school to do, hopefully gain something worthy in the next few years that I can carry with me when I am ready to take on the world. Growing up the way I did, I should have learned long ago not to expect anything from anyone. I still did. This will change, and I will start to depend on myself and try not to hinder others while I’m at it.

I know that I didn’t get into too many details about what actually shaped who I am. But like I stated before, the past isn’t what matters, it’s what you make of the present. I think everyone has a past that they aren’t proud of, or embarrassed about. Instead of learning about a person from their past actions and what they’ve endured; it is better to watch them grow every step of the way.