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Who am I?

I was born in The Bronx in ‘92 and moved to Queens in ‘96. I’ve lived there ever since.

I attended my local schools for elementary and junior high, and for high school I commuted to Lower Manhattan.

The hour-and a half long commute to school taught me a lot over the course of four years. Between the car ride to the Long Island Rail Road Station, the train to Penn Station, the 2/3 subway line down to Chambers Street, and the walk across the West Side highway on the Tribeca Bridge, there was a lot to take in.

I learned a lot about the city, the culture, but more importantly, I learned a lot about the people.

The friends I conversed with, and got to know better, and strangers I met (Sorry Mom, I do talk to strangers) all taught me things that I’ll never forget.

One woman whose husband was deployed in Iraq gave me advice on the importance of choosing a career I enjoyed.  Her husband loved his job, but while she had a good salary, she was unsatisfied with hers. She told me that if this ever happened to me, there was no shame in dropping everything and starting over. That was exactly what she was about to do.

Another time, a man saw the history book I was reading, and told me the harrowing tale of how he had served in the Vietnam War, and how he would have dealt with the war differently, had he been in power. He told me that since people my age were the future of America, we should really learn from the past and work hard at not letting history repeat itself.

People like them really underscored and supplemented the lessons I learned in school, in ways that couldn’t have been more helpful. They were real life models. I definitely would have missed out on experiences like these had I attended my zoned school.

And those are the blatant examples. There are other subtleties that I picked up on during my commute. I learned proper train etiquette, how to tell the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin, and I also think I improved my Spanish by reading El Diario over the shoulders of my fellow commuters.

Overall, I learned to be more observant.

Now in terms of my anticipation of the college experience, I have to say I’m really impressed with everything that Baruch has to offer, from all the clubs, teams, and sororities, to the beautiful Newman Library, Writing Center, and Student Academic Consulting Center. It’s impossible to list all the services that I do know of, let alone the myriads more that I don’t. I look forward to learning about them as Freshman Seminar progresses. I hope that I am able to utilize everything I need, without looking back with any “should haves” or “could haves”.

Another concern is how I’m going to balance everything I want to be involved in with my classes. In high school, I was very involved in extracurricular activities, and I felt my academics could have been a bit better if I had managed my time more efficiently. Maybe it’s impossible to strike a perfect balance, but it’s definitely something I am determined to try.

There are also so many majors and minors at Baruch that spark my interest – so many that I’m afraid I won’t be able to explore them all. I’m drawn to Management, Entrepreneurship, and Finance, but also to Psychology and Sociology. With all these options, and my candy-store outlook, maybe Zicklin’s moratorium on double-majors is really a blessing in disguise.

I’m sure that as I continue my studies I will gain further interest in certain subjects, and lose interest in others. I’m counting on this to lead me to my destined course of study.

So, what are my expectations as a college student?

Well, I’ll give it to you straight. Since I gained a lot out of my commute to high school, I’ve concluded that there’s a direct correlation between commute time and memorable experiences. As my commute to college is exactly 33% longer than my commute to high school, I’m expecting my college experience to be exactly 33% more enriching.

But I kid, I kid!