Author Archives: Alisa Rudy

My participation in the Community Service Project has enabled me to understand the vast amount of resources Baruch has, such as the STARR Career Development Center, which I plan to visit in the near future to secure a summer internship. Baruch has more resources (clubs, centers, offices, and individual faculty) than anyone can count, so I really do feel like I’m privileged and well cared for, in every sense. On that note, I think it’s important to mention that it isn’t only the centers and clubs that help students, but the individuals. Professors will go to great lengths to make sure a student achieves what he/she sets out do to, and all you need to do is ask for help, which I find remarkable in a school as large as Baruch. Growing up, I was always taught as a part of my culture to strive for success and value the pursuit of knowledge. Although I’ve only joined a few clubs (Dollars & Sense, The Ticker, and Israel Club), I know that this low involvement is temporary– I plan to become more involved in student life after I become acclimated to college life. Although right now, I haven’t actually performed my community service requirements at Baruch, I have done community service in the past, and I can’t wait to do more service, as I enjoy it immensly (so, you see, I’m doing this for purely selfish reasons). In the next three years I see myself… I’m not sure. Living in Italy during my semester abroad? On an African safari? (That one isn’t too likely). Right here at Baruch? It’s really hard to tell. I think the only thing I can do in respect to the future is plan ahead and hope that my goals be achieved, and maybe somewhere along the line, even if I don’t reach the moon, I’ll land among the stars.

As a Baruch Scholar, I think that many students like to believe they are on a higher level than the rest of the Baruch student population- on an intellectual, social, and motivational level. It’s so easy to assume that because you have higher grades than someone else, it means you’re better than them. Throughout my high school experience, I have learned that that is not the case. It’s not what you do for yourself that determines what kind of person you are- it’s what you do for others. The Baruch Honors Program gives us opportunities on an academic level- but with that in mind, we as students should go far and excel on a social level- through volunteer work and the bettering of the community that surrounds us. This community is not limited to only Baruch at its students, but the general New York community as well. The expectations that the Baruch Honors program puts on us as students are appropriate, because we have to set an example for the rest of the student population. My high school required 40 hours of community service a semester, and by the end of high school I found that after doing volunteer work, I felt a lot happier and I felt better about myself.  I’m glad that Baruch expects us to do volunteer work, because in the past, I have found that volunteer work betters the lives of the one who volunteers just as much (if not more than) as the people being helped by the one who volunteers.

So you want to get to know me. Here are the match.com generic facts: I’m pretty tall, maybe even 5′ 1″ which means I tower over everyone. It’s a hard life… Brown eyes, brown hair. The usual. My marital status- single (I’m only seventeen) and my faith is Jewish. My education is Baruch College, the Honors program. I’ve been playing the piano since first grade, and recently I’ve picked up guitar. I love shoes and clothes in what can only be described as an unhealthy way; I love my family and my friends. Now I suppose I should start with the real facts. I’m not really sure I’ve had experiences that have shaped who I am. I’m a college freshman- what experiences could I possibly have had that were life changing?  Maybe that’s what my hope is for this semester-  a change in perspective. But I don’t think it’s only one experience that can shape who you are- it’s the passage of time that has brought me to many conclusions. Trial and error has matured me in so many ways. I’ve learned through heartbreak; I’ve learned through my happiness and successes, and also disappointments and failures. I have regrets, but not about what you’d think. I don’t regret going through heartbreak, even though it’s made me wary. I do regret not taking more risks in high school. I don’t want to graduate college feeling like I didn’t live my time in college up to it’s potential. I don’t have many expectations of college, but I do have expectations for myself.

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