Baruch Scholars 2011

As a Baruch Scholar in the Honors Program, I feel as if my role in Baruch and the broader community should be, simply put, to do well. Doing well not only means getting good grades, but it also entails the development of the personal self and professionalism. Through the Honors Program’s service culture, Baruch Scholars are much closer to understanding this concept of usage of role in the broader community. The way the Honors Program has set up the Baruch Scholars community, has indirectly promoted our roles as students who inspire other students. By igniting this inspiration between Scholars, the effect will bounce towards the rest of Baruch’s broader community.

My role in the Baruch community that I am currently undertaking as a first semester freshman Scholar, is exactly to build Baruch community. As the Honors Program’s service promotes honors students to research community service projects, do them, and even write about what it means to serve our community, we are influenced by these experiences and influence others with our molded views.

In broader terms, what does it mean to serve my community? To serve is to have responsibility, so I have a responsibility to support the environment around me by creating the culture itself. Creating culture is to initiate action, so to serve, I act. Initiating action means doing service for your community. Thus, serving my community means being responsible for creating culture and taking action. The Honors Program helps us to do this by requiring community service in organizations which leads to doing “community service” for the rest of Baruch’s community.

What does it mean to serve your community?

Nowadays, companies and institutions, when they look at the applications, try to find someone who has done community services. Therefore, many students, including me, had done community services in order to put them in our resumes. Nevertheless, merely putting them in our resume is not the significant purpose of doing community services. What are we missing? What is true purpose for doing community services?

Attending Baruch College as Baruch scholars, we have asked to complete at least eight hours of community service in our surrounding community per year. Doing community services, we are able to develop the responsibility to our society. As Baruch scholars, we are receiving many privileges that benefit us in our studies and lives, such as the laptops, the scholarships, the honor courses, the earlier registration dates, and et cetera. However, while we are enjoying those benefits, it is the time to consider what we can give back to our community. And this is the true purpose for doing community services, not for nice statements in the resumes but for developing responsibilities to our society and for helping other people who do not get privileges like us. We are not the only one who lives in our community. There are many other people out there, starving, unemployed, and homeless.  They need help, and we should help them.

As a freshman, I have not gone so far yet. Yet I don’t think being a freshman should be an excuse for not participating and involving in the community services. My group and I have started looking for non-profit organizations, which we are going to serve by next spring semester, for our community service project as Honor scholars. The community service project is the start but will not be the end.

What is your role in the Baruch and broader community as a Baruch Scholar in the honors program and what do you think it should be? How is this related to the culture of service the honors program promotes?

In Baruch, I believe my role as a Baruch Scholar is to excel in my academics as well as extracurriculars. As a Baruch Scholar, I feel the need to represent Baruch Honors Program by being an active member of the Baruch community. To do so, I think that I would have to join clubs! In regards to the broader community, I should definitely give back as a Baruch Scholar. Being a Baruch Scholar is a great privlege. Not many people can graduate from college debt-free. Seeing that I can, I definitely should do acts of charity, no matter how big or small.

This is related to the culture of service the honors program does because the directors already acknowledge that Baruch Students are privleged as well. And they also acknowledge that in order to be a well-rounded person, we must learn the essence of humanity and giving before becoming professionals.

Learning the balance between giving and taking is an important quality to possess in life. And Baruch Honors service program is just another way to enforce that ideal.

What is your role in the Baruch and broader community as a Baruch Scholar in the honors program and what do you think it should be? How is this related to the culture of service the honors program promotes?

In Baruch, I believe my role as a Baruch Scholar is to excel in my academics as well as extracurriculars. As a Baruch Scholar, I feel the need to represent Baruch Honors Program by being an active member of the Baruch community. To do so, I think that I would have to join clubs! In regards to the broader community, I should definitely give back as a Baruch Scholar. Being a Baruch Scholar is a great privlege. Not many people can graduate from college debt-free. Seeing that I can, I definitely should do acts of charity, no matter how big or small.

This is related to the culture of service the honors program does because the directors already acknowledge that Baruch Students are privleged as well. And they also acknowledge that in order to be a well-rounded person, we must learn the essence of humanity and giving before becoming professionals.

Learning the balance between giving and taking is an important quality to possess in life. And Baruch Honors service program is just another way to enforce that ideal.

To tell the truth I have no idea of what my role is.  So far I am just a student studying toward toward my goal which is graduation.  I have joined some clubs that have interested me like the Japan culture club.  Joining the club is something new for me.  They have Japanese conversation classes that have piqued my interest in the language. I am a freshman, a person in a new world trying to find his way.  The journey of college is an unsure one.  Questions like should I change my major or should i start this club will come up.

If I have to give an idea of a role I am playing now is that i should be like a sponge.  I should try to soak all the information I can and keep expanding my knowledge.  Once I have taken in all the knowledge I can I will try to make a choice of what to do.  Hopefully my future will involve me becoming a leader and an innovator.  Hopefully I am known for something, infamous for an achievement or action I have made.  My role should be to better my community and to help anyone that needs it.

This is closely related to what Baruch promotes.  Our college wants all of its students to be able to have the knowledge to change the world.  If we change our minds in the future we should be provided with the vast knowledge to be able to switch majors or interests on a whim.  Baruch wants us to make an impact on the world.

To tell the truth I have no idea of what my role is.  So far I am just a student studying toward toward my goal which is graduation.  I have joined some clubs that have interested me like the Japan culture club.  Joining the club is something new for me.  They have Japanese conversation classes that have piqued my interest in the language. I am a freshman, a person in a new world trying to find his way.  The journey of college is an unsure one.  Questions like should I change my major or should i start this club will come up.

If I have to give an idea of a role I am playing now is that i should be like a sponge.  I should try to soak all the information I can and keep expanding my knowledge.  Once I have taken in all the knowledge I can I will try to make a choice of what to do.  Hopefully my future will involve me becoming a leader and an innovator.  Hopefully I am known for something, infamous for an achievement or action I have made.  My role should be to better my community and to help anyone that needs it.

This is closely related to what Baruch promotes.  Our college wants all of its students to be able to have the knowledge to change the world.  If we change our minds in the future we should be provided with the vast knowledge to be able to switch majors or interests on a whim.  Baruch wants us to make an impact on the world.

As Baruch Scholars, we are given many privileges that other students do not have. We have an awesome peer mentor, Maria; a caring advisor, Mr. Medina; along with various other things. However, I feel that we should give back to the community. We are given so many and it is only right that we do something in return. In philosophy class, we discussed consequentialism, where we should do we everything we can to improve the lives of others. Although the theory is a little extreme, I think that if we follow it, we would be on the right track to doing our part as Scholars. We should also become active members in the Baruch community, such as joining the various clubs and teams that we have.

The honors program requires us to do a certain amount of volunteer hours per year. Giving back to the community is something that the program has been promoting for a long time. However, I feel that we can do more than just the bare minimum of 15 hours, in our case, 8 hours per year. We should always give a helping hand to those in need. We must keep in mind that not everyone has the same privileges we do, and we should feel blessed to have this opportunity. Therefore, giving back to the community by volunteering and being active in the college, such as joining clubs and teams, should be what our role as Baruch Scholars is.

As Baruch Scholars, we are given many privileges that other students do not have. We have an awesome peer mentor, Maria; a caring advisor, Mr. Medina; along with various other things. However, I feel that we should give back to the community. We are given so many and it is only right that we do something in return. In philosophy class, we discussed consequentialism, where we should do we everything we can to improve the lives of others. Although the theory is a little extreme, I think that if we follow it, we would be on the right track to doing our part as Scholars. We should also become active members in the Baruch community, such as joining the various clubs and teams that we have.

The honors program requires us to do a certain amount of volunteer hours per year. Giving back to the community is something that the program has been promoting for a long time. However, I feel that we can do more than just the bare minimum of 15 hours, in our case, 8 hours per year. We should always give a helping hand to those in need. We must keep in mind that not everyone has the same privileges we do, and we should feel blessed to have this opportunity. Therefore, giving back to the community by volunteering and being active in the college, such as joining clubs and teams, should be what our role as Baruch Scholars is.

Being a Baruch Scholar is truly a blessing. Where can I attend a college that will pay for my tuition and even give me my own Mac?  Well, Baruch is one of the few colleges that I know of that actually does this. Therefore, I believe that I have a role to play within the next four years in serving Baruch as well as the broader community.

With so many clubs and organizations, Baruch College has much to offer. I want to take advantage of all of these opportunities around me in Baruch in order to grow as an individual. However, I believe that life is not always about selfishness, but selflessness.

As a Baruch Scholar, there is nothing for me to do but to give back to the community that has allowed me to be financially relieved throughout the rest of my college experience. Like the donors who generously basically paid for my college tuition, I want to volunteer in helping the needy, whether they lack money, education, etc. Hence, the culture of service that requires Scholars to volunteer is critical. It gives Scholars the push they need to take a stance in helping the community.

I believe that community service is not just a requirement of the Honors Program, but it is a chance for us to experience the act of giving. It is a chance for us to build our character as Honors students. It is a chance for us to build our foundations as future leaders of our community.

My role in the Baruch community as a Baruch scholar is to be a student with integrity who goes beyond what the college requires from me. I need to take initiative to not only excel academically but to also find myself—what I like to do and the type of person I am. As part of the community, I have to explore the opportunities available to me—workshops, advisements, internships, volunteer opportunities, the chance to study abroad, etc. These are privileges of mine to seek and transform them into worthwhile experiences. However, these privileges should not be taken for granted. To show our appreciation, we as Baruch Scholars should give back to the community that has given so much to us. This is the culture of service the Honors Program promotes.

To be a part of a community, one has to know the important issues that it addresses and one has to keep up with the current news related to the community. By being an informed member, one will be able to be an active participant instead of a passive one. A passive member just does what is required by one’s community. In contrast, an active member is passionate about what the community as a whole does. Their actions will inspire one to seek out ways to contribute to the community’s goal. This is what being involved in a community means.

Being part of any community is like having an extended family. You can rely on the people that make up your community and they in turn can rely on you.