Baruch Scholars 2012

Who am I? Where am I from? Where am I going?

Do any of us know who we really are? Haha. I’m George. I’m a 17 year old Filipino kid from New Rochelle. That’s in Westchester, just a little north of the Bronx. I went to private Catholic school for pretty much my entire left before coming to Baruch. My high school, Salesian High School, was all guys, some people think that’s weird, but honestly it made things a lot more comfortable. I cannot say enough about how much I loved high school. An all boys school makes you have to “esto vir”, which roughly translates to “man up”.  In high school, I’ve made some of my closest friends and had experiences I’ll never forget. I’ve participated in religious retreats where I met people from across the east coast, and I was even blessed enough to participate in an exchange program with a brother Salesian school in England.  Aside from these more extravagant events, I was really active in high school, particularly in music. I was the marching band president, the lead vocalist in the school’s music ministry group, and in the school’s drama club.  I even won a Metropolitan Theatre award in my senior year for my performance in the school play.  In the end, high school was some of the best four years of my life, solidified with a Silver Eagle Award at graduation, the highest form of award a Salesian school can offer at graduation. Mine was one of only two awarded to my class, the other being awarded one of my good friends.

This leads me to where I want to be going. I want Baruch to take me somewhere new. My years at Salesian took me so many places and brought me so many blessings, I can only imagine how much more college can offer.  I want to make new friends and explore new talents and experiences and just all around have a good time while, most importantly, moving forward. None of us may know where exactly we are going, but as long as you are trying to go somewhere positive, you’re not wasting your time.

Greetings.

My name is Stephane He. I was born in Paris, France and moved to the United States shortly afterwards. I come from an immigrant Chinese family and I am the first of my family to obtain higher education. I have lived in Queens, New York for almost all of my life. I have lived in Jamaica, Woodside and Flushing. I currently live in Flushing.

My family has taught me many fundamental skills, ranging from household economics to making decisions for the future, and to this day, my family continues to have a significant influence upon my decision making.  My parents have also influenced me in various aspects of my life; I learned that my family poses many stereotypes upon other ethnic groups and cultures, while being very ethnocentric. I could not uphold the same beliefs that my parents shared.

I attended Francis Lewis High School; the student body is comprised of many different ethnic groups and cultures, and they all had their own beliefs.  I found that it was rather difficult to adjust to this global community. Despite our differences, we shared a common goal, academics. I have been challenged by different individuals in my academic years and I feel that, by overcoming our differences, we can further excel within our studies and succeed in our chosen fields.

At Baruch College, it is no different, we may all come from different backgrounds, but we all come here to learn and educate ourselves within our chosen career field. I intend to major in Finance. I also believe that there is a global community within this generation and we need to make use of it, otherwise a large amount of potential capital will be lost.

Opinions

Opinions

Hi, my names is Alexander Siegel and I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I live in Manhattan Beach, a neighborhood that is considered “Little Russia”, besides Brighton Beach. Most people expect me to be Russian, but I’m actually as American as you can get. Like some of you know, I am a third generation Baruch Student. My Grandfather and father both graduated in previous decades.
I live one block away from my elementary school, so as a kid there was never an excuse to be late to school. Growing up I was rather sheltered in the sense that I never had to leave the general area to do anything. Everything was pretty close and in walking distance. As a kid I was only familiar with Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, and the Emmons Avenue area of Sheepshead Bay. All of my closest friends live in the neighborhood.  Most of us have been close since Pre-K and Kindergarten.
My first big step to independence and maturity was getting accepted to Mark Twain. This was a big leap for me since I was so used to walking to school, and then was required to take the bus every day. Obviously at first new things are somewhat scary, but with time it became simple. Going to high school was like a mini journey every day. I had to take the train to Ave M, which at first seemed like a great distance. All of these “trips” were just the stepping stones to preparing me for the hour trip to Baruch college. This taught me independence and how to travel alone and deal with my own problems on the way.
Some other things that helped shape me into the person I am:
Fishing with my family since I was a child.
Growing up with nature in Pennsylvania and the beach in Brooklyn.
Working at my friends restaurant on the Coney Island Boardwalk.( Rubys Bar and Grill)
I have always generally been a good student. Throughout my student career I have always put homework above leisure as soon as I returned home. College is a different story. There doesn’t seem to be enough time to carry out the same time schedule in school. I already noticed it is much harder starting homework right when I get home since its around dinner time. I know college is much harder than High School due to all of the independence you are given. No one is there to tell you what to do every step of the way. My main concern for the first semester is how tests are in college. Im not used to major essay exams where the student must write multiple essays on multiple topics in one test. I also am concerned for classes in lecture halls since they are so impersonal. Im hoping that sticking to my good study habits will be enough to get good grades. I can only wait and see what the dreaded finals week will be like.

Hi, my names is Alexander Siegel and I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I live in Manhattan Beach, a neighborhood that is considered “Little Russia”, besides Brighton Beach. Most people expect me to be Russian, but I’m actually as American as you can get. Like some of you know, I am a third generation Baruch Student. My Grandfather and father both graduated in previous decades.
I live one block away from my elementary school, so as a kid there was never an excuse to be late to school. Growing up I was rather sheltered in the sense that I never had to leave the general area to do anything. Everything was pretty close and in walking distance. As a kid I was only familiar with Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, and the Emmons Avenue area of Sheepshead Bay. All of my closest friends live in the neighborhood.  Most of us have been close since Pre-K and Kindergarten.
My first big step to independence and maturity was getting accepted to Mark Twain. This was a big leap for me since I was so used to walking to school, and then was required to take the bus every day. Obviously at first new things are somewhat scary, but with time it became simple. Going to high school was like a mini journey every day. I had to take the train to Ave M, which at first seemed like a great distance. All of these “trips” were just the stepping stones to preparing me for the hour trip to Baruch college. This taught me independence and how to travel alone and deal with my own problems on the way.
Some other things that helped shape me into the person I am:
Fishing with my family since I was a child.
Growing up with nature in Pennsylvania and the beach in Brooklyn.
Working at my friends restaurant on the Coney Island Boardwalk.( Rubys Bar and Grill)
I have always generally been a good student. Throughout my student career I have always put homework above leisure as soon as I returned home. College is a different story. There doesn’t seem to be enough time to carry out the same time schedule in school. I already noticed it is much harder starting homework right when I get home since its around dinner time. I know college is much harder than High School due to all of the independence you are given. No one is there to tell you what to do every step of the way. My main concern for the first semester is how tests are in college. Im not used to major essay exams where the student must write multiple essays on multiple topics in one test. I also am concerned for classes in lecture halls since they are so impersonal. Im hoping that sticking to my good study habits will be enough to get good grades. I can only wait and see what the dreaded finals week will be like.

Perhaps being at the brink of losing everything close and dear to me woke me up. I always thought that the purpose to life was the pursuit of happiness and that happiness was attained through fulfilling my many needs and wants. The only thought in my head use to be “me” and only “me” but that changed when everything started slipping away. Striving to preserve everything the way it was could have possibly been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The fright of once again losing it all altered me. I realized that there was another path, another road to happiness; it was a “kill three birds with one stone” method. If I dedicated myself to providing happiness to others I not only make other people’s lives simpler but my life more worthwhile and at the same time keep all of those who are close to me. My main concerns since then has been family and friends but family first since they have been the biggest factor of love and support.

My expectations as a college student is simple: to educate myself for future purposes. The main objective of a student in any school is to learn and hopefully make as much out of the experience as possible. My hopes for college is to learn and understand how to tackle the real world when college is over so my concern would then be that I would not grow enough to be able to survive in the world outside of college.

Perhaps being at the brink of losing everything close and dear to me woke me up. I always thought that the purpose to life was the pursuit of happiness and that happiness was attained through fulfilling my many needs and wants. The only thought in my head use to be “me” and only “me” but that changed when everything started slipping away. Striving to preserve everything the way it was could have possibly been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The fright of once again losing it all altered me. I realized that there was another path, another road to happiness; it was a “kill three birds with one stone” method. If I dedicated myself to providing happiness to others I not only make other people’s lives simpler but my life more worthwhile and at the same time keep all of those who are close to me. My main concerns since then has been family and friends but family first since they have been the biggest factor of love and support.

My expectations as a college student is simple: to educate myself for future purposes. The main objective of a student in any school is to learn and hopefully make as much out of the experience as possible. My hopes for college is to learn and understand how to tackle the real world when college is over so my concern would then be that I would not grow enough to be able to survive in the world outside of college.

Church has always been a part of my life, in defining my values and beliefs. I grew up in a Christian family and around Christian families. I believe this definitely impacted me as a person as I was growing up. I wasn’t much of a rebellious child. I wasn’t the best student, but I do try hard to succeed in school. I uphold my religious values as my morals. I don’t steal, I don’t cheat, etc. I would say I’m a fairly righteous and just person.

One particular event changed my life. In the summer of 2010, I joined a leadership program at Light and Love Home. Before my mom forced me to join this program that I wasn’t even remotely interested in, I was one of those students who sits in the corner of the classroom and doesn’t talk much but gets her work done. I didn’t really socialize and I was very shy when I meet new people. This leadership program completely transformed me. I met a group of friends whom I quickly became close friends with. And in no time, I was the loudest person in that group. There were all different kinds of people I met that summer. Each distinct individual shaped me in their own way. Not that they did anything in particular, just being with them changed me as a person. When I returned to school in September, everyone wonders what happened to me because I was suddenly very active and talkative. It was because of this event that I am who I am now.

The transition from high school to college is really quite a change. I have to make new friends and adapt to the new environment. Honestly, I just hope I can survive through my first semester. Some courses are quite challenging and I’m afraid I won’t do too well. As a college student, I wish to be more responsible in getting my work done without procrastinating. I want to keep up a good GPA throughout college. I also want to make more friends and enjoy my college life.