Baruch Scholars 2012

In High School, I assumed “higher education” revolved around one thing: learning. The purpose of college is to learn and acquire understanding, and then use that understanding to achieve some greater, meaningful feat. Upon my acceptance into the Baruch Honor’s Program, I believed I would be expected to achieve academic excellence, and that only. That’s the purpose of higher education, right?

Now I understand higher education and the Baruch Honor’s Program revolves around something with much greater significance: community. Community is what matters because it’s what shapes and defines us.  No man is an island; it’s the people and entities around us that make us who we are.  Any achievement, be it academic, financial, or career-based is truly worthless unless based in some community. It must reflect on the community you’re a part of, and qualify and identify you within the community you seek to be accepted to or successful in. The beauty of community is that is provides purpose and motivation

As Baruch, my role as a student involves being an active member of the community. I need to be building up my classmates as well as myself. I need to be concerned with bearing an image that sheds a positive light on the community. I need to breathe life into the community by being an active, positive force within it. As a Baruch Scholar, my role is even more crucial. I need to be a leader in this community, striving to be an ideal student, classmate, colleague, and friend. As a Scholar, I’ve been granted a tremendous opportunity. Serving the community, by being a positive force of growth within it, is the best (possibly only) way to seize that opportunity.

While studying under the Honors Program, there are mandates as to what the students have to accomplish; this includes: a GPA of 3.5 or higher, 53 hours of community service, and participation within cultural events each semester. This seems incomparable to what we are provided as scholars and that we should continue our services to our communities regardless of our academic scholarship.

As a student of the Honors Program of Baruch, I believe that it is necessary to give back to the community through my services as a scholar. The community is a large contributing factor to whom I am today; it has influenced me to no end, ranging from the connections I have made with other people to the various life experiences I have had. It satisfies me to be able to give back to my community as recompense for what I have taken from it.

As a scholar, I believe that academics are not everything, rather, personal growth is needed as well. Through my engagement  within community service and cultural events, I feel that it  allows for a strengthening of my relationships with my peers and other members of the community and for the development of my own self image as a scholar.

The Honors Program at Baruch allows me to do all of these things and even more. I feel that through this program, I will be able to grow more as an individual, as well as being a part of the larger community and that these factors will contribute to making a better me and a better community.

What does it mean to serve your community?

As a Baruch Scholar, I have the responsibility to contribute to, give back, and improve our community. The Honors Program exists because of the generous contributions from people who give back and try to improve the community. Thus, as a Baruch Scholar, I should give back to the community to the best of my abilities.

This is related to the culture of service that the Honors Program promotes because we are encouraged to be active and participate in the community. We should not be people who sit back and relax, but people who should serve as role models for those who don’t understand why we have to give back to the community. We should be helping those in need not for money, but out of the goodness of our hearts. There are other things that are more important than money.

Giving back to the community by dedicating my time and effort to nonprofit organizations helps us learn from the experiences. As we try to help the community, we will also learn new skills or improve our existing skills. We will then be able to apply what we learned to our everyday lives and also pass on this knowledge so that other people can learn and spread the knowledge as well. Serving the community is a beautiful cycle in which everyone benefits from it.

What does it mean to serve your community?

As a Baruch Scholar, I have the responsibility to contribute to, give back, and improve our community. The Honors Program exists because of the generous contributions from people who give back and try to improve the community. Thus, as a Baruch Scholar, I should give back to the community to the best of my abilities.

This is related to the culture of service that the Honors Program promotes because we are encouraged to be active and participate in the community. We should not be people who sit back and relax, but people who should serve as role models for those who don’t understand why we have to give back to the community. We should be helping those in need not for money, but out of the goodness of our hearts. There are other things that are more important than money.

Giving back to the community by dedicating my time and effort to nonprofit organizations helps us learn from the experiences. As we try to help the community, we will also learn new skills or improve our existing skills. We will then be able to apply what we learned to our everyday lives and also pass on this knowledge so that other people can learn and spread the knowledge as well. Serving the community is a beautiful cycle in which everyone benefits from it.

Hi there, I hope your enjoying your day. Welcome back to another post by your’s truly, Sanjit ‘I once gave a grizzly bear a hug’ Gill. Today we discuss the community. As Baruch Scholars, we’ve been given an opportunity that not many young lads and lasses our age get; a free college education. Whereas many of our peers might leave college with a ton of debt or have to work through college to pay for their own education, we don’t have to worry about that. In return, I feel that we are obligated to give back, not just to the school that has enabled us to have a great college education, but to the community as well. What good is the knowledge we gain in the classroom if it can’t be implemented for the benefit of the community? Within Baruch, we can get involved in programs such as Student Government, environmental clubs, Team Baruch, etc. to help facilitate stronger, better, and a more enriching student life for our peers. Within the community, we are obligated to help out in any way we can. So if that means I need to assist a young lad that is having trouble talking to the pretty little lady he likes, or pretty guy (I don’t judge), I should do my best to help the little tot out. Any way in which we are making a positive impact on a life within the community. That stretches from helping the elderly across the street to volunteering hours and hours towards cleaning the park. Any way in which anybody in the community, whether it’s a 6 year old kid or an entire building full of the elderly, is being positively influenced by your actions, is community service. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed these last couple minutes and are inspired to tune in again when I write about Next Steps…. I guarantee it will be a treat. So long folks, stay safe.

To server the community is to contribute to it in a positive way. To serve the community is to take initiative and use your gifts and talents to help others and try to make a difference. As Baruch Honors Scholars we are called to serve our communities in every way possible. Not only are we asked to be leading, contributing, involved members of the Baruch community, but we are to be just as positive and instrumental members of society as a whole. I understand that this calling is for me as well, and as much as the Baruch community expects to deliver, I expect even more from myself. Although I appreciate the potential and abilities other people may see within me, I naturally know myself more than anyone else, thus I expect the most from myself.  I know exactly what I am capable of and I know when I am working to the maxima of my own abilities. I am also the only one that can keep myself from working as hard as I can. This is true in reference to all of us, we are all our own worst enemies. I believe that the Baruch Honors Program promotes all of us to essentially overcome ourselves, overcome any shortcomings we think we may hold, and find self earned success. This success is not for just ourselves, however. This success is for our surroundings. Selfish success is hardly success at all, success is only truly worth it when it contributes to the greater good of the community around you.

To server the community is to contribute to it in a positive way. To serve the community is to take initiative and use your gifts and talents to help others and try to make a difference. As Baruch Honors Scholars we are called to serve our communities in every way possible. Not only are we asked to be leading, contributing, involved members of the Baruch community, but we are to be just as positive and instrumental members of society as a whole. I understand that this calling is for me as well, and as much as the Baruch community expects to deliver, I expect even more from myself. Although I appreciate the potential and abilities other people may see within me, I naturally know myself more than anyone else, thus I expect the most from myself.  I know exactly what I am capable of and I know when I am working to the maxima of my own abilities. I am also the only one that can keep myself from working as hard as I can. This is true in reference to all of us, we are all our own worst enemies. I believe that the Baruch Honors Program promotes all of us to essentially overcome ourselves, overcome any shortcomings we think we may hold, and find self earned success. This success is not for just ourselves, however. This success is for our surroundings. Selfish success is hardly success at all, success is only truly worth it when it contributes to the greater good of the community around you.

Servicing your community is when you use your talents to better the lives of the people around you. We are all members of many communities and we should do our best to make them as amazing as we can.

We can all do something. As a Baruch Scholar it is my responsibility to make the community that is our school and the community that is our city, our home.

It means more then volunteering a few hours here and there. It means living your life to better the lives of everyone. It means being a good citizen day to day and playing fair.

I will strive to achieve this by always helping my fellow classmates, and volunteering at various events both in and outside of school.

I think the culture in the Baruch Honors program is one of completely committing to service. Not just our 15 hours, its about actively seeking out opportunities and taking initiative to make it happen. We can all serve an hour here or there, even just by doing small things like saying hello to the man selling fruit on the way to school or giving up your seat for the women that just got on the train.

Baruch Scholars are also called to be leaders. Primus inter pares, first among equals; we are meant to lead, but not for recognition or reward, we are called to lead to help others.

“We are only as great as those we bring to greatness with us”