I’ve been told that Baruch was a giant black hole of social inadequacy. I am happy to see I’ve been mislead. All of the people Ive met at Baruch have been supportive and simply amazing. This semester I’ve have the pleasure of meeting many people through Lexicon and the Ticker. Sara Lustberg, Faust Kriter, Damla, Bing Ang, Nick Zehnder, Stevie Borrello, and Michael Lai to list a few. They provided me with a constant source of support and help when I ever needed them. They have all taught me many aspects of Baruchian life and eased the anxieties that I have about my future here. Nick Zehnder has had an important impact on my community service project.

Nick is a writer at the ticker. I did know much about him but he seemed like a great person. He was always usually calm and full of interesting insights. My perception of him changed the second a balloon popped in the ticker office. This sudden noise sent the usually calm Nick into a panic and shock. I learned later that he is a recently returning veteran and still have shocks from his time in battle. This event showed me the length of Nick’s mental scaring. It showed me how although he was high functioning and doing fine now he still has signs of distress within him.

Nick later told me about veteran life. He told me about the many issues they faced when coming home and how many of his friends are unemployed and mistreated. He inspired me to volunteer for the Wounded Warrior’s Foundation.

In three years I see myself still working towards my goals. I expect myself to be involved with research and still invested in Lexicon. Hopefully by then I would have climbed the ladder and would be holding a position at lexicon. I see myself successful both academically and socially with a future path paved and ready for my to take it.

I’ve always thought that it was important to give back to the community you come from. That as a part of being human it is withing our social and moral duty to help up those around you. So with that said I think my role as a Baruch scholar and my duty to Baruch and the community is the same even if I didn’t receive this scholarship: help those around you.

Within Baruch I am a student and a photographer. As a student my duty is to help those around me also succeed. This doesn’t just mean helping people network and offering some study help, it means actively pushing those around me to greater and newer heights. As a student it means helping my fellow Baruchians navigate through the struggles and not just do well but, if possible, set a even higher standard for themselves. My duty as a student is to help those around me.

We are the fortunate. By some virtue of our abilities or divine predestination we are given this opportunity to attend college for free. But not only that, we are given resources and a solid foundation for our collegiate growth. And I think this ties into the culture of service within the Honors Program. We are told again and again that we should help the community but, at least for me, only when I was given such a better position did those words sing to me. I saw it as I’m succeeding and I should help those around me succeed too. So I think our role as Baurch scholars is simply to give back and help those around you in both social and academic settings.

By far my favorite picture

Hello Baruchians! My name is Calvin and I like to take photos.

I currently work for Lexicon as a photographer under my all powerful boss Michael Lai.  I enjoy reading last words, cooking, answering the phone when its ringing, answering the phone when its not ringing, and looking at cat pictures on the internet. I intend on majoring in some form of psychology (debating between clinical and IO). I’m really excited to be at Baruch. So far everyone here is very nice and welcoming. My only fear this semester is gaining weight.

I’ve been doing photography for the better half of my high school life. There I was, my default, the main photographer. At first I did it because it was an easy way to get into events for free (seriously walk briskly with a DSLR around your neck and no one will ask you any questions) but I later enjoyed the idea of capturing scenes and with it the emotions, thoughts, and beauty within the subject.

Going to my old school was the best mistake I’ve ever made. To give you some background: my parents set these high standards for me. And with that I spent most, if not all, my childhood in cramped classes of 40 kids all preparing and practicing for the SHSAT. There I was an average student in a way above average class. I felt inferior compared to my classmates. I felt stupid that I couldn’t understand quadratics and trig while those around me  excelled. But my dad was paying these people money and I had to go through it. As each summer or weekend passed, I left these places not with some enriched intelligence but with an ever decreasing sense of self-value. I hated it. I hated my brother and cousins for setting this standard of going to a specialized high school, I hated my friends for getting in, and most of all I hated myself for failing over and over again.

Bowne fixed that for me. There are a thousand and one stories I can tell of these amazing people that brought out wonderful things from me but there is one man, one spectacular soul, that picked me off the ground first.  His name is Papa Ba. He was my global teacher at the time and  the first person that’s ever made me feel proud of something. Honestly I don’t think I’d be writing this page right now if it wasn’t for him. I owe my future to this man. I should visit him soon.

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