As a part of Baruch Scholars, we have a duty to be more than just a regular Baruch student. We owe it to Baruch, who has given us this wonderful scholarship, to give a little bit of ourselves back to the community. I feel like any role we take in the broader community or Baruch is a relevant one, as long as it impacts someone or something and makes you feel good. I know this sounds broad, but to me, being a part of the Honors Program does not necessarily mean volunteering. Yes volunteering could be a source of impacting the community, but you could also do so by getting involved in something more than school.

I am in the Baruch play now. I put a lot of my time into it. I feel like this is a form of giving back to the community at Baruch. I know that this does not meet the requirements of what the Baruch Scholars Honors Program requires as community service, but I still feel that it is. The Baruch community is based on involvement in my opinion, and any involvement you can make aside from just going to class should be admired.

Of course, helping an organization that promotes some kind of social philanthropy is a little bit more moving than doing something solely that’s for you and a part of the Baruch community. I see why we are asked to volunteer. It’s a great way to help someone or something that needs more help than you.

Being a Baruch Scholar means that we are people who should set higher standards and be seen as a good influence or example for others. A Baruch Scholar is not only mandated to maintain excelling grades, but he or she is also required to volunteer each semester. In exchange for being given so many opportunities and resources, from the free tuition and laptops to the lounges available through out campus, we should give back to the community. We, Baruch Scholars, are not performing community service because it’s expected of us. We are helping because it’s the right thing to do. Scholars use the knowledge obtained throughout their education and experiences to help out those who are less advantaged. Also, by volunteering, Scholars are able to connect to real life citizens. We are able to learn how to utilize our communication skills and connect with normal, everyday people or nature. Lastly, community service is not something that should be taken lightly. Though at first, people may think that volunteering is helping those less fortunate or taking care of the community’s resource, volunteers do learn and take something back from the service. Volunteers are able to learn more about the people involved or the story behind various objects. The people and animals involved all have different stories, and we seldom take time to ask about them. However, community service gives us this chance of reaching out to various people, people who we may have never noticed or paid any attention to before.

Baruch Honors Program requires all student to perform community service every term for these reasons. The program is to ensure that students are able to connect and branch out from their comfort zone. It is also a valuable experience, which many students tend to gain much insight from. Lastly, we learn that community service is a life long commitment. There will always be others who need help more than we do, whether it be someone who needs a helping hand or just someone who needs a mentor. Without community service, in general, people would not be able to understand what it meant to be privileged nor would they be able to see or listen about the different experiences that many others have had.

Community is a word that can be limited to a specific population but can also be generalized to a much larger population. It ranges from a school community to a global community. Further, you also have communities in different sectors of work, such as the business community, the law community, the arts community, and so on. When the question arises of how we should give back to our community, there are many routes that can be taken. Giving back to the community can be through volunteer work, through paid work, or just through sheer dedication to succeed in a career field so as to ensure that a college’s decision to invest time and money on you was a wise one. There is also a fourth option and that is to give back through all of the aforementioned means.

I personally agree with the last option. For me, volunteer work is a way to lend a hand, or a shoulder to lean on, to those who want one. I am someone who is, to mention a few, passionate about the environment and global warming (in elementary and middle school whenever I was asked to choose a topic to write a paper on, the topic would usually be precisely that–global warming), and someone who cares about hunger and disabilities. A few weeks ago, I had gotten into a philosophical conversation with a friend regarding the reason behind altruism, or the need or desire to help others that is intrinsic to all human beings, and the idea is something that I am still exploring and trying to unravel. As of now all I know is that for me it is important to help those who are suffering. I have been given many opportunities and through education have been exposed to so many different ideas and topics across the board. As I continue to learn, I also feel it is an opportunity that all should be given. I also strongly believe if you truly want to help someone, you should “teach a man (or woman) to fish rather than providing him (or her) with a catch one day.” When it comes to the field of business, there is greater competition and to incorporate altruism becomes more difficult. However, much of business, too, has altruistic qualities. All businesses create products or services for their own profit. However, these products or services indirectly benefit the community through which they came about and, as a result, increasing the quality of life for all. Of course, volunteer work is a more direct approach when giving back to the community, while success and work in any field is a more winded approach to the question, but is still just as effective.

As a Baruch Scholars student, I feel I should give back to the community for multiple reasons–the first being my part altruistic nature. The Baruch Honors program has provided me with an array of opportunities that not all students receive. The college expresses faith in me by investing in my education. Thus, I believe I should give back to the Baruch community through volunteer work and, most importantly, through investing my own time and effort into my education and  emerging a much more successful individual through my journey.

     As a student at Baruch, I was lucky enough to be able to be a Baruch Scholar in the Honors Program.  I believe that because so much has been given to my fellow scholars, and I, that our role in this program should not only be about working towards a great education, but also be to helping our community.  We have been given everything to go to school, and there are so many people significantly less fortunate than us.  It should be our duty as well as our pleasure to help those in need.    

     In my short time spent at Baruch I have noticed the school takes volunteering very seriously.  It is clear that they want us to realize the benefits of helping our community.  Baruch demands a certain number of hours of community service.  I think this is beneficial because it makes people start helping.  Often, starting is the biggest struggle.  It also gives people multiples opportunities and reasons to keep trying to find the volunteer program that best fits their interests. 

     I have always been involved in multiple volunteer programs, and I truly love to see that Baruch shares that passion with me.   Personally, I think that everyone should volunteer, and Baruch makes my belief become reality.  There’s no reason not to help your community.  If you’re interested in nature you can clean a park.  If you are interested in helping others, volunteer at a soup kitchen.  Do you have a love for animals?  Then volunteer at a shelter.  There are so many opportunities to help others that will be beneficial and entertaining.  There’s nothing holding you back from making a difference. 

I volunteered in many places in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens since I was a freshman in high school. So volunteering again in college is not a big change for me. I am just continuing where I left off.  Except that this time, I have the honoring role as in the Baruch as the Baruch Scholar in the Honors Program.

As a Baruch Scholar I feel to have a responsibility and the duty to give some of my time to serve the community. I am so grateful that I was able to receive a full scholarship for school. Without this scholarship, I would have to take out a student loan and worry about my debt when I graduate. But by being accepted into Baruch College as a Baruch Scholar, I am able to fully concentrate on my studies. And the least I can do is to help out here and there.

In the culture of service the Honors Program promotes, everyone helps out one another. It is like a family community where classmates in your block help you on your homework and exams. I really enjoy all the free food and resources the Baruch Scholar Program have to offer. And in the Baruch College as a whole school, I like how they are very eco-friendly. There are garbage and recycling bins everywhere. During the orientation, they gave us two water bottles for the scholars to use so we don’t have to use the plastic water bottles. I see that everyone here tries to keep everything clean in the lounges and these places are very comfortable. Everyone here, staffs and students, is helping one another and it encourages me to do the same.

Community.

To serve you community always confused me in its meaning. What does it mean to serve your community? Does it mean physically going out and volunteering or even just hanging out in the community? I had done volunteering help others as well and hang around the community with friends. But what does it mean to contribute to the community? The Baruch community is another community that I would have to find my ground in.

To me the Baruch community is a second home that I need to find my place in. Second month into the school year, and I’m still back up with all the stress that college life bring. I feel like a beginning the college life is starting a new journey of exploration. Baruch has many opportunities, but I feel small compare to the vast options. At the same time, I feel that I am restricted. I always play within my circle and it is hard to expand outward.

At the Baruch community, I want to get a feel of the new community before I become a part of it. In the future, after I understand college and its requirement, I would like to contribute something too. At the moment, I am not to sure about that I going to contribute, but what ever it is it would have my touch in it.

Being a scholar doesn’t change my view of things. To me, I am just another student. Being a scholar only gives us a higher standard, but that does not change how we actually are.

As a student of Baruch and as a Baruch Scholar in the Honors Program, I personally believe that it is a responsibility to give back to the community. After receiving so much in terms of support and resources, it becomes imperative for us as members of the Honors Program to reciprocate the care and nurture that we received. It becomes more than just a duty or task, but also an opportunity to demonstrate what we learned. Even as the Honors Program promotes academic growth through increase in rigor and demonstrations of this acquired knowledge, community service allows us to apply the knowledge we have gained.

Another facet of being an Honors student is an understanding of the bigger picture. We should’t limit ourselves to the confines of our personal perspectives, but seek to broaden our horizons and expanding our capacity to care. By reciprocating this sense of nurture, we can promote the growth of not only ourselves, but also those around us. So although leadership qualities are desirable, the community and the world at large require just as much from those who are willing to give back. To have a caring heart. To be a leader, in growth, sustainability, and equality. By committing a fraction of our time to help improve the health of the local community, we in turn learn the valuable lessons of humility, brotherhood, and sustainable growth.

I look forward to volunteering and making my hands available to help those in need. I hope that through this I will make new friends, learn the meaning of compassion, and gain the experience of caring for someone other than myself.

As a Baruch student, and more importantly, as a Baruch Scholar, I believe that it is my duty to act in a way befitting of an Honors student by showing others my integrity, my character, and my hard work. Not only am I responsible for my own work and projects, but as a student, I must also ensure that my colleagues do the same. Likewise, I need to demonstrate to others that I am an approachable, friendly, and encouraging person so that I may help others in their future endeavors. As to my hard work, I need to show others that no matter how hard assignments are or how many there are, trying your best is better than doing nothing, and that eventually, hard work will pay off.

As to the broader community of Baruch, I am willing to spend my time trying out new things, participating in organized events, and meeting new people with whom I can share my experiences. This way, not only will I be able to build a solid reputation in the Baruch community, but I will also grow as a result to a more mature and dependable individual.

By being in the honors program at Baruch, I am given resources that I would otherwise not have. These resources should not be watsed which means that I should efficiently and productively use the resources I have been given by working hard. However, by working hard, I don’t only mean working hard academically, but also working hard to give back to the community. By giving back to the community, we accept the resources we have been given as well as sharing our own resources to promote growth in the community. We give to those who do not have the same privileges we have been given as well as the opportunity to foster their own growth.

There are many ways to give back to the community and one of them is by volunteering at nonprofit organizations. By doing community service, we realize that the resources that have been given shouldn’t be taken for granted, and that others have made the effort to give us those resources. Their efforts should not be ignored and should be taken into consideration. By doing this, we should come to realize that we should give back to the community so that others will be able to benefit from our help. Just like how we have been given resources by the community, we, in turn, should give our resources to the community in order to help others. Ultimately, being in the honors program in Baruch means that we are not only receiving, but we are contributing as well.