As we have all learned during our semester in Freshman Seminar, there are numerous resources at our disposal as Baruch Scholars and as students. The resources I have seen first hand are from the Health and Wellness Center and the LGBTQIA Resource Center, which are located in the same area in VC 3-241. The Health and Wellness center offers many materials for all students including free feminine hygiene products and contraception such as male and female condoms. There is also an expansive collection of pamphlets which touch upon various topics including STDs, quitting smoking, portion control, time management, alcohol consumption, finding a doctor and many more. Students can also visit the Health and Wellness Center to speak to an advisor about any issues they or a friend is experiencing. I think every student should be aware of these crucial resources and I urge you all to take advantage of them.

Next, the LGBTQIA Resource Center itself is a small, cozy room with couches, an iMac, and resources such as pamphlets regarding marriage equality, support for members of the trans community, HIV/AIDS facts, and many more. The mission of the LGBTQIA (that’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual/romantic, Transgender/sexual, Queer, Intersex, Allied/Asexual/Ace) Resource Center is to provide a safe space for members of the community and their allies to ask questions and learn about health and social issues which effect so many people each day.

This room also acts as a hang out spot for club members of Baruch GLASS (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Society), for which I am a Co-Creative Director. If you ever have to find me between or after class, I am there, laying down with a book in my lap (probably The Great Gatsby). My position entails handling the social media platforms for the club’s many events and ones of its cosponsors. I write our blog (http://www.baruchglass.blogspot.com), make Facebook events and posts, post photos to Instagram, and tweet (@baruchglass). I am very proud that I am relied upon for this crucial role and I take my job seriously. I will most likely run for Vice President in a couple of semesters to broaden my horizons and ranges of responsibility and activism. That answers the question of where I see myself in three years in part. I want to obtain a higher leadership position, and my personal goal within the club would be to expand education on the trans community, since trans persons are severely underrepresented and numerous misconceptions are widely accepted (such as men in drag are always trans, or that cross-dressers are always queer, when in fact most cross-dressing males are straight).

I want to make my mark. In my club. In my friendships. In my family. In my courses. In various communities. In my future job. My path is unclear but I am actively trying to prepare myself as I transition into adulthood.

Sometimes we take things in our everyday lives for granted. We do not even realize how many things we have that are privileges. Take a second to list these privileges. I can think of a good number of them right off the bat.

• A roof over your head
• A loving family
• A home, a bed
• Three meals daily (sometimes, I am a college student after all)
• Birthday or Christmas presents
• Nice clothes, a warm winter jacket
• Education

Now, look at who we are in this moment. We are possibly more privileged now so more than ever. Not only are we getting a great college education, but we are lucky enough to be Baruch Scholars, who have the treat of a full ride (yay).

I was always taught by my mother and father to keep moving forward, working hard to a goal. To push myself, to learn from others, and to achieve that goal. I was also taught to look back. Look back on everything that brought me to where I am, and to say “thank you.” From the moment I learned to write, my mother engrained in me the importance of sending thank you notes to everyone who gave me presents. Of course, a four-year-old’s note probably read “Dear Ant Beth, Thaks for my toy. I lov it. Lov, Elisa.” Later, when I was about seven or eight, my mom taught me the importance of community service. We had an excess of things in our home. Excess is the perfect word. In namely, hotel-sized shampoo and conditioners. Since she used to travel very often for her career, my mom would bring home those cute little shampoos all the time. Each year, we would gather all of our unwanted clothing and give it to the church, and gather the canned goods we did not need and gave them, along with the shampoos, to the Mary Brennan Soup Kitchen on Long Island. We continued this for ten years. We loved to see the sheer gratitude in the eyes of the people who worked and visited the Soup Kitchen for meals. Community Service is highly regarded and appreciated, but when you have all this excess and privilege, isn’t giving back a no brainer?

I am excited about finding an organization to volunteer with this year. I think it is wonderful that we are making a group project out of volunteering in Freshman Seminar, a course where we discover the tools to interact with the diverse Baruch and NYC community. It is important to me to be involved in a cause I believe in, and part of the reason why I am enjoying Baruch already is because of my joining the aforementioned club (in my previous post), Baruch GLASS. GLASS (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Society) is a half social, half professional club that acts as a safe space for LGBTQ youth and their allies to meet, to be educated and to educate others on current LGBTQ issues, learn about LGBTQ history (LGBT History Month is happening right now so go to some events people *shameless promotion*), and mainly to have fun and feel welcome. I know that it is not a non-profit organization, but it is dear to my heart because I have witnessed members become infinitely more comfortable in their own skin, since GLASS’s values are so strong. Right now, I hold the position of Executive Assistant to the Creative Director because I value these things. I want to give back to each community I feel has shaped who I am, and has played a role in creating the life I get to live.

Guys, look at how much we have been given. Let’s say thank you in a big way. Let’s lend a hand, offer our time, and remember to look back, even when looking forward.

Hi guys! My full name is Elisa Marielle Buttafuoco. Although I am not all that well-traveled, I am able to say I have been to a couple of great places and seen some great things. I realize it is not that exciting or exotic, but I have lived in Valley Stream in Long Island for my entire life.

I attended James A. Dever Elementary School, where I met many people who I am still close with today. Once I graduated the sixth grade and went on to Valley Stream North High School (which taught grades seven through twelve), I immediately started learning about all different types of people. I befriended many fellow sweaty, nervous, and large binder-clad seventh graders from the other three elementary schools in the district. I was exposed to hearing many different languages in the hallway: English, Spanish, Italian, and Creole. It was fascinating to be around more kids who were bilingual and who represented at least two cultures. I started studying Spanish myself, and loved it right away. I enjoy (and still thoroughly enjoy!) hearing the language, reading it, formulating sentences in it, translating it in songs, and even taking tests in it. The language always came easily to me, definitely due to my passion for it. In senior year, I decided to challenge myself by taking my high school’s AP Spanish Language & Culture course. This course was far from the ordinary, ridiculously basic, and repetitive Spanish courses I took in the past. We studied the many Hispanic countries and their respective accents and dialects (the Spanish make a “th” sound when pronouncing letters which are spoken with an “s” sound by every other country), read articles about human geography and sustainability, and listened to clips of authentic documentaries about technological and medical advancements. If I could take this course again, I would do it five times!

It is even a little bit upsetting to me that I am not taking a Spanish course right now. Thankfully, when I hang out with my fellow Baruch GLASS members, some of whom are native Spanish speakers, I mainly speak with them en español. English is boring!

I believe that my exposure to a diverse group of students and my love of learning language and culture are crucial building blocks of my future. In fact, I plan to major in either International Business or International Marketing, to study a creative side to business that translates globally, and possibly to minor in Spanish, to further my comprehension of the language and to keep doing what I love.

So yes, I have not moved around, nor have I gone to Paris or even Niagara Falls, but I have met some great people and learned many things about myself and discovered where I would like to be in the future, all in the comfort of my hometown.

Thank you for using Blogs@Baruch!

This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start publishing.

You are using a new WordPress theme that places widgets such as “Recent Posts,” “Recent Comments” and “Archives” in the footer, leaving you maximum space for publishing in this central area. If you prefer to have widgets on the right side of this page, these can be added by going to “Widgets” under the “Appearance” tab in your Dashboard. You can also choose from more than 100 other themes from the “Themes” menu in the Dashboard.