Author: m.portocarrero

Throughout this semester and my participation and start on this Community Service Project has helped me draw expertise from the Success Network and from my peers within that club in the Success Network. The Success Network and the peers within it have helped so that I would learn about the Bowery Mission and take the initiative to research about it so that I would learn more about my options within the community- places that need help and support within the community.

Joining Success Network made me acquire a drive for being involved within the community, but not only was I limited to being part of the Success Network, I also joined other clubs which helped me keep on being driven to help out in the community and gave me ideas of what I wanted to do. Success Network gave me ideas because as I previously mentioned they partnered up with Bowery Mission, by that I mean they offered to volunteer and work there.

From joining the Caribbean Student Association I have bonded with people who come from places similar to mine, which suffer from great poverty and are in great need of help. I know that I cannot go and make a change over there, and helping out over there is limited. Knowing that in New York I have so many options of organizations I can join and offer to help out in, I felt more motivated and looked forward to the project as a whole and am still looking forward to the execution of it, which is to serve food to those who do not have a home or shelter.

Aside from these two clubs, Golden Key has a philanthropic Committee, which I would like to join and focuses on serving the community. If I become part of it I will probably have to help organize such events and having had the opportunity of doing research on organizations to volunteer at in New York City and what it takes to plan and organize these events through this project would help me if I get the opportunity to take a place in this Committee. This project will also help me organize my volunteering hours, which are a requirement of all Baruch students per semester.

My understanding of Community Service has evolved in the sense that I have gotten to learn about the many reasons why organizations form these kinds of options and what drives them to serve the Community or why it is meaningful to them and it shows how different people approach the different situations or groups of people that are lacking help and how they make it a better place by letting others take a hand and participate in it, too.

In three years I see myself towards the end of my senior year in college, hopefully looking towards a graduate degree or maybe getting a job for a few years prior to going to graduate school. I hope to be involved in more leadership positions within the clubs like instead of being secretary of CSA becoming the VP or President of it and at the same time explore other clubs and keep my options open so that I may keep on learning and helping out the community in many different ways.

My role in the Baruch community is to expand my horizons; to build new relationships and take on leadership roles, while, at the same time, maintaining a good GPA.

As of right now, I have gotten pretty involved within the Community. Before the academic year started I was invited to be part of something called “Success Network Boot camp.” The event hosted by this club prior to the beginning of the year motivated me to aspire to take leadership positions in the community at Baruch.

Due to the motivation this brought upon me, I have decided to become a golden buddy, philanthropic member of the Golden Key Honor Society, secretary of CSA and treasurer of WICC. I know that it will be undoubtedly challenging to keep up with everything going on in all these different clubs while maintaining the requirements for some of them including the Honors Program.

As part of a scholars I also want to serve the community around me which is also why I have decided to be part of the philanthropic committee of Golden Key and at the same time sign up for volunteering events that the Success Network has put together. On Monday I will go and serve meals at the Bowery Mission.

Through all of these positions in these different clubs I will be able to serve the Baruch community in different ways. I will be able to assist club members with questions, help plan events for different clubs, and even reach out to the NYC community along with other Baruch alumni.

As a Baruch Scholar, on my own, dependent from my activity in any of these clubs, I believe that my role is to treat others with respect and be willing to help others out if, and whenever, it is possible to.

I look forward to keep on exploring the different opportunities and ways I can give back to the Baruch community and the NYC community as a whole and to the life-changing experiences it will bring to my life.

Peruvian and Dominican. While both have many similarities they also have many differences in many aspects. The way people are raised; their values and overall culture is different.

My mom is Dominican and being born and raised in the Dominican Republic has shaped me. The education in the Dominican Republic is very low. To be more specific only 4% of the government’s money goes towards public education. This being the case and the fact that my family from my mom’s side is not very successful due to the lack of education impacted me. I felt pressure indirectly into becoming someone better, surpassing that and demonstrating that we could break that as a family.

In my dad’s side, the case was different. They had all been pretty successful and they had expectations to me, which brought pressure on me in a different way. I felt I had to do a good job and excel in school and become great in life to not let my Peruvian family. My Peruvian family had expectations of me, which surpassed that of my Dominican family, not only in an academic way but also in a cultural way.

Whenever I went to visit my grandma in Peru they had always complained how I had to be like my aunt who would iron her dad’s clothes by the age of nine and cook by the age of twelve. That seemed a little tough on me because that is not like the Dominican culture, at least those values, are not kept anymore. My Peruvian family knew this and because of it, they looked down on me and me becoming a failure because I would fail to meet all their expectation solely based on where my mom and I were from.

Both circumstances pushed me to become a better person and succeed, not only academically, but also as a person. I am proud to say that I was able to achieve that. I became the first person from my mom’s side to come to the States for college and although that was not something new for my Peruvian family, it still managed to meet their expectations academic wise. I also dedicated myself to becoming independent. I learned how to manage my time on my own and decide when I had to complete certain tasks or chores. Aside from that, I learned how to cook many Peruvian plates, do laundry, clean the house; all expectations my Peruvian family had for me.

I am thankful because due to this I have turned out to be dedicated and passionate about achieving my goals. I am consistently ambitious on how to achieve more instead of being okay with where I am.

As a college student, I hope to continue being the ambitious person that I have been, by trying to achieve all my goals and not let obstacles get in the way. Sometimes it is hard to stay dedicated and motivated about what we want to achieve, and that is certainly true for me, too. Regardless, I have hope and I know that I am capable of it as long as I keep in mind my priorities and what I want to achieve in life in the long run.