Author: Ezra Mann

The community service project has opened so many doors for me in such a short period of time. To start, I learned basic communication skills with my group members and the liaison for New York Scores. When it came to actually researching and doing the project, luckily, we had both Mr.Medina and Maria to bother for help. This aspect of the Honors program still makes me feel like I am in high school because I am building and having an on-going relationship with the two of them.  Maria really came in the clutch for our group as she gave us constructive criticism from our mock presentations. To show how helpful it was, we cut down our presentation from 10 minutes to the right time. Besides for that, she gave us pointers on how to present and answer the tough questions that would be asked.

I’m the type of guy who thinks “I don’t need a tutor”. Then… came calc. I have been to the Peer Tutoring center on numerous occasions to get assistance with calculus, and they have been very beneficial. This past Thursday I went to the STARR office to meet with an advisor for Pre-Law. I wouldn’t have known to go there if it wasn’t for the time we heard from STARR. After that FRO class, I asked for a contact for Pre-Law and the lady was glad to share.

I didn’t join a club (yet), I applied to one but didn’t get into it.

This project has really benefited me and only will more once I start volunteering. The research and presentation prepped me for my other classes, mainly COM, but I am sure next semester it’ll help even more. Being apart of this project has allowed me to realize that there are many ways to do community service. I do community service in Brooklyn, NY, but that’s not enough, I plan on expanding my service to the community of New York and ultimately the world.

In the next 3 years… really tough, don’t know where I see myself in two months. Hopefully, I will be a more balanced person. I want to see myself excelling in school while balancing a job and finding time for myself and for community service. Also, in the next 3 years, whether I am done with undergrad or not, I hope to be thinking ahead and either prepping for Law School, whether it is pre or post-application process.

I believe my role in the Baruch and broader community as a Baruch Scholar is quite “simple”.

For Baruch, the general role is to fulfill the requirements of the program – GPA, community service hours, cultural events and the rest. Though we all have specific jobs to do. I think our job is to learn about the culture and communities our classmates come from, while it is our duty to teach them about our own. Personally, learning about my peers’ lives have given me such benefit to relate with him and make constant conversation. For me, being Jewish, I love when I explain to my classmates about why I’m missing school due a holiday. Or what the holiday is all about – or even discussing how my pre-college school days were like. Diversity is a thing of beauty.

 

In terms of the broader community, I’d split it up into two parts. The first is the local community around Baruch, how will we present ourselves. Being that we are Baruch Scholars, people have expectations of us, and we normally we should follow through. When it comes to doing community service, I think the project assigned helps us grow but also be representatives of the amazing school we attend. We are walking into orginzations titled as “Baruch students”, and then it is our job to give the public a good impression of who were as students.

The second part is the community we come from. It is our job to show our neighbors and friends how we are striving in Baruch. Show them that we are able to balance our school life with our social life while even getting involved in community service.

The role seems the opposite of simple, but I know we are capable and will all succeed and grow throughout the process.

Hey, everyone, I’m Ezra Mann.  I am from Brooklyn, NY, and I come from a Jewish Orthodox home. I’m 18  and the youngest of 3. (You guys know me, but the word count!!)

This past senior year I signed up for a “Heritage” trip, and I really didn’t know what to expect. We went to Poland for the first stop and visited the concentration camps from the times of the Holocaust. I’ve always heard of it, but it’s real, I was there. I walked through it, I’ve seen what my ancestors went through. Note – it was about 20 t0 30 degrees… and I was wearing four layers.

The Jews and other people with other ethnicities were in this weather with about one layer of a very thin pajama suit. Plus, I was complaining!

 

Every day I wrote a reflection entry in my journal. As I sit and reflect on it right now, I learned a sense of an appreciation for life, my family, and for the city I live in. The trip defined me into a better man and helped me learn how to handle severe situations in a better way. It taught me to always be optimistic, look at the bright side.

As a college student, I know there’s going to be ups and downs (right now in Calc)… but it’s okay. Because I know I have what it takes to overcome the classes I’m struggling with, I’ll do so and appreciate every step of college.