Author: Chris Mortenson

I think that throughout this first semester I have grown in the sense of communicating more with faculty and staff. Although I have not felt much of a need to reach out for help from professors I can admit that I exchanged several emails with Mr. Medina around the time we were registering for classes and I felt very comfortable in asking Mr. Medina for help. I feel that it is important to develop relationships in college and obviously being our true guide for the next four years Mr. Medina is one of the most important guides for us.

As for clubs I have joined the indoor soccer club and played throughout the semester. However, next semester I plan on moving to joining the Baruch Actuarial Science Society in order to get my career path started. Although I probably could balance both, I would rather focus my energy on one club and soccer was simply something for my enjoyment.

As for the community service project, I will admit that at first I was a little skeptical about wanting to do community service. However, I have become closer with my group members and I think that being able to participate with people who are now good friends of mine definitely makes it more enjoyable on top of the fact that the assignment itself has grown on me.

In the next three years I hope to still be at Baruch in the Honors program. I hope that I am closer friends with everyone and that I will hopefully have some type of internship or volunteer work I do that will help guide my career and hopefully help me land my dream job (whatever it may be at that point because who knows if I decide to switch majors) by the time I graduate from college.

Chris Mortenson

In  my opinion serving my community means helping anyone out that is part of my community or take part in events held by my community. Even if it’s just helping a neighbor out with something or helping out at something like a clothes drive. As long as you are doing something to help the people around you I feel that it can be in a way considered a form of community service.

As a Baruch Scholar and student I think that it’s important to try and get involved with community service on one way or another. Obviously we all have to do a certain amount of hours as honors students, but I think it goes deeper than that. Simply joining a club means that you are getting involved in the Baruch community and not only is that important for the school, it is important to us. It gives us a way to connect with new people and make friendships and connections we may never have made if we chose to not join a club. Sure we all know each other well within the program, but I’m sure there’s a lot less people we know or are friends with outside of the program.

As for the culture of service the Honors Program promotes, I certainly think it is important. It can help us create more opportunities in the future and allow us to try things we may not have that we may end up actually enjoying.

Chris Mortenson Group #3

Being of Spanish descent and having family in Spain, I often go to Spain to visit my family. I think that this is one of the most valuable experiences that I have had because it has helped me understand different cultures and be more open to other cultures. As for other things about me that are very important to who I am are my love for soccer and cars. They are both things that I love and as many of you probably know it is a dream of mine to have a project car I can build.

As a college student, obviously my expectation is to learn about things related to my major. Of course, there will also be certain classes I’ll have to take that have nothing to do with my major, but everyone does. More importantly, I think that it’s important to create new connections, especially with all of you in the Honors program. Honestly, my biggest hopes for the first semester are to build my GPA and form a network of friends, which I think I’ve already gotten off to a good start to. I’m excited to see what the rest of the semester holds for us and hope the next four years together will be an enjoyable four years.