Month: September 2017

Hello World! My name is Victor Guindi! I am 19 years old as a freshman at Baruch College this Fall 2017.

Being born and raised at the heart of the Sephardic Jewish Community of Brooklyn, NY, I am constantly exposed to many different events, people and resources that have shaped me as a person. As a second generation of immigrant parents who have lived in Syria, moved to Israel and Panama, and settled in New York, I constantly switch my dialog among several languages, speaking English with my peers, Arabic with my paternal grandparents, Spanish with my maternal relatives and Hebrew with my family in Israel.

But, why is my name “Victor?”

It’s interesting to note that in my community there is a custom to name children after their grandparents. Thus, I am the namesake of my maternal grandfather, Victor. However, I never truly grasped the meaning of my name, until a relative of mine posed the question to me. After asking my mother about the importance of my name, I was fascinated by what she had to tell me:

My grandfather, Victor, was born in Syria in 1949, a few years after the country claimed independence from its French Mandate in 1945. In addition, World War II and the Holocaust had just ended in the same year as well. As a result of these occurrences, Syrians were no longer subject to the rulership of the French and the Jews were liberated from the hostile Nazi Germany. Due to these multiple victories, it was customary for families to name their newborn boys “Victor,” which means one who defeats an opponent in battle.

Discovering the true meaning of my name has molded me into a more analytical individual, embodying the motto that “no inquiry should remain unaddressed.” This attitude should hopefully assist me as I now enter the realm of college, unfolding issues and arriving at meaningful conclusions.

People have been asking me about my major. Honestly, I’m interested in too many areas: mathematics, writing, computers, psychology, hospitality and business are just some of my interests. After much thinking I finally declared the most suitable major: UNDECLARED! Over this year in college, I plan to gain a robust knowledge in different areas and build a supportive social network in order to “address my inquiry.”

Help us get to know you. Describe experiences that have shaped who you are. How have they defined your values and your beliefs? What are your expectations as a college student? What are your hopes and concerns for your first semester?

 

Hi guys my name is Alex.  I’m from Queens, but I dorm at Baruch.  After taking 7 APs in high school and getting a 3 or lower on all of them besides statistics, I decided that statistics would be my major.  

I would say that being a Boy Scout is a defining characteristic for me.  Going on camping trips and struggling through hikes brought me closer to my brothers.  The environment where boys can teach each other and do activities with older and younger scouts is truly amazing.  For that reason I rushed for a business fraternity to try and recreate a similar experience.

I also did acting and dancing in high school.  Although I’m generally pretty shy, but after going out of my comfort zone I realized that I enjoy being on stage, and find that there is no better feeling.

Out of such experiences I learned to value teamwork and learned how hard it is to be a good leader.  Ergo, I value the traits exhibited in the scout law, which are to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

As a college student, I expect to take responsibility for my own success, find jobs and internships, become more confident and become a more social person.  I expect to be taken out of my comfort zone at parties and give presentations.  During the first semester, I hope to meet new people and develop a routine for myself.  I’m also hoping to do better in school than I did in high school and work harder and procrastinate less.

Journal #1 – Group 3

My name is Cindy Li, and I’m from Orange County in New York. I am currently still 17 years old at the time of this post. Growing up in a suburban neighborhood, I have always yearned to explore and experience the city life.

During my senior year of high school, I obtained an accounting internship located near World Trade Center, and I am beyond grateful to have this experience because it further encouraged me to pursue this field. Other than that, I have not experienced much else but I am hoping to obtain more valuable experiences in the future now that I am settled in the city.

My goals for my first semester is to develop more effective study habits and to maintain a high GPA. The workload is certainly more challenging in college than in high school, so I hope to be able to quickly adapt. My course load this semester, in my opinion, is relatively difficult considering the fact that I am transitioning right from high school and that I am one of the very few, or only, first-year students in most of my classes.

In addition, I am an extremely shy person, but I hope to change that during my time in college and in the future so that I can talk to more people and create connections. Perhaps joining a club or two can help push me to be more outgoing. Nevertheless, I am excited for the upcoming school year, and I have faith in myself that I will be able to achieve my goals. It has been a dream of mine for a while to live in New York City, and now I am finally here.

Thank you for reading!

My name is Jennifer Shlyam and I lived my whole life in Brooklyn, NY and I am currently living in Manhattan. When I was 14, I went with my mother to the Manhattan AIDS walk in Central  Park. I never really understood what the disease was and its affect on society until I was about 13 years old, and after that I went, not because my parents dragged me with them, but for the people there. I let the inspiration in their eyes become mine and the same fire that drove everyone walking those five or so miles became a fire for me to help society. HIV/AIDS is an affliction that affects more people than you would even think of, one in every six people you see on the streets of NYC have HIV/AIDS. I didn’t know these people, but this walk made me want to connect to every single one of them.

As an 11 year old one could say I didn’t have many values to strive off, rather I didn’t even know how “values” affected me or if I had any. Whenever I thought “values” I thought my mother telling me how to save money at the local CVS. I thought 3 for .99 and I thought money. I never knew what human values were. Those fives miles taught me that, as corny and cliche as if from my favorite disney movies that teach you a lesson in the end, that the true values really do come from the inside. I was an 11 year old kid running around an AIDS walk asking everyone if they had AIDS, not because I was a curious, inconsiderate little brat, no, I genuinely wanted to get to know them and each of their respective stories.

I came into college for education but moreover for the social experience. I am from a the hottest melting pot in the world. I came from Brooklyn, straight out of the pot, and into the frying pan which is Manhattan. Every face on the train is different, whether it be in color, age or simply countenance. It’s everything I could’ve asked for. As a student in Baruch I want to soak in the diversity and learn as much as I can from everyone’s own unique story. My only concern is not getting enveloped in it too much that it affects my studies.

Hello everybody,

My name is Mei Shun Lee and I am 18 years old. I have been living in the same house in Brooklyn since kindergarten. Before that, my family and I lived in a small apartment in the middle of the crowded streets of Chinatown, Manhattan.

It’s rather hard to decide about an event that changed me in my life. As you may know, I am a shy person that doesn’t like talking in front of a bunch of people. If it’s like a conversation among a small group then it’s still fine. Though it may be hard to imagine, I used to be shyer but after volunteering over the summer in high school, it helped a little. If I really needed to pick an event that changed me, it would be when my relative asked me to help her out at her store as a cashier. This experience allowed me to interact with strangers more easily, but it did not fix my fear of talking in front of a bunch of people. Working there I met many types of people such as people who aren’t even customers, coming to the store, asking us for favors even though their attitude is so rude, as if they are the king of the world and we are obligated to serve them. These occurrences caused me to have the belief of not having expectations from people you just met, because you never know what they’ll do.

In the first semester of college, I would like to start changing my studying and sleeping pattern. Because as I see now, it’s going to cause me a lot of trouble in the future. In college, I hope to change my personality, to become more outgoing and to build more connections.

Thank you very much for reading!

Journal Entry 1 (Group 4)

My name is Victoria Wright. I was born in the Bronx, NY. At age 5, my family moved to Freeport, NY on Long Island where I spent the majority of my life growing up. I’m the youngest of three sisters. I enjoy reading, watching shows on Netflix, and eating different foods.

Many things in my life have shaped who I’ve become, but nothing more than failing calculus and missing out on my goal of becoming valedictorian. Growing up, I was an avid perfectionist. I vividly remember my teacher calling home after I severely cried in class when I got an 88 in 7th grade Algebra I. He told my mom I needed to learn how to relax and go easy on myself. That wasn’t who I was and I couldn’t help it. Up until 11th grade, I really hadn’t experienced legitimate bad grades. Calculus was simply not something I understood. It threw me for a spin because, for the first time, I wasn’t good at something school related. At the beginning, cried many times when receiving exam scores. Eventually, I began to understand it was okay that I wasn’t great in one class. It just wasn’t my forte. I still put in effort throughout the year and ended with a 3 on my AP exam. Not the best and not the worst, but I endured.

My low grades in calculus basically ensured that I wouldn’t be valedictorian, a dream I’ve had since my 4th-grade graduation when I learned the word’s meaning. I was right and I was disappointed, but I didn’t overreact as much as I initially thought. I was okay. I still graduated third in my class and as class president. While I may not have been one, I was still able to get into my dream school, Georgetown University. I had plentiful extracurricular activities ranging from music to debate to student government and many more. I was active in my community and that’s all that mattered. These experiences have made a huge impact on the way I feel and think about myself. When I can’t figure something out or I have trouble in a class, it no longer makes me feel stupid or angry at myself. I simply push myself to work harder and remind myself that I excel in other aspects of life and that’s an insanely important lesson to learn.

As a college student, I hope to continue to do well in my studies. Not only do I want to help in school, but also the community I’m involved in. I took part in so many community services initiative is high school and would like to continue. I was actually interviewed for a book by Kerry Kennedy due to the service work I did with my advisor for the Class of 2017. I’d like to continue to make changes in my environment. Outside of school and volunteer work, I definitely expect to make the best of living in New York City. This is my dream city and I would absolutely love to spend the rest my life here. I want to explore, experience new things, and enjoy the insane amenities a city like this has to offer because there’s no place like it.

For my first semester, my absolute goal is to develop a very good schedule that includes proper sleep and studying time. I hope to experiment with different studying techniques and note keeping techniques to find one that works for me. Setting a schedule and sticking to it is very important to me and I think it will be beneficial throughout the next few years, so that’s my biggest hope for this semester. Of course, I’m afraid of not doing as well as I’m accustomed to because assignments are different now. I’m a bit afraid of the adjustment, but I am optimistic and I think I’ll push through.

I’m excited for this new year and this new step in my life! Thanks for reading!

Group 3

Hello Everyone!

My name is Ashley A Morales. I was born in Albert Einstein Hospital in the Bronx. My parent then decided to move to a small town called Mahopac when I was 5. Throughout my life my family has been my support system, especially my sister. Growing up I wanted to emulate her in every aspect, and really valued her opinion.

When I was 17 and was just starting to learn how to drive. I had one incident when I was parallel parking where I had hit a neighbor’s mailbox. When that happened I felt like I had went into shock. I stayed outside by myself panicking for at least 5 minutes. The very first person I had ran to tell was, unsurprisingly, my sister. While a small part of me hoped she’d reassure me, she was of little help only telling me I’d have to face the inevitable. So in the end I purchased a new post and mailbox and with my father’s assistance set up a brand new mailbox for them. This experience put every value my parents have instilled in me to the test. While I wanted to die of embarrassment and crawl into a hole I had to own up and take responsibility for my actions. One small benefit from this experience is that I now know how to set up a mailbox from start to finish.

When I picked Baruch College as the place where I’d pursue a higher education I was especially drawn to the environment of the city. I had expected that the course work would become more challenging, but also that I would have the city as my own playground for exploring new things.

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.

Group #2

Hello World! I’m Aja (Asia). I have lived in the same place in Flushing Queens with my parents and my three siblings for the past 18 years. I decided at 14 to go to a small performing arts high school in the city called Talent Unlimited. I used to be pretty embarrassed by the name, so when people asked, I usually just called it TU :P. I decided to pursue the field of acting in high school because I love the arts, and I couldn’t really sing or dance well, and I thought acting might be easy. I then found out the opposite was true. It was difficult, it was stressful and it was sometimes scary. But, I am incredibly thankful for everything I learned in acting class, because it really shaped who I am today. I learned so much about myself, and about other people. Then about 6 months ago I decided to go to Baruch College. Luckily I am able to adjust pretty quickly to change. It’s no longer this warm and intimate group of touchy/feely performers, it is this huge campus where everybody is focused on their work and themselves. I like both environments, and I especially appreciate this environment in college, because it motivates me to stay focused on academics. When I graduated high school I was so excited to start in a place where I can take classes I actually cared about, and classes that would interest me. Sadly I still feel very uncertain about what does interest me, and what classes I want to take, and where I even want to go. But it is only the beginning and I am excited to start discovering what I really enjoy.

Hi! My name is Shamira Talukder and I currently live in Kew Gardens. When I was young we moved all around Queens, but we mainly stayed Astoria. At the time, Astoria was mainly a Greek neighborhood and so other than my own culture, it was the only other culture I was familiar with at the time. However, after moving to Kew Gardens, I was able to learn more about different cultures like Hispanic, German, etc. Learning about new cultures made me more interested in the world and I was glad I got an opportunity to explore some of it.

Getting to travel to new places is an amazing experience in it’s own right, but what I actually experienced is hard to put into words. For example, in Thailand, we went to a Buddhist temple  After entering, we were greeted with intricate statues and in the distance we can see the main temple. These experiences made me appreciate not only other cultures more, but other religions.

What I would expect of myself as a college student is to become a better student than I was and to prepare to enter the real world soon. There is just so much to learn in college and I do not want to rush and overwhelm myself, but rather take one step at a time. My goals for the first semester aren’t very original like keeping my GPA up, making a network of friends, and making the full transition from high school to college. I think, so far, I have done a pretty good job.