Baruch Scholars 2017

Journal Entry #1

Group 1

My name is Ilana Carmili and I am from Great Neck, New York. I come from a Jewish Persian background, which I take great pride in. Both my parents are from Iran, making me a first generation American. I attended Jewish schools my whole life, which have been really helpful in forming my strong religious and moral beliefs, and have helped shaped the person I am today. Being in such a great, supportive environment with efficient guidance helped me decide what kind life I want to lead. Just as my religion has shaped who I am, my Persian background has provided me with a great sense of community and culture. It has allowed me to appreciate all the various cultures and traditions that exist around me, which came in handy when entering Baruch’s extremely diverse student body.

Transitioning from high school to college has been a bit rocky, but  nothing I didn’t expect. The first semester of college is known to be very stressful and, at times, a bit overwhelming. When my days don’t go as planned, I try my best to keep calm and remind myself that this is all just part of the adjustment.

My goals for my first semester are to develop new friendships, build up my GPA, and discover all the resources and opportunities that Baruch has to offer. I hope that by the time I graduate, I will be a better version of me, with more knowledge, passion, and drive. Being in the honors program has definitely helped me get off to a good start, and I am looking forward to spending the next four years with this tremendous group of students and faculty.

Journal Entry #1 Jade Philips

Hi everyone,

My name is Jade, I’m eighteen years old, and I’m originally from Suffolk County on Long Island. I have always wanted to live in the city after growing up in the shadows of what I believe to be the cultural center of the world. Needless to say, I am ecstatic to be here at Baruch this year.

One event that shaped my life was a school trip I went on my senior year. This trip to me to Washington DC for a conference where high school students from across the country came together to present and vote on political bills written by their peers. Going into this experience I was incredibly nervous. I didn’t believe that I could give a persuasive speech once separated from the friends who had been supporting me in the months leading up to the model Congress. However, I pushed myself to sound confident and researched all questions asked of me despite my lack of confidence. Thankfully, the bill I had worked so hard on developing passed in front of a committee of strangers.

While this may seem insignificant in the scheme of things, I learned a lot about myself during this weekend away from home. I learned that my words can hold power and that confidence is a key factor in achieving goals set for oneself. Hopefully I can use this information moving forward in my academic career. I want to push myself to succeed in areas I have difficulty in, and right now my biggest concern is my calculus class. This is my most recent fear to conquer.

Journal #1

Journal #1 – Group #2

My name is Sophina Cheung and I am from Brooklyn, New York. Being from the Brooklyn neighborhood that I am from, I was never really exposed to the ways people struggled in their daily lives, whether it be internally, socially, or financially. Until the end of my junior year in high school did things really take a turn for me; it seemed as if my life was turned completely upside down. Although I don’t wish to publicly expose what exactly happened, the event changed my life drastically. Family dynamics changed and an immense amount of pressure, stress, frustration, along with confusion arose. Going through this time for my family and I indefinitely changed the way I looked at life as cliché as all the things I’m about to write sounds. From this experience, I realized that it is critical that I surround myself around others who I believe are important to me and value the time that I spend with them because things may change in a blink of the eye. Once time passes, we can’t go back in time to try to get it back.

With almost a month into my first year of college, I am still in the midst of fully transitioning into college and in terms of the things that I’m worried about are probably a concern among most, if not all, students, including maintaining my GPA, doing well in the courses, and staying on track towards my goals. All that I really expect for the next four years is just to have a rewarding experience. I want to thrive as an individual and foster the current relationships that I have while starting new ones along the way as well. I wish to be successful all around—socially, mentally, and academically—and look forward to the rest of my time here at Baruch College.

Journal Entry #1

Miriam Pinos Group 1

Growing up with a very large family, I’ve been exposed to many different types of interactions that have helped me shape my own values and beliefs. I’ve learned that everyone always has an opinion on anything that I do, or what anyone else does for that matter. Yet, despite the constant comments coming my way during any family event, I found that it is important to simply ignore the negativity and focus on doing what is best for me, rather than trying to please everyone. Personally, I believe this is a quality that can really help me through college since I see my time at Baruch as a way to figure out what I want to do with my life based on my preferences and choices.

Coming into Baruch, I knew it was not going to be an easy transition. I was prepared for the workload and the long hours I would have to put into studying and doing homework. However, my main goal is that after four years I would have found a career that I truly love and would enjoy pursuing for the rest of my life. For this first semester, I hope to establish a high GPA as well as maintain friendships within the Baruch community. So far, it has been a little difficult getting used to the amount of homework that I have been assigned, but I know that I can manage it. Hopefully this semester closes on a positive note as a way to start off the next four years here at Baruch.

 

Journal #1

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.

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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 … Continue reading “Hello world!”

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