Hello All,
My name is Sophia Iospa. This is my first semester at Baruch College. My major is Actuarial Science.
I moved to New York in 2014 and currently live with my husband in Brooklyn. I am fluent in English, Hebrew, and Russian.
When I moved to the States, I had no idea I would be staying here, or going to college. I was 24 and had just begun to question what I wanted to do next. I come from Israel, so the typical path of a young adult is very different to that of someone in the U.S. Whereas in the US after high school graduation a young adult typically either goes to work or to continue their education in college, in Israel our next stop is the IDF (Israeli Defense Force).
After the Army, I moved to the US for work. I worked in an office in NYC for more than three years when I decided that it is time to go back home. I had everything ready, I notified my family that I’m coming back, and then, 2 months before my scheduled departure, I went on a date with the best man I have ever met. At the time I didn’t know he will become my husband, but my intuition told me to give him a chance.
So, in Fall 2017 I registered to my first semester at BMCC. I kept my job and for the next 2 years, I was a full-time student and worked full time. It was very challenging, but also very rewarding. By the end of my associate degree, I married my prince charming and graduated from BMCC with a GPA of 3.9.
Today, I have a similar plan in mind, I am 5 months pregnant with my first child and I am a full-time student. My goal is to graduate as soon as possible while maintaining my grades and the quality of my work. I hope to graduate with honors while raising our daughter.
I will finish with a quote I really like by Theodore Roosevelt – “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; … ; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly” Excerpt from the speech “Citizenship in a Republic”.
I am looking forward to the semester that lies ahead, but most importantly I am excited to “dare greatly”.
