Career Exploration

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Nathalie Vargas

In this workshop, we were informed about internships and where we can find out about them. The speaker was very clear on the information she provided and let us know that she will help us if we go to a workshop about internships. She also told us that before we can receive help on our resumes, we have to attend a resume workshop. An internship is a temporary pre-professional work experience in which we learn, obtain experience and can help us chose a career. There are different types of internships. There are paid internships, unpaid, school credit earning internships, and special leadership programs. For students that do unpaid internships, they have to remember that there are labor laws that protect them. Profit making companies can not have volunteers, so they have to prove that they are making a learning experience for students. They do this by partnering up with colleges to make students earn school credit for their labor.

There are a few amount of opportunities and many people applying for internships so we as students have to do a very good job in school to get one. We have to be able to put in a lot of time to studying and make school our priority. Companies that offer internships know that we need a lot of time to study so some of them offer opportunities during the breaks or in the summer. If they like how you work they may ask you to stay and it is up to you if you want to. The process you have to go through to get an internship is: look for an internship, then apply and send your resume and then prepare for the interview if you get called back and send a thank you letter. After that you notify the starr career development center you have accepted an internship. Freshmen do not usually get internships because they have to do well to maintain a high GPA that employers want to see.

I personally found this workshop to be very helpful and I’m glad I attended it. It was long but only because there is a lot we need to know. It reminded me about one of the reasons why I need to work hard to maintain a high GPA. The workshop was located in the vc at 1-107 and was on October 22, 2009 at 12:30 to 2:30. It was called internship and goal setting. A lot of the workshops I go to and the staff I speak to make me feel as though Baruch actually wants to help students progress. The staff is very helpful and always lets us know what we need to know in order to do well and to graduate.

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Database Survival

Posted on October 23, 2009 by fbacchus

This was a very short workshop that was packed with a great amount of information. To sum it up however, Baruch has many resources available to students who are trying to do research. These are called databases. Baruch pays alot of money in order to obtain these databases and it’s best for us to use it. Databases are more advanced than search engines for many reasons. One is that they limit the amount of “useless” results that u will get. Another is that some teachers want specific research articles that generally google wouldn’t be able to find. To conclude databases are a usefel tool in succeeding in college.

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Student services Fair

Posted on October 23, 2009 by fbacchus

Baruch has many “fair” type environments in which they show what their school has to offer. One of these is the student service fair. On October 13 th I attended the student service fair. Not knowing what student services meant and looking for an easy workshop credit, it was a good oppertunity for me. The room was pretty crowded and small. There were many different services there that were present. The one that I remember the most however was LEADS. Not only was the person there very nice but she Gave us alot of knowledge about Baruch life. For example some of us might no notice that some of Baruch students are disabled. Despite then being disabled Baruch still accepts them into our college if they meet the requirements. This was an interesting fact for me because in a sense it allows them to have a sense of normalcy, if that’s a word. It shows they have to strive to get in. Another fact is that we take alo of the elevators and escalators for granted. How would someone in a wheelchair be able to go up the escalators or stairs. There are elevators specifically for this reason. LEADS was very informative. Next time why don’t you let the disable get on before you on the elevator?

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Community/Global Awareness Workshop

Posted on October 23, 2009 by fbacchus

On Friday October 16th I attended the workshop for community and global awareness. The workshop was to watch a movie. Being behind on my workshop I thought this would be the best way to earn that credit, other than waiting for the last minute and giving blood. Expecting for alot of people to show up I got there early. Miscalculating the time I was an hour early. Eventually it was time to go into the 5-150 to watch the movie. I found a nice seat like I usually would when watching a movie at a theater. The girl behind me had popcorn and was really loud. This made it felt even more like a movie theater. Eventually the lights lowered and there was a blue screen. No trailers unfortunately. Half an hour eventually passed and no movie ever came on. An assistant then came on the stage and said that the teacher could not be found anywhere. Unfortunately I did not get to see the movie, but I did get credit.

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Career Exploration

Posted on October 23, 2009 by zjackiewicz

On Thursday, October 22, I attended a Career Exploration workshop called Internship & Goal-Setting. At the workshop, everyone who attended got an Internship Manual that explains everything from what an internship is and the types of internships available to suggestions on how to dress for an internship interview.

The different types of internships that were discussed were paid and unpaid internships, credit internships, and Special Leadership Programs. It was mentioned that it’s very important to do well academically in school and to get involved in areas of interest to us in order to get an internship because internships are fiercely competitive.

There are many ways to get involved through student clubs and organizations on campus, Team Baruch, part-time jobs on/off-campus, or doing volunteer work.

We also discussed resume-writing. The speaker at the workshop (I don’t remember her name but she works at the Starr Career Development Center) mentioned an online resume-writing tool called Optimal Resume which is supposed to help when starting a resume. Unfortunately, if we feel we need help with writing a resume or have any questions about it, we would have to attend a Resume-Writing workshop before we can go to the SCDC. Therefore, I will not be attending one this semester since I have nearly had my fill of workshops.

One of the last important things that was mentioned was using STARR Search at the SCDC website (which you can find through the Baruch website). If you sign in with your username and password (which is supposed to have been e-mailed to us already at our baruchmail address), it will have a profile. Through this profile, we get information about what kinds of internships are available to us that would satisfy an area of interest to us.

For the most part, I think this workshop was very informative on how to obtain internships. However, it seemed a little too long and it maybe covered too many aspects of the topic. I thought it was going to be discussed in a very basic way, but it seemed to cover too many points. There’s still information I can’t even remember, which is why I think it should have been covered in a more basic manner.

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Academic Enrichment

Posted on October 20, 2009 by cperez

Today, October 20th, I attended a short workshop in the Newman Library about Baruch’s search engine, Bearcat. Even though the workshop only lasted half an hour it was very helpful to those who attended. I will not deny that fact that the only reason reason I attended this specific workshop was because of its length but in the end it turned out to be really helpful. The workshop focused on Bearcat, a Baruch based search engine that searches through hundreds of already implemented databases. The leader of the workshop showed us how to be use the search engine and get the most useful information from it.

Before this workshop, I did not know Bearcat even existed, so that was a pleasant surprise. Thinking of the how I would use Bearcat, I thought as it as Baruch’s own google except it is better filtered and strictly educational. Bearcat is a clever invention and it is great that Baruch has this for its students to take advantage of it.

For a short workshop it was truly helpful.

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Academic Enrichment

Posted on October 16, 2009 by zjackiewicz

I went to an Academic Enrichment workshop on Thursday, October 15 from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm in room 3-215. It was presented by one of the tutors from the SACC, entitled Everything You Need To Know To Pass Math. As you all know by now, I dropped Pre-Calculus already, so I figured I might as well get some tips to pass it for next semester.

The tutor (I don’t remember her name) told us that in order to pass math, it’s always important to have a good attitude about it. She explained how we need to get acquainted with the math language by being selective learners, being organized, and always taking notes in class. Furthermore, we should try not to miss a class because then we miss an entire lesson. In other words, it’s the same tips we’ve been given many times before, but I guess now being in college it’s a good time to actually apply those tips.

I know that even if I try to do any of that on my own, I will still suck at math. So I was glad when the tutor gave us some information about the SACC. The SACC has tutors for pretty much every subject, although most of them are math tutors (thank goodness for that). She said that tutors are always available during the week from 9:00am to 8:00pm. And we can schedule appointments via walk-in or online. And sometimes if you walk into the tutoring center they will tutor you on the spot.

I think the workshop was most helpful about giving information about the SACC. We’ve all been told to have a positive attitude, be organized, etc. And it’s good advice, but most people get too frustrated with math to even try following this advice. It’s good to have someone who can communicate the information better and easily. That said, I am more than certain that I’ll be visiting the SACC regularly for any semester that I have math – which basically means, the rest of my years in college. Yay.

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Gallery Tour: The Nature of Landscape & Photography

Posted on October 15, 2009 by fchoudhury

1. Gallery Tour: The Nature of Landscape & Photography

2. Arts at Baruch

3. Tuesday Oct. 6 1-2PM

4. This workshop lasted about 15 minutes. It was a tour around the gallery at Sidney Mishkin. I guess the point of the workshop was to show Baruch students one of the many locations around Baruch that have stellar art and places students should consider visiting, more often.

5.On this day, I was going to attend the Managing Relationships in College workshop but it got cancelled so I decided to use the time and fulfill another workshop requirement. It did not take me out of my comfort zone because we just walked around and looked at photographs. There was one particular picture which was a little bit disturbing because it was of desert sand in the shape of 4 butts, 2 male and 2 female.

6. I did not really have too many expectations when attending this workshop because I decided to come to it, at the last minute. Overall, it was a good experience. The lady showed us some of the techniques used in the photographs. At the end, we were allowed to look around at particular photos, if we wished. I would recommend this workshop to other students. It was very quick and interesting.

7. Well, I never knew that the Sidney Mishkin gallery even existed, right next to our college. It was really nice to learn about this place itself and see another great place that is near Baruch. I learned about some of the techniques they use in photography such as perspective and bird’s eye view.

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Student Life

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Nathalie Vargas

Attending the student services fair was one of the best decisions I made at Baruch so far. Many of my questions were answered and it made me feel like getting things done is not going to be as hard as it seems. There are people that will help me as long as I ask for the help. The staff was very friendly and answered all my questions. The workshop was held at the vertical campus in room 1-107 at 12:30 to 2:30 today. There were people from different departments sitting down and answering questions that students had. The room was crowded and at the beginning of the fair it was difficult to be able to talk to a staff member but as people started leaving it was easier to talk to whoever we wanted. Before entering the room we had to sign in and were given a paper that stated all of the different departments we could ask questions to and we had to make sure we had visited atleast ten of the departments before we could leave. The person who signed our book would know if we did so because the staff members would punch a whole next to the field of question that was answered.

One of the answers that satisfied me the most was finding out that Baruch does not have a track team but does have a cross country team during the fall season. I also learned that there are no sports clubs just varsity teams, so in order for me to join cross country I have to make sure I am fit enough for the next fall. Athletes are able to register before anyone since they have to make sure they go to practice and have time to study. That’s great to know. I was also happy to find out that I can have more help in figuring out what to major in by taking a vocational test that tells me what I am best in. Advisors will also help me in choosing the best classes for me to take. There is a tutoring center available that I can go to whenever I need help in a certain subject and that is also important for me to know.

I received a study guide for the SimNet exam which will also be very helpful since I need to take that test by this year. I found out that if you fail the test three times, you have to take a class that teaches you how to use excel. I do not want to do that. I also spoke to a representative of the honors program at Baruch who said that if you receive the right grades you can apply to the honor program as soon as you want. However, you will be interviewed and go through an admission process. Besides speaking to the testing evaluation center and the honors college program, I spoke to Leads. I was pleased to learn that through Leads, Baruch accepts students who are disabled in a ll sorts of ways. The disability could range from being in a wheelchair to having depression or being blind. Many of the disabled students at Baruch are not visbly disabled people; meaning that it is not obvious they are disabled. I was glad to hear that disabled people are also welcomed to Baruch because it shows that everyone has the opportunity to receive an education and earn a degree. Disabled students still have to meet the same requirments as other students to be admitted to Baruch though.

I was surprised to discover that Baruch has a place on 19th street for parents to leave their children that are from the ages of 2 to 5 while they go to college. That is extremely beneficial for mothers or fathers who want to pursue their career but do not have a babysitter. It gives them a chance to succeed and have a second chance at accomplishing their goals. Everyone who attends Baruch can do well and graduate if they put their mind to it and have self discipline. As students we need to focus on the asssignments we need to complete and make sure we do everything on time. It’s like what a button given to me by the Leads department says, “attitudes are the real disability.” So if you come to school with a negative attitude and do not want to do your work, you will do bad.

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Community/Global Awareness Workshop

Posted on October 12, 2009 by Nathalie Vargas

On saturday, October 10, 2009, I went to a cheering station for the breast cancer walk. The cheering station was at 29th st and 9th ave and was from 10am to 2pm. It was a great event to attend because there were all sorts of people walking to support the cure for breast cancer. Many men and women were there and were happy to see people cheering them on. People were wearing a lot of different pink itmes to represent that they were walking to support the cure. The people that were on the same corner as me cheering, had on funny pink hats and pink whistles that they blew. Some women had on pink wigs and pink rain panchos.

It rained a little while I was at the cheering station but not that much, so  the walkers did not have to worry. The rain did not seem like it was going to stop them anyway. Drivers would pass by and honk for the walkers which motivated them even more. Fire fighter trucks would turn on their sirens and cheer them on also. It felt good knowing that I was there for a helpful reason and to see other students from baruch there. My hands even hurt a little after all the clapping. I actually did the walk last year and it was not tiring at all. Maybe the fact that there were many people supporting the walkers made it easier to not think about all the blocks walked. It is nice to know that people still do things with admirable intentions and still try to do things to make life better. It shows that people do care about their surroundings.

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