Section APR2C

Some of us went into this workshop not sure what to expect.  Honestly, I thought it was going to be very awkward.  They had us do some ice breakers, and as it turned out, it wasn’t bad at all.  This is because, the bunch of us from the block were sitting together.  So it was actually pretty fun.  I didn’t take away too much from this particular workshop, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.  I even got to meet a few new people.  Everyone there was pretty nice and the atmosphere was surprisingly laid back.  Definitely not as tense or awkward as I initially thought it might be.  In fact, I thought this was one of the better workshops all around because I felt like I was really connecting to my fellow freshmen and it didn’t feel forced at all.

A good number of us went to this fair after classes.  It was in the same room that we had to go to for orientation, I think.  When we got there it was pretty crowded.  We split up and went to look for whatever places interested us.  I was very interested in the very cliched Europe.  As I got to the table for Europe, all the pamphlets and forms were gone.  Lucky me.  However, they did have these neat little hand sanitizer sprays in a basket.  As I looked around more, I realized that we had arrived after the party.  All of the interesting places had run of materials.  Unfortunately, I didn’t really get to learn anything about studying abroad, but I do intend to look into it on m own time.  What I did learn though, is that you have to get to these workshops early.  As with the first workshop we went to, it was packed.  Seems Baruch has too few workshops for too many Freshmen.

Some of us went to the club fair on the 24th of September.  The only reason I remember the date, is because it was the day that follows my birthday.  Somehow, I remember first thinking it was gonna be an outdoors event.  I think it’s because they called it a fair.  But obviously it was in the gym.  This was actually one of the workshops I really enjoyed.  We checked out some of the clubs but the one thing that got our attention was the break dancing.  The performance was actually pretty cool.  I remember thinking how the other workshops I had gone to were dull and quiet, and here I am with someone break dancing right in front of me (at a workshop no less).  More of the workshops should have been more involved and engaging like this one was.

This was actually the first FRO workshop I ever went to.  Most of us went together.  As we got there, the first thing we noticed was the HUGE line.  After some time, some of us managed to squeeze forward and forgo most of the line.  We had to punch in our social security number and they gave us folders with packets in them which served as guidelines for applying for a minor.  There was an adviser inside who went over the materials with us.  She basically told us how to fill out the forms and asked if we had any questions.  after this we all got some cookies and were home free.  Overall, it was a tolerable experience.  It was informative but overly crowded.  I honestly did not expect there to be such a huge amount of students, and neither did the staff, apparently.

I wish i had done this earlier but anyway, This was an ok seminar, a little long but never the less important seminar on interviewing. The woman who was gave us advice on what we should do during an interview was very interesting. She was very helpful in answering the questions of the student. I was glad that I went to seminar because I learned a lot of what I should do during an interview

For my community and global awareness seminar, i went to a discussion on Mixed relationships and whether or not love is blind. It was a good discussion as we talked about race and whether or not we should go out with partners of the same race. A lot of people were for mixed relationships and a few people were against it because of their families. Like I said it was a good discussion and the food was amazing.

This was a very late workshop at 6 P.M. it was very unusually to be around the school at this time because I usually never am. Much of what was talked about in this workshop I already heard on freshman orientation. The guest speaker talked about saving money, not having credits and staying out of debt. They gave out gifts at the workshop, but unfortunately I didn’t win anything from the raffle.

Right after attending the freshman reception for a bit, I went downstairs to another fair. This was the study abroad. This was one of the most interesting workshops I went to. I found it to be so interesting because going away to study gives you a lot of opportunities to explore the world around you. There were many places to go two places that caught my attention were France and London. They had a very cool atmosphere to them. Hopefully at one point of my semester, I do take the opportunity to go away and explore the world.

On November 5, 2009, I attended the the play “A Doll’s House” at the Engelman Recital Hall from 1:00 to 2:00. Not much of a play, to be honest, but had some good acting that took place. In high school, we had to do a similar version in our English classes. I remember one of my classmate’s groups had to do an act of this play, which wasn’t as good as what I saw at Baruch. I wasn’t expecting the 5 actors to express emotion, so it impressed me to some extent. It was about a married woman who never had her chance to experience her life in her own point of view because she was somehow always somebody’s “doll”. This led to her path to independence as she seceded from her family to create her own path. Sort of like “the path not taken” by Robert Frost ( I think). It’s a good story to tell, which is why I wouldn’t mind going to another Baruch Play.

-Steve V.

On Thursday, October 29, 2009, I attended the Career planning seminar located in Room 1-107. We first had to register for the seminar online. The Starr development center did a seminar on what Basic interviewing was, and the importance behind why you need to know what to do before going into an interview. She handed out some papers that helped give some insight on the STARR center. She also gave some helpful tips to success in the job world. The workshop was beneficial because it was the first step into the STARR center that may be the first of many seminars that I will be attending. However, this seminar was kind of like my high school business club, DECA, because we already had a couple guest speakers give us the same kind of insight shown in this seminar.

-Steve V.