Mercedes Matter: A Retrospective Exhibition

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Joanne Ganthier

Mercedes Matter: A Retrospective Exhibition
Arts at Baruch
November 3, 2009/ 1pm

            The goal of this workshop was for the students at Baruch to see various works of art done by an artist named Mercedes. I selected this workshop, because I thought it would be interesting to see an art exhibition. However, this workshop failed to meet my expectations, because I was waiting for a long time before they let me in. In addition, I thought the exhibition would be more fun. I felt that the coordinator should have let us walk around a bit and take a look at the works of art for ourselves instead of taking us as group to look at the works of art which were separated into three parts based on the artist life, childhood, adolescent, and an adult. I would not recommend this workshop to another student because it was not interesting for me but if any students love looking at art, this would be the workshop for them.

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Club Fair

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Joanne Ganthier

Club Fair
Student Life
September 24, 2009/ 12:30pm-2:00pm

The main purpose of the club fair was for the incoming freshmans to see what clubs are available for them at Baruch. I selected this particular workshop, because I thought it would be interesting and also I got a notice about the event in the mail. The club fair failed to met my expectations because it seemed a bit unorganized and it was really crowded in the gym, where the event was held. I thought it would be better if they used both gyms because that way there would be more space and the clubs would not be jammed pack together. Furthermore, I would not recommend this workshop to another students, because this club fair was similar to orientation in August when the clubs were lined up across the street from the library. Personally, I just thought this workshop could be better and maybe next year it will be.

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Career Planning: Basic Interviewing

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Joanne Ganthier

Career Planning: Basic Interviewing     
Career Exploration
October 29, 2009/ 12:50pm-2:20pm 

   The main goal of the workshop was to teach the students about what to do when going on a job interview, which was one of the reasons why I pick this workshop. I thought this workshop was really helpful, because it went into detail about how to dress for an interview, how to give a good handshake, and what are the right and wrong things to say. I would recommend this workshop to any student who wants to improve on their job interviewing skills. In addition, I learned a lot from this workshop like how asking questions at the end of the interview shows that one is interested or wants to learn more. What surprised me about this workshop was that even though the workshop was filled with a lot students, the coordinator still managed to get the students to interact with each other. Overall, I thought this workshop was extremely helpful.

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Arts at Baruch

Posted on November 25, 2009 by skhatkhatay

Mercedes Matter Gallery Tour (Arts at Baruch)

November 3, 2009

In this workshop Baruch students got a chance to attend a real art gallery Mishkin Gallery on 22nd St and it was the last baruch workshop i needed to complete my six workshops. The gallery contained art by Mercedes. The artwork was set up in the order of Mercedes life and we were shown at least 10 different pieced of artworks which were a timeline of Mercedes life. She found out that she wanted to paint since she was 6, “My career was determined at the age of six when my father, Arthur B. Carles, bought me a small paint box and took me out into the French countryside to paint by his side.”When Mercedes was 12, she returned to Europe to live in Italy. She was influenced by Giovanni Bellini. This is where Mercedes gained her primary education in art history. Important artists from Rome and Florence were Giotto and Cimabue. The most important piece of art work in the gallery was the final one in which there was skulls. The piece was drawn by charcoal on canvas, and it was the climax of the tour. The painting was done during the time mercedes husband died. The use of charcoal on the canvas is so chaotic and messy it somewhat shows the feeling and emotions of Mercedes during a traumatic experience in her life. This workshop was crowded as it was on of the last workshops for arts at baruch there were tons of students lined up to enter and the gallery only permitted entrance to a few students at a time. We waited an hour before going in, but overall the gallery was quite dramatic and eye catching

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Student Life

Posted on November 24, 2009 by skhatkhatay

Student Club fair 2009 (Student life)

The club fair is a great and easy way for many incoming freshmen to make friends and sign up for clubs which will occupy their spare time outside of classes and school. Different clubs throw parties, raise money, have fashion shows, and different fun events to make their club more known. I think its great that these clubs take pride in what they do and allow each member to give input and add a bit of their own personality to the whole. Most of the clubs are integrated and welcoming to the entire student body which is encouraging for freshmen. The main goal of this workshop was to inform freshmen and push them to have a student life outside of school and courses offered at the college. Often attending a commuter school such as baruch many students find it harder to manage student life. The room was filled with many freshmen and each were checking out the different booths and clubs. The workshop was quick easy and fun, and a great way to interact and meet new people. I learned about different student services offered at baruch. We also learned where different offices were located and what kind of services were provided for the students.

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Personal Enrichment Workshop

Posted on November 24, 2009 by skhatkhatay

Building and Managing Relationships in College. (Personal Enrichment)

This workshop was by far my favorite workshop out of the 6. It was held in the vertical campus on the first floor in one of the large rooms. There the speaker had a powerpoint and the room was filled with many incoming freshmen. This workshop was not only an opportunity to learn about managing relationships in high school but also to maintain the ones we already had and creating new ones. During the workshop the facilitator talked about managing relationships with family, friends, teacher, and one with a partner. She went around asking people what the most difficult part about college was and talked about how the transition from high school to college can affect relationships with our parents and friends.

In this workshop i learned once again the independence college students gain and the responsibilities that come with it. In college your parents do not receive report cards nor do they attend parent teacher conferences. Grades, classes, and school work are solely based on the students themselves. Entering college many leave behind old friends and now have to make friends with a bunch of new people which can often be difficult. We also discussed romantic relationships and maintaining them. Those who were in long distance relationships and those who had partners attending different universities. This workshop also gave us a chance to meet other freshmen who were not in out block and many of us got a chance to mingle.

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Career Exploration

Posted on November 24, 2009 by skhatkhatay

Pursuing Your Passion (Career Exploration)

November 11, 2009

The purpose of this workshop was held in order to help incoming freshmen have a more clear perspective on what kind of career possibilities await them in the real world based on their current majors. This workshop sparked my interest because it not only talked about different careers but it also pointed out what kind of careers and jobs were available to people depending on their majors in college. The facilitator of the workshop ran it quite well.

She gave us all 2 hand outs on which she made us write the things we value most in a job. We had to mark the importance from 1-8 and than based on these values she talked to us about what kind of jobs we should be looking into, and whether or not our dream jobs would satisfy our values as well. She had a powerpoint on which she indicated different job titles and famous people who majored in something and were either now pursuing a different career or had actually landed their dream jobs. She gave us another hand out which further broadened the values which were important to us. Under each value there possible majors (e.g if we are artistic a possible major would be English: Journalism/Creative Writing). This workshop was quite helpful because it also discussed in some depth majors. I learned a lot about how personal values and ethics can affect us in the jobs we do, and how these values can help us determine what kind of career would be perfect for us.

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Blood Drive

Posted on November 24, 2009 by skhatkhatay

Ny Blood center (Blood drive)

October 6,2009

The goal of this workshop was to hold a blood drive and donate blood to those in need of it. I had been to a blood drive prior to this in high school and donated blood. I had a donation blood card from the New york blood center and since i had a donor number i decided to donate blood once again. This blood drive would also fulfill my Global-community awareness workshop. I also attended because by donating blood i feel like i am in a small way helping others who are in need. The blood drive was held on the first floor and it was pretty similar to the one held at my high school.

I filled out a questionnaire which asked different things regarding my lifestyle and my personal health. Than one of the nurses there checked my blood to see if i was anemic. They than guided me to a chair where they withdrew blood into 4 tubes for testing and than a pint into a plastic bag. The process took about 10 minutes.

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Arts at Baruch- Mercedes Matter Gallery Tour

Posted on November 22, 2009 by Aaron

Mercedes Matter Gallery Tour

Arts at Baruch

November 3, 2009

The goal of this workshop was to give students at Baruch an art museum experience. I went to this workshop to fulfill my last workshop requirement. I expected a real gallery, in which it was (Mishkin Gallery on 22nd St). I did not expect there to be as many kids as I had seen that day. When I arrived, the entire lobby was packed with students, assuming that they were all there for the same reason that I was. The gallery was only allowing about 20 students at a time every 10-15min. I ended up waiting almost an hr before going in. Once I was inside the gallery, the group was taken to see the art by Mercedes. The artwork was in the order of her life from her younger years up until the most recent years (at the end of the tour). The most interesting piece of art I had found was the last one, her most recent, which was Still Life with Skulls, charcoal on canvas. This piece of art that was the highlight of the gallery since it was on the card and on the Baruch website. I wanted to see this one the most because it did not look like skulls on the website. When I had seen it in person, it wasn’t really skulls either, but it was really cool. It expresses mess and chaotic. Charcoal is a really interesting material. I’ve used charcoal before to make a still life with tools. Even though there is only one color, you can smudge it to make a lighter shade or soften up the picture. It’s not that easy to use, but there’s a lot of technique to using it. I’ve learned that Mercedes Matter spent her latest years doing charcoal works. Since her husband had died in 1984, she could only make art to remove the sadness of losing her beloved one. I assume this is the reason for the chaotic, stressful images used to express her situation at the time.

This gallery was quite interesting.

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Career Planning

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Chanelle Perrin

I went to  a career exploration on November 3rd, and I found it really helpful. I pretty much knew what I wanted to do, as long as it was something that included being creative. I like to write so my dream job would be to write for cosmo or one day write a book, or even be a writer for a tv show. The workshop discussed numerous things like having us discover what our values and interest were, and how they were the key to picking jobs that would be right for us not only in our pockets but would coincide with who we are as a person. The speaker for the workshop told us how jobs are broken up into categories and depending on the type of person we were we would find a job in a certain category, but also not to feel resticted because sometimes the categories can over lap. I felt like I actually learned something at this workshop, and I got my planner signed without having to fight a bunch of students so that was a plus.

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