Relationships

Posted on October 8, 2009 by nsingh

Managing Relationships in College

[10-08-09] [12:45 PM- 2:00 PM] [Mason Hall]

The workshop “Managing Relationships in College” focused on fours main relationships: family, friends, romantic, and business. With the use of  a slide show, the presenter thoroughly covered every aspect of the workshop. She first started off with family relationsips and posed a question to the audience: Once starting college how has your relationship changed with your parents? Many answers included: not spending enough time with them due to overload in work, time issue (in high school you would come home at a certain time and your parents would know where you are but now being in college there is not a set time of getting home). The lecturer emphasized the transition in students and parents; students becoming more independent in college and parents having to realize that their children are growing up. She further explained that the sooner you talk to your parents about the shift from high school to college, the problem may be resolved. By talking to your mom and pop, they will understand your role in college and the need for independence and time.
In additon, when it came to friendship, she talked about cohort of people coming from the same school and hanging out together. She posed a question about how many people you have since having started college. Much of the audience replied that they were still trying to adjus to the vibe of Baruch and didn’t really know many people. In an effort to meeting new people, the presenter asked everyone to get up and introduce themselves to other people. Many were reluctant and failed to follow the orders. They remained in their seats and introduced themselves to the people around them. Noticing that no one stood up, the presenter then mandated everyone to get up and meet someone new on the other side of the room (i.e. right side of the room introduce themselves to the left side of the room and vise versa). This exercise put many people in an uncomfortable position, especially me. I am very shy and timid and so its strange and awkward to go and say “Hi” to a stranger. However, this was the main point of the interactive activity. It was to demonstrate that in order to make friends in college you have to take the steps yourself. The lecturer also emphasized that have a range of friends, that included freshmans and upperclassmen. Don’t be scared and intimidated by people you don’t know, but rather put the effort and make connections.
Talking about making connections, she also focused on networking and how it can be helpful. She advised that along with common networking site directed to communicating with friends, become a part of the networking site called LinkedIn. This networking site is helpful in making inside connections with individuals who work at major companies. By networking with them, you might be able to gain an intership and more. In fact, the presentor stated that individuals who are networking with these companies more likely receive jobs than those who graduate from college and don’t have connections.
Lastly, she talked about romantic relaionships. To make it interactive, she asked us to pair off in groups of three and have a discussion about problems associated with relationships once college starts. One of the main problem discussed was of conflicting schedule. How it is hard for the couple to get together and spend quality time. It’s even harder when your significant doesn’t go to the same college as you. In adittion the presenter stated on having healthy relationships and noticing patterns that you might form (i.e. being in relationships in which the girls sharw the common trait of being very talkative).
Overall, the ideas presented in the workshop were common and some things the general audience probably knew about. I would recommend others to go because it is interesting and interactive. At times it did put me out of my comfort zone especially when we had to introduce ourselves to people we didn’t know. Personally, I knew the main idea of the relationships discussed, but I did learn about the networking site called LinkedIn. Who knows it might be the site that might land me an internship or possibly a job.
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