Section BPR2D

As my first semester in college is rapidly comes to an end, I find myself more confident with how I plan on succeeding in college. The Power of Mentorship  presented by the VP of the NABA National Chapter helped me realized that although hard work  and academic achievement can lead to success later on in life, having a mentor can help me map out how I can  become successful as well as STAY successful.

A mentor is someone who I can look up to as an example to follow. One benefit of having a mentor is when ever I am struggling with school or work related issues, they can help me out by giving useful advice. A mentor can be like a big brother or sister, they are their to guide me so I can become better at whatever it is you want to do. They are also there to encourage me when I come across a challenge and become overwhelmed. They can teach certain things about being an employee in the field that I want to study as well. I learned that there are many types of mentors such as a Career mentor, who focuses on skill building needed on a work force. They can help me learn how to become a better spokesman in front of an audience or review my resume or even introduce me to people so I could network with.

After this workshop, I decided to ask a member of  NABA to become my mentor. I realized that there are much benefits to having one and I could start building my career path as of now. I think every college student
should have someone to look up to. Someone who can give honest feedback on your progress in order for you to grow.

My dance club MPAG  hosted a mini workshop on how far a one night stand can go. The effects of unprotected sexual intercourse, such as  diseases, some that are vital. Our workshop inspired a lot of people to think twice about their action. Being that we are in college now it is time to realize that unprotected sex can have many affects such as the most common disease HIV and AIDS.

The effects of HIV and AIDS are deadly. It not only affects a person physically but emotionally. It also made me think about how many people actually hav ethe disease but do not know they actually  have it or know and just rather not mess up life for themselves. So many people in this world do not know they have it untill the symptoms become clear it depends on the person. It is sadd to know that people still that are in college do not understand the imapct of the AIDS  virus amungst the youth. The only ways to stop the cycle and increasment of these diseases is by being absence or by having protected sex.

I learned a lot because I am a female in college that is still maturing from the transition from high school to college. It is important that Iam aware of a lot of te hidden topics that are barely spoken of.

Two weeks ago i visited the Modern Musuem of Art located in the city. I absolutely loved my visit to the musuem. Guys if you are looking for somewhere to take that special girl on a date for FREE  take them to the MOMA . It is free with your cuny id card and on fridays it is usually free. The artworks are absolutely breathtaking and makes you think about so many things. There were a lot of famous piecese. Some done by Pablo Picaasso, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo Vincent Van Gogh and etc. 

What amazed me the most was Tim Burton’s exhibit. The day i visited to choose an artwork to discuss I choosee an interesting self portrait done by Frida Kahlo. It is titled Fulang and I. If i was able to  go into the Tim Burton exhibit the first time iI visited I probably would have done his exhibit as my project. He kind of gets the critics to be involved in his art work by the mosterous mouth at the interest. We are almost like walking into the body of a monster without realizing because inside are the echibits. In reality to us it is an entrance to vieww his exhibits. A lot if huis artwork  reminded me of the movie the Nightmare before Christmas. As I walked in it seemed I was right most of the characters from that movie were dispplayed so i am guessing he created those characters. When coming out the tunnel it was a lot of his own personal drawings displayed. He seems to e  a well established artist not only is his artworks being displayed in the musuem but he also has a children’s book out, and took part in the creation of the character’s in the Nightmare Before Christmas movie.

Frida Kahlo’s painting was interesting. First I was attracted to it because I watched the movie of her lifef in highschool. I understood the type of painter and eorson that Frida Kahlo was. Her self portrait was hung beside a miror which is part of the artwork. It was interesting because as looking in the mirror I saw myelf displayed in the exhibit  beside Frida. It made me think of ho important i can be one day. It stated  under her painting that it  was givien to her friend with the mirror so that everytime her friend looks in the mirror fFrida would be there beside her.

Three weeks ago my english class and I went to a journalism workshop. The workshop was held bey FBI agents. They vasically gave us pointers hon how to properly interrogate a person, in a sense a way yto get all the answers that a person is looking for. Two FBI agents spoke about their experiences as agents aswell. They spoke about how they were involved in the 9/11 interagation.  One of the FBI agents stated that he was able to get a lot of information about the man wwithout the man directly telling him what his purpose was in being a terrorist.

He stated that the guy stated that was in college and hung out with a lot of radicals from Afghanistan or some where in that country. He had the decision of either staying in college or going to his country to protest. He chooe to go bback to the country and when he did from there that is how he become involved into the radical groups which then led him to become involved in his country as a terrorist to America.

I found this very interesting because one it makes you think how influential college and clubs can be. To picture this man being a college student to a terrorist is something i would have found hard to imagine. Also it is also interesting how someone can ask a totally different question to distract the interviewee from realizing theyy are giving up important informatino for the FBI to put all the pieces together.

It made me also reassure myself that when i often here or see information that i use to assume something, now i can actually go with my initial feelings, which are to believe my assumptions. If those FBI agents can gather information to make an acquirate assumtion than I can to. (Lol) My ex boyfriend once related me to an FBI agent, when i use to put the pieces of his actions together and come up with an assumption. And guess what? MOst times i was Right about Everything He was Doing!  But anyway, (lol) I learned a lot from the journalism workshop with the FBI agents. It made me rethink my approach on whenever in the future I need to know something important without directly asking the question.

On Thursday December 3rd, 2009, I attended a club event, hosted by  Sigma Alpha Beta in collaboration with the Undergraduate Student Government (USG). The event took place in the multipurpose room of the Vertical Campus, and it was named Stress Relief for Examinations.

At first we had a member of Sigma Alpha Beta share with us some tips about how to relax before finals. Then the whole event was very relaxing and fun. People were playing games, getting massages and talking to each other. I really liked this event because of the atmosphere of total relaxation that it created in that room, whereas this is one of the most stressful week of my whole semester. Moreover, there was food, and that just made it perfect.

This one is about reviewing the speech we gave on the previous weeks, and it was a fun workshop – i really meant it. Well, making a speech in front of the whole class was a bit challenge to me, even though I was only required to speak for less than two minutes. It takes lots of courage to speak in public when you become the spotlight on the stage. I admitted that I was very nervous when I was giving out my speech, but it was fun to review my speech on the video as an audience.  So on November 17, we went to see Professor Sue and she  showed us our video individually and tried to help us improve our public speaking skills. She played the video for my speech for about 30 seconds and asked for my impression of it. I found out that I spoke too fast because I was a bit nervous, but I did maintain eye-contact with my audience which is good. Professor Sue told me that what I need to improve is to take the speech easy, because slow and steady make things perfect. Also, I found out because I have an accent so it is sometimes harder for other people to understand my words, and I really have to pronounce clearier in a slower pace. I said this workshop was fun not because I have to listen my own speech; it is because that I found out what I am good at and what I still need to improve on. So I think when I take my speech class in next semester, I can apply this workshop to it.

On Sep. 24, I attended the Club Fair for my student life workshop. There was nothing special to write about expect the chaos in the gym where all the people tried to inform us  about their clubs and get us interested. I found it over-crowded and I had to wait for 15 minutes on the line before I got inside the gym. Club members were trying to sell their clubs to us on every table. I was a bit disappointed that Baruch doesn’t have a guitar club, but they do have a piano society. Also, I am not the kind of the person who is active in joining any clubs in my first year, and so I only gathered few information about the clubs that I feel intimate with before I left. It was just crowded and I hope it will be more organized next year. However, it is nice to see how diverse Baruch is by looking at all the ethnic clubs we have in Baruch.

For this category, because I missed all the academic enrichment workshops,so I had to attend other workshops to make up this one. I went to the Gallery Tour again. YES, because I really like the artwork there. When I listened to the instructor’s explanation about the paintings, I learned more new things. She told us that the abstract art was developed in modern society after the photograph was invented. As a result, artist were no long interested in mere paintings of still life, because if they wanted to make a copy of an object, they could just take a photo of it. Also, technology has improved a lot and people in the late nineteen centuries realized that objects were not make of lines and surfaces. Instead, everything are made of small molecules, cells and elements. This fresh perspective forced artists to question the essence of painting  objects, hence they drew in geometry: circle, square, rectangles in their paintings to reflect the reality. Also, they looked forward to express their feelings rather than the object itself. Therefore, when we look at abstract art, we should look for the colors, space, shape, and the composition of the painting, in order to understand the artists’ messeges within their works. I think this is a great workshop and I hope everyone enjoy it.

This is the workshop I attended the first. It was on October 16. The reason why I am making a blog of it right now is because I actually don’t know what to write. We waitedfor 30 minutes after the scheduled time, and the instructor told us she didn’t know why the movie player didn’t work. Instead of wasting us the time, she just signed our handbooks and let us go. So I guess I should do a little reaserach on this workshop, which is called “Film Series Playing – My Beautiful Laundrette.” This film was made in 1985, and it is mostly about social issues at that time: homosexuality and race. Omar isone of the protagonists and he fell in love with his friend, Johnny. The two of them take over a laundrette and spend their time together, but their actions repel others. Meanwhile, Johnny is beat up by his friends because Johnny is Caucasian and he supports the Asian community. Omar saves him, and he cleans his wounds even though Omar himself is Pakistan. It is a bit confusing because I didn’t watch the movie, but I think this movie would be interesting if I could have watched it because even though the movie has been made 20 years ago, these two issues are still unavoitable topics when we talk about America. Some states illegalize gay marriages, while others remain conservative, and also, we still have lots of raical issues today although President Obama had been selected by the public for almost one year. It is an interesting workshop. I just hope the films will function well next time for the incoming freshmen in Baruch.

 I attended the workshop “Building and Managing Relationship in College” on October 8, 2009 at Vertical Campus between 12:45 – 2:00 p.m. The guest speaker of the workshop is a professor form the psychology department. At the beginning of the workshop, the speaker asked a few students to share their experiences about making friends in Baruch. Later, she told us to play a little activity. Students had to leave their seats to find five strangers and said “hi” to them. It was a simple activity; however, for me, it was a challenge.  Fortunately, a few girls came over and said hi to me. As we talked to each, I found out that they are in the same Art History class with me.