Section BPR2D

Mediating Conflict & Resolving Disputes

11/12/09

Room 3-190 VC

12:30-2:30

I don’t know why there were so few Personal Enrichment workshops. May be that was the reason, this workshop is really full and some of us need to sit on the floor. Although it was not comfortable sitting on the floor, I learned how to solve conflict. During this workshop, we talked about many interesting conflicts such as conflict between us and our family. We also talked about whether it is necessary for freshmen to enroll in so many workshops. All of us agree that we shouldn’t need to do workshop and the professor told us that we can go and complained about it. Hope that someone will complain about that and freshmen in the next semester don’t need to take it.

Vocat Review

11/17/09

VC 1104

12:50-2:05

In this workshop, we review the presentation we did during the freshmen seminar class. From this workshop, I found out what I should improve during a speech to a group of people. To be honest, I seldom speak in front of a group of people. Therefore, I was really nervous that day. Although I had practice a lot and memorized everything, I kept looking at the paper during the speech. That cost me loss some point and the professor told me about that issue also. I hope I can do better in the future.

A few weeks ago, I attended the Job Fair Prep workshop which was also held in the multipurpose room of the Vertical Campus at Baruch College. Although, I was not planning on going to the Diversity Job and Internship Fair which was being held the next day, I attended this workshop in order to gain some knowledge about how to prepare for a job fair in the near future.

Upon entering the multipurpose room, each of us received a career fair preparation guide which mirrored the speakers’ very impressive presentation. The two speakers were both representatives from Verizon who very energetic and enthusiastic throughout the presentation. They were extremely upfront and honest about what kind of qualities they look for during the 30 seconds that they meet with students at job fairs. They explained that the students’ goal has to be to market themselves as effectively as they can during the short period of time that they meet with employers.

First and foremost, they said that we have to dress professionally and come in with strong knowledge about the company that we are interested in. In addition, they emphasized the importance of preparing a 30 second personal pitch in order to leave a lasting impression. The presenters added that employers look for passionate individuals that really want to work for their companies. They said that we should always bring several polished resumes, obtain business cards, and follow up with employers by sending “thank you” letters. Lastly, the presenters said that we should take notes on our own impressions and organize them along with company literature and business cards in order to have a better sense of what companies we most want to pursue. Overall, I really enjoyed this presentation and I believe that I will hugely benefit from the information I acquired in the near future. I think that it was definitely one of the best workshops that I attended.

A few weeks ago, I attended the Basic Interviewing workshop in the multipurpose room of the Vertical Campus at Baruch College. I chose to attend this workshop because of the difficulty I experienced during my first interview last year. Throughout my interview with the head of human resources at a Manhattan financial institution, I felt very nervous and extremely uncomfortable. Thus I sought to improve my interviewing skills at this workshop.

I think that this workshop was extremely helpful and made me more aware about how I should go about preparing for my next interview. The presenter stressed how we should acquire a strong knowledge of the company that we are being interviewed by beforehand. In addition, she emphasized how we should constantly rehearse the interview with another person in order to help us be more prepared. She said that by simulating how we would respond to the interviewer and compose ourselves during an interview, we would develop greater confidence going into the interview. The presenter also mentioned many of the obvious do’s, such as dressing professionally, maintaing eye-contact, and being very attentive. Overall, I really found her tips on preparation to be most helpful and useful and I will definitely implement her advice during my next interview.

           Presentation is always something that i am not skill at, so I never look forward to the result of my first presentation in Baruch college. First of all, I was not comfortable with my pronunciation, and thus, i tried to focus onpronouncing of every single word correctly. Once i got a word wrong i would felt distracted and started to worry about it. Then i was not able to follow the chain of thought. Second, as i stated at the very beginning of this presentation, i struggled a month to figure out who should i introduced as my leader. Eventually, i found my lovely sister– Nicole. She is not only my favorite family member, but also my closest friend. I thought I had endless admirations about Nicole, and I was eager to share all of them with my classmates. I wanted to tell them how sweet she treats me, the strong leadership ability she had back in China, and why do i look up on her, etc. In my plan I ought to talk everything thoroughly. Unfortunately, I only felt miserable after i gave the speech.

             When Professor Susan went over the video with me, I already know most part of her comments, because I used to have these problems when i was in High School. I had trying to solve these problems, but many methods do not work for me. During the conversation, I told Pro. Susan that, in a competition, i presented a business plan with my classmates, at that moment i did not have the problems i used to have. So i asked her suggestion about what should i do to improve my presentation skill? She recommended SACC for me, and later in class she introduced the center which helps students with pronunciation. After all, i am planning to take help from both departments, so my presentation skill might eventually improve.

Repast Baroque Presents Pathways

11/12/09

The Engelman Recital Hall

8:00-9:30

Before attending this workshop, I don’t know that Baruch not only a place for study but also a place for art. For students, we can hardly afford a board way show or concert outside because they are very expensive and we can’t afford them. I always want to go to one of those and now I get chances to do so. It is amazing that Baruch provides free concerts and theaters to students. The concert I attend is a great one and the performers were so great that I didn’t know how to describe. I think I will attend more performance in the future.

Basic Interviewing

10/29/09

Room 1-107 NVC

12:50-2:20

In this workshop, I learn many things about interview. I lean what I should wear; what I should say during the interview; what I should do when I am nervous, etc. Also, students who attend this workshop will receive information about others workshop which are useful for interview by email. I also learned that Baruch helps students practice interview. Each student can practice interview once every semester and it looks like the real interview which is very useful because students won’t get nervous when they go to a real interview. Therefore, this workshop is very useful and I think everyone should attend this.

The Freshmen Reception

9/17/09

Center for academic advisement

12:50-2:00

This is the first workshop I have gone. I went to this workshop because I receive a email from them. This workshop used an hour long workshop but I only stayed there for about twenty minutes because there were so many people over there. This workshop used to advise us which subject should we take and what we should do to full fill the requirement to graduate. However, all I did were ate some chocolate over there and drink some lemon tea. Although I didn’t learn anything from this workshop, it was a great experience and I will go there if I have question about choosing subject.

The Global -Community awarness workshop is the first workshop of our enrichment workshop passports. The purpose of this workshop is to let students learn more about their society and care about it. The workshop I attended was called “My Beautiful Laudrette”.It is a 1985 movie. The night before I attended the workshop, I did a research on this movie. It is a story happened between two men named Omar and Johnny. Omar is a Pakistanian and Johnny is white.Back in the time, race was a big issue in the society. Johnny helped Omar with his laundrette business. They were good friends.But the problem was : other people in the society discriminate Asian. Johnny was beaten beause he supported the Asian Community. After reading the summary , I was looking forward to see the movie. I want to know the difference between 1980’s and now.I want to know how the society has changed in the racial issue.Unfortunately, the movie was cancelled. If I had seen the movie,I would understand more about the society.

When he lectured about his project about immigration, I did not understand at all, because he was talking about rainbow theory and all kinds of stuff that I never heard before. His project was about…basically he interviwed and researched several Mexican immigrants for 10 years. How they different from Mexican who live in Mexico, and why Mexican immigrants are always bottom of our social(economic) status. However, he found out that that was not true.  Result of his research, 60% of mexican whom he researched were making at least $50,000 per year. He said that people always ask why?but the most important question is How? Those kinds of people had some motivation, 1st good parents, 2nd free education system(free until highschool). They are no differents from us,but people always have prejudgment about them that they are poor, and not smart. However, it was not true. So our world, even at baruch, we should not prejudge anyone. 

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