Personal Enrichment

Posted on October 31, 2009 by dgurcharan

My third blog (I’m on a roll now)

This workshop was a complete waste of time. It was all common sense. The workshop taught us how to balance your college life with your friends and family. Also, how to manage your working schedule. They advised us if you are a full time matriculated student your work schudule shouldn’t exceed more than 20 hours a week. This is pretty much basic knowledge for some. Others are more concerned about making money than they are receiving an education. Some people think what they are making now is a lot but with the help of a bachelor’s or might I suggest a master’s degree you would be making a considerably larger amount than you ever thought possible. Money is important but it isn’t’ everything. Your first priority as a student is to earn your degree and strive for the best. In addition, the workshop host spoke about balancing your work load with your friends and family. Family is the most important thing in one’s life. In the end your family will help guide you through any and everything. Finally, the workshop was a great experience to view others thoughts and opinions on this topic. My goal in life as of right now is, to earn my degree and pursue my goal in life which is to become an accountant

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Arts at Baruch

Posted on October 31, 2009 by dgurcharan

My second straight blog (I’m getting the hang of this thing now).

The second workshop I attended was Arts at Baruch. This was a bit more pleasant because I went with a few of my friends such as Basheer (Da BASH), Ryan (Mr. Sarcasm), and Ashley (a very nice person). I arrived at the workshop ten minutes before it began so I had time to walk around the art gallery by myself. I found the work very interesting but at the same time very confusing. A few minutes after, the tour guided explained most of the art in detail. One of the works that really fascinated me was the art that portrayed two people lying down naked. The first time I saw the picture I thought it was a hill or something. This lady really opened up my imagination by revealing and explaining the significance of this image. The one thing I truly loved about the workshop was the tour guide (I can’t remember her name at this time) really took her time and patience in explaining all of the works of art in detail. She didn’t rush through any of them. This demonstrated to me that she really loved art and she loved teaching those around her. She made my experience at this workshop a true joy. I would defiantly go back to this workshop just for fun.

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Work Shop # 1

Posted on October 31, 2009 by dgurcharan

This is my first blog and I am so excited!

The Freshman Reception was by far the worst workshop I’ve been to. The faculty wasn’t even prepared for so many students (then what’s the point of hosting an event if you can’t handle the heat). It was so crowded I didn’t even have space to breathe. People were literally on top of each other. The only reason the workshop was even that crowded was due to the fact that everyone wanted their planner singed. However, the only good aspect of the workshop was the information. The faculty took their time in explaining everything in detail. This meant a lot to me because since I am a freshman I need the most information I can get. To end on a bad note, they promised us light refreshments but nothing was there. When I asked the lady where all the refreshments were she told me to hold on. I left the workshop an hour later and the lady I spoke to was no where to be found. All in all, it was a great experience but the people need to get there hosting skills straightened out!

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workshop #3

Posted on October 31, 2009 by djadan

Title of Workshop – Career Planning: Basic Interviewing

Category of Workshop – Career Exploration/ Development I don’t remember.

Date/Time of Workshop – Thursday October 29th 12:50 -2:20

Brief description & workshop goals – This workshop’s description and goals are very easy to figure out. All you have to do is look at the title and there it is lol. But since I actually went and sat there for what seemed like an eternity I’ll tell you more. So this lady (I should really get names down) from the STARR center gave the presentation. She spoke about various elements of the interview process like getting prepared, dress code, how to answer common questions, and the follow up. She basically told us that before, during, and after parts. Before the interview: one should research the company you are applying for so that you don’t sound stupid going in there without a clue about where you are applying to. The day of the interview: you should dress appropriately which nice clean clothes that are very conservative. Once you actually get to the interview: you should be nice to everyone since you don’t know who exactly you are talking to and you might actually end up being a jerk to your interviewer/ future boss. During the interview: you show be alert, know your resume, be prepared to answer any questions they may have, and have your own questions so that you seem interested. And finally after the interview: you should send a thank you note because it’s a way to better your chances of getting the job by showing your interest.

Explain why you selected this particular workshop and how it took you outside of your comfort zone. If it did not take you outside your comfort zone explain why not – I selected this workshop because (1) I needed to fulfill the 3 workshops by Nov 2nd requirement (2) it seemed like a workshop that could be useful in the future when I apply for internships or jobs. The workshop did not take me out of my comfort zone because…it just didn’t lol. Basically we went in, sat down, got handed out a worksheet that went along with the presentation (which was good because in case you got distracted for a while you could easily catch up and not miss any information), the lady did her thing, and we left. Nothing uncomfortable about that.

How did this workshop meet or fail your expectations? Would you recommend it to another student? Why or why not – Walking into the workshop the two things that stood out the most in my mind were: I have this doesn’t take that long and hopefully it interesting. Soo if I had to put those as my expectations for the workshop I’m sorry but id have to say the workshop failed miserably. I know it clearly said the workshop would be from 12:50-2:20 but there was still hope in me that maybe possibly with any luck it would end early. It didn’t. And I don’t know why but it soo felt like more than an hour and thirty minutes. And it wasn’t interesting because honestly I knew everything they told me. So would I recommend it to another student? Not really. I’d say if you know common knowledge about interviewing go to something else like the ‘writing a resume’ one.

What do you feel you learned from the workshop experience? What surprised you about that? What was new that you could take away from this experience? – I learned that the STARR office has a lot to offer and that when I’m towards the end of my sophomore year and on I should take advantage of it. I was surprised that employers come to Baruch to interview students for jobs. I would have thought that the interviewee had to go to wherever it is they are applying because I think that shows you’re willing to make an effort and find out how to get to the place and go. After all it is you who wants the job right so you should be the one going places. From this experience I could take away that….. I should look for shorter workshops because the long it is the more unhappy I am with it and that I should look into the STARR center once I’m ready for an internship.

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Career Exploration: Career Planning – Basic Interviewing Techniques

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Roxanne Torres

 

Date: October 29, 2009

Time: 12:50-2:30PM

Location: VC-Multipurpose Room

 

            This Career Planning workshop aims to teach students how to “ace” job interviews. The speaker is a psychologist who gives out a presentation on how to behave, speak, and dress during interviews and how to answer difficult, dreaded questions. The speaker also aims to give us techniques in being—or at least, pretending to be—confident in able to give out a good first impression.

            I selected this workshop because I think that in able to be successful in business, you should be very good at presenting yourself to other people, to be able to communicate clearly and persuasively. It is that first meeting with the job interviewer that counts the most in getting that dream job because that interviewer determines the chance of you landing the title. Therefore, I chose this workshop to learn a few techniques and preparations for sitting through life-determining job interviews.

            The workshop did not take me outside my comfort zone because I came with my friends to join in the fun of mock interviewing each other.

            What’s not fun however is the length of the workshop: TWO long, hungry hours. That’s definitely something I expected because the time was provided in the list of the workshops on the website; however, I was hoping that they would at least serve snacks for those who didn’t get the chance to grab lunch. So despite the productive time of learning about basic interviewing skills, I was distracted away from the presentation by my hunger. If a student has the time before or after the workshop to grab lunch, then I definitely recommend this workshop.

            Besides bringing a snack to school every day, I learned some valuable key tips in having a successful job interview. What especially caught my attention are the tiny details that job interviewers supposedly pay close attention to, like your body language and posture and the outfit you are wearing. During a job interview, I learned to have a good posture, to avoid fiddling, to wear box-shaped dress suits, to not wear distracting jewelry or make any fashion statement whatsoever, to give a firm and very specific hand shake, and most importantly to look at the job interviewer between his or her eyebrows to create the illusion of constant eye contact.

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Community-Global Awareness: Light the Night!

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Roxanne Torres

 

Date: October 17, 2009

Time: 3:30-7:00PM

Location: Forest Park, Woodhaven (my neighborhood!)

 

            Light the Night is an event that aims to help people fighting or survivors that have fought blood cancers, like leukemia and lymphoma. It aims to raise money for blood cancer victims by sending the proceeds and donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Participants walk a few miles at night holding up a red, lighted balloon with their teams or alone to commemorate the event. Participants can also volunteer like me, to be in charge of registering walkers and participants into the event.

            I selected to do this event not only because it was held a block away from where I live, but most especially because of its aim to help cancer patients and survivors, particularly lymphoma. My grandmother is battling with lymphoma, and I will never forget the moment that I found out about it. My grandmother is a second mother to me and to hear of her suffering from blood cancer had hit me hard. I chose this event to somehow celebrate her and her very strong faith at battling lymphoma, just like the many survivors and people who have and had the disease.

            This event definitely did not take me outside my comfort zone. I found my job as a volunteer quite enjoyable especially, with the LC-06 group there. I personally like doing volunteer jobs, but lately I didn’t have time to do any, and Light the Night was a very convenient and special opportunity that I had to take.

            The event did not fail my expectations at all. It was a lively event, and there were actually more participants that arrived and registered than what I expected. I noticed that there were many high school students who came as teams, and many had donated a huge amount, as well. I would definitely, definitely recommend this to another student, regardless of whether he or she knows someone who is or was a cancer victim. One would definitely feel accomplished in the end, despite the long amount of time standing and yelling, “REGISTRATION LINE DOWN THIS WAY!” I know I did.

            The event made me realize the simple ways I can help an individual and the whole—in this case, blood cancer victims and survivors. I noticed the variety of ways people played a part in “donating,” whether through hundreds of dollars in check (which earned them a t-shirt) or single dollar bills or simply, making a remembrance banner and walking along with a red lighted balloon.

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Career Exploration – Workshop #3

Posted on October 29, 2009 by alopez1

The Career Exploration workshop was definitely one of the most crowded and strange workshops of them all. The concept of it was nice – have booth stations concerning specific aspects/programs of Baruch all around a room with people who are experts in that specific category answering any questions you may have. However, I think the fact that we were given a small piece of paper at the entrance and told to get holes punched next to the type of booths we visited turned the workshop into a wild goose chase rather than an opportunity to get your questions answered. Even if you did have a legit question to ask, it was nearly impossible to get an answer seeing as how almost all of the booths were surrounded by rabid students shoving their little papers in administration’s faces instead of legitimately participating. On top of that, most of the administration realized that student’s were just asking them flimsy questions in order to get their holes punched, so they weren’t exactly giving the most detailed, effective answers to questions being asked. My friend Sasha and I literally had to hold on to each other to avoid getting lost in the mass of frenzy people.

I think this workshop should’ve been turned into a sort of question and answer thing where students could ask questions concerning a specific topic and the expert in that topic would answer the student’s question in 5 minutes or less. We would’ve all absorbed information a whole lot more effectively instead of wishing we had a hole puncher in our bags. Everyone just wanted to get their 10 holes punched and go as quickly as possible. Hopefully, the next sort of workshop isn’t as wild!

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Club Fair – Workshop #2

Posted on October 29, 2009 by alopez1

So, the Club Fair was a definite improvement from the Academic Enrichment workshop I attended a few days before. On September 24, 2009, Kali, Madhavi and I waited in line to enter the gym where the fair was taking place. We were already a little late but they took us in pretty quickly and gave us these cool maps of the city, which Kali was particularly excited about. Then we went inside and the entire gym was filled with vertically-lined tables, with banners afloat and signs being held up by club members persuading us to come over and get information. There were tons of people at the fair, and we were excited to walk around and see which clubs were available to join. I saw a few that I liked, including Women in Business and a few dance clubs, but I was disappointed that there weren’t any Latin sororities. Not that I would actually join a sorority – just wanted to get some info. There wasn’t too much variety in the types of clubs offered so I wasn’t really drawn to many. We did get lollipops from a Dominican Club and we all got to try Thai iced tea. It didn’t taste that bad.

Overall, I enjoyed getting the opportunity to see what clubs were available for students to join. The atmosphere at the fair was enjoyable, albeit the loud music being played overhead. We did have to yell at the top of our lungs to hear each other speak, but I guess it’s the small price you pay for a cool ambiance. I look forward to participating in club events in the future!

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Academic Enrichment – Workshop #1

Posted on October 29, 2009 by alopez1

First blog!

So, our first workshop was on September 17, 2009 and it fell under the category of ‘Academic Enrichment’. If I remember correctly, we were supposed to receive information on school policy, how to choose our classes for next semester and the guidelines Baruch students must follow in order to meet their desired major’s qualifications. Kali, Madhavi and I were in the elevator on our way to the workshop and when it got to our floor, we could barely step out due to the mass of students crowding up the large hallway leading to the escalators and another section of the building where the workshop was supposed to be held. The crowd barely made any movement upwards and soon we became restless – we wondered what was going on, what would happen at the workshop, and whether we would get out in time to grab some Popeye’s (our guilty pleasure). Madhavi and I left to the restroom at one point but even by the time we came back, the crowd still hadn’t made any progress and we were then separated from Kali =(. After another long period of waiting, a lady came out from a different hallway and yelled that if we were there for the Academic Enrichment workshop, to follow her. So, about half of the mass turned around to follow the lady. She led us into the hallway she came from and began to look for an empty classroom to put us in. Soon the mass was divided up into various classrooms and we were all still pretty confused as to what was going on. Then, another lady came out to announce that the school hadn’t expected such a huge turnout for the event and apologized for the inconvenience. (Overall, although they may not have been expecting a huge turnout based on previous workshop turnouts in past years, I think administration should have been more prepared for the possibility of a lot of students. Everyone wants to get the workshops done as soon as possible, so faculty should be geared up for huge turnouts all the time! Just a thought.)

Unfortunately, we didn’t receive the information packets we were supposed to get and there weren’t any cookies as promised, but someone from the testing office came to answer student questions. After, everyone got up at once to hand pieces of paper to the lady upfront who, unfortunately for her, was left to sign everyone’s paper (in place of our planner) as proof that we did indeed attend the workshop. Then Kali, Madhavi and I reunited and went to Popeye’s. Yay!

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Third Workshop: Career Exploration

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Kali

This workshop was on October 13th 2009. The day I went I was feeling sick and was not in the mood to do anything. All we did was run around and get a paper hole punched and then we would get the signature. We were suppose to ask questions but most people did not know what to ask or just wanted to get it over with so they could leave for lunch. I went to the workshop because the time was convienent and I needed a signature. I was being pessimistic that day so I really did not take advantage of this workshop. I think the workshop would have been better if less people went to it and went because they wanted to not because they had to…

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