Author Archives: Roche92

My first semester at Baruch met my expectations. I was able to make friends in school, attend events, and study for exams. I have also improved my networking skills by joining school organizations and volunteering for walks. Furthermore, I enjoyed my classes for the most part. Communications improved my speech skills. For example, I was able to format and deliver an elevator pitch in front of forty strangers during a workshop with Ascend. Afterward, I received compliments. My audience was hooked by the content and they were surprised with my delivery, since I did not sound nervous at all. My heart was actually racing. Anthropology and English class greatly opened my mind and made me ask questions about identity. I found myself in discussions after class with friends regarding religion, culture, and gender. I made new friends that way as well. For example, in philosophy class, the person sitting next to me was Indian and in English class we were discussing the Brahman myths. So, I decided to say hello and I asked the girl sitting next to me if she was Hindu and she said yes, so then I asked her what she makes of the Brahman myths. Now, we are good friends who talk about television shows and tell jokes in the beginning of philosophy class. I am doing well in philosophy too. I love philosophy since it teaches you that knowledge is gained from questioning everything, therefore nothing is certain. Then there is calculus. I must take this because I want to get in the Zicklin School of Business. But, in all I expect no less than a 3.6 GPA. I aimed for a 4.0 at the start because my philosophy is, if you aim high, you will achieve more than if you aim low and settle for less. In high school, I did not try to get an A, but I did. However, college is different, and my mindset changed. I took my courses seriously, participated, and did my work. I would not do anything differently if I could because what is done is done. I must not go off tangent in the years to come. I will stay focused.

I only went to this museum because it was mandatory. The theme of Himalayan art did not excite me because I prefer history museums and modern art museums that host a variety of works. But, as soon as I walked into the museum, I felt at ease. The museum was small and cozy. There were not many people. I was able to view the displays individually and analytically, provided that there were benches to sit on in front of the pieces. I do not practice Hinduism or Buddhism, but I was able to relate the paintings to what I had learned in history classes and to my life. I practice yoga and its forms stem from Hinduism as I noticed when I looked at the paintings of the Gods. I took note of their hand gestures and their seated positions. Furthermore, in the paintings and woven pieces, there is repetition in those titled “lineage…” It is not about family, but it is about teachers and their students. Lastly, I am always amazed to see artifacts dated back as far as three hundred years ago. Before Western domination, the Eastern Empires ruled.

I have been attending many career exploration sessions at Baruch throughout the semester. Since this session was going to be hosted by an advisor of the Starr Career Development Center, I wanted to pay extra attention. However, in part, because we sat in the back and there was no microphone, I relied more on the media presentation.

I found it useful that the advisor told us how we can research career fields on vault.com and other websites. But, overall, the workshop was repetitive of what I already learned attending other events. Golden Key had a resume workshop session during club hours the previous week and their presentation covered everything. Members of the honor society were able to review our resumes as well at the end of the session. Also, I found it easier to ask them questions and I was able to learn about their experiences. As for the mandatory career exploration workshop, I had hoped that she would address our situation of being first semester freshman pertaining to how we can start finding internships. It would have been useful if she had told us to attend networking events outside of what the Starr center offers.

Recently, there was a human resources event that had an actual human resource director from Friedman LLP answer our questions and elaborate more on what we are all told. For example, in the workshop, the advisor told us to write a thank you letter, but the human resource director, Jeff, told us how to write one and when we should write one. Jeff advised us not to write one if we do not know how to write.

Basically, I was disappointed with the workshop since, by individual research online, I could find out everything that was lectured to us. It should have been more practical. It should have been a smaller setting, not four classes packed into a room that did not have enough seats, so it could have been more comprehensive in a “question and answer” type of format.

The panel discussion was useless. I respect the people who spoke, as individuals, but I was not able to follow any of the discussion points because there were technical difficulties (the microphone’s volume was put on low) and the moderator had distracting mannerisms (he had his hand on his face when the other panelists spoke). Furthermore, the discussion was unrehearsed since some panelists had more time to speak than others and the professor of Black and Hispanic studies repeated the story she told us on convocation day.

On that note, I learn more about identity in my introduction to anthropology course. Being Filipino, I find it hard to identify myself with a particular culture. The Philippines is as diverse as Baruch College. I look like a blend of Spanish and Chinese, but I was born in New York, raised in Australia and Papua New Guinea, and went back to the city when I was seven. While living in Papua New Guinea, I attended an international school full of ex-patriots. By “ex-patriots,” I am referring to people who have left their motherland.  Therefore, when asked, I am hesitant to say that I am Filipino since I do not know the language nor am I familiar with the culture.

I identify myself as an individual who can adapt. I do not want to be defined by culture, race, sex, or religion, but as a thinking being.

Most people would describe me as a weird person, but I must correct their rhetoric. I am weird in a sense that I have a cornucopia of traits that makes me a unique individual. I’m smart, but can downplay my intellect. I love history and politics, but never do I ever want to become a politician. I enjoy intellectual debates and I am unafraid of admitting that I am wrong since no one is perfect. Also, I like being around positive people and being the person who can turn your frown upside down. And, as much as I love to play sports, I love to eat as well. When placed in an unfamiliar environment, such as on the first day at Baruch College, I can be a quiet person, but that doesn’t mean I am drifted in thought. I’m an analytical person who thinks that it is best to observe my surroundings before making my presence known.

I don’t want to make an impression that I am a selfish person. If you see that my class readings are annotated accordingly or that I make a Harvard style outline based on class notes and outside research, I am not trying to prove anything to anyone. Unlike high school, college is voluntary–you pay to learn. Therefore, before classes started, I realized that I must up the ante and put more effort into this task at hand (getting a college degree). One of my goals for freshman year is to achieve the 4.0 grade point average. To most of my friends, just being able to plow through their coursework is daunting. But, I attended a high school (Brooklyn Technical H.S.) that has taught me that the key to success is being able to set yourself apart from the rest. In other words, it is better to set high expectations for yourself and strive to accomplish those goals. Even if you fall short, you will end up achieving more than you would if you had aimed low.

I would be lying if I said that my first full week was a breeze, but it was not “mission impossible.” I wasn’t worried about making new friends. I was more concerned with time management when just a day after I received a syllabus for each class, I had to have read sixty plus pages of size eight, single spaced, and times new roman font, give perfect solutions for calculus homework, and research for philosophy. “They won’t hold your hand in college,” is what most of my high school teachers said.

In high school, I had a ten o’clock bedtime, I never used a planner, and procrastinated a lot. However, I wasn’t a bad student (I finished with a ninety five-ish cumulative average and attained AP Scholar with Distinction), I just feel like I didn’t exhibit my full potential.
Freshman year is a clean slate. I’m more organized, determined, and confident. I must begin my college years on a good note.