Author Archives: JOHN YUKSEKOL

When I walked into the auditorium, I expected the workshop to be very boring and I happened to be right about it.  It was hard to pay attention with everyone around you either texting on their phones or talking to the person next to them.  I could barely hear any of the panelists except for Charles Li.  I was very intrigued by his discussion on identity.  Charles Li basically discussed how our identities shape our reality and anyone can shape their identity based on their actions.  This thought made me reminisce on the “Bitter Sea” and how Li himself had to establish his own identity while going through many hardships and long travels.  Overall, I found Charles Li too be very genuine and inspiring.  Charles Li was the only panelist I was able to thoroughly comprehend and I appreciated his discussion.  It felt like the other panelists were speaking another language from where I was sitting so I found their discussions to be dull and torturous.  Maybe torturous is too harsh a word but besides for Charles Li, I did not enjoy the Academic Enrichment workshop.

Although I did find the SCDC presentation to be boring, I definitely learned some significant information about what the Starr Career Development program has to offer and the advantages I would gain by participating in this association.  The SCDC can assist me finding internships, revising and enhancing my resume, and providing me with mock interviews which are all essential when I go to pursue a part-time or a full-time job.  I was very grateful to have learned about what-to-say and what-to-wear at a job interview because I have never interviewed for a job.  In addition, the presentation covered body language which can have a vast effect on your first impression and even something that seems silly such as the cologne/perfume one wears.  I would advise that next time they find a better way of presenting the information because talking about job interviews is not the most intriguing topic and it was very hard to stay awake during the presentation but overall, it was very informative.

What is Important to Me?

Family, friends, school.  These are the first thoughts that flood my mind when I am asked what is important to me.  My name is John Yuksekol and I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.  My mother is Austrian and my father is Turkish; how unique!  I am proud of my diverse ethnicities because not many people can classify themselves with those same ethnicities.  Family must always come first and is what I find to be the most significant attribute in life.  Subsequently, academics have great importance to me.  Throughout my four years in high school, I maintained a 96 transcript average, so it demonstrates that I take my studies very seriously.  I believe what makes my high academic standing even more significant is that throughout my years in high school I participated on the varsity baseball team.  All of your achievements should have importance to you like they do to me.  So far, my greatest achievement was to have success in both my academics and baseball while, at the same time, being devoted to both.  Although I enjoy playing baseball, I am forced to eat, sleep, and breathe baseball.  Since I was the captain of the baseball team in high school, baseball helped me develop leadership abilities that can help me succeed in posterity.  Furthermore, excelling in school and being devoted to my championship team provided me with a great challenge and I take great pleasure in facing challenges.  In Baruch, one challenge I have faced is keeping up with the assigned readings.  Although I am very busy with baseball and work, I “make time” to assure I am able to stay up-to-date with the assigned readings.  I am not going to even discuss the commute because I hate to even think about it.  My social life is essential to me.  Associating with my friends takes away all the stress that is built up from school, baseball, and my family.  I cannot stress enough how much my close friends mean to me.  Without them, I might have gone crazy from all the stress that life has to offer.  What I am beginning to learn in college and what I am finding to be very imperative is being sympathetic towards others opinions.  I must be able to accept other people’s views even though they oppose my beliefs.  Listening and digesting the information that other people provide will only make me knowledgeable.  Lastly, I believe dedication is the most essential quality anyone can possess.  In order to be successful in life, I must dedicate myself to whatever it is I am pursuing.  Whether it is a baseball championship or a job, I must dedicate my time and effort efficiently in order to achieve my goal.  When I stepped onto Shea Stadium for my baseball championship game, a feeling that words can’t describe overwhelmed me.  This was what I dedicated my time and effort towards and it paid off.  I cannot stress enough to all of you how important all of this information I have stated are to me.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to establish an identity.  It makes you unique, different from everyone that surrounds you.  It is essential one builds on their identity over time.  I will begin with all the information about my identity I can reveal to you at this time.

My name is John Yuksekol.  I was born and raised in Brooklyn by my Turkish father and Austrian mother, so as you can see i’m quite diverse.  I am eighteen years old and I find myself to be very sociable and generous.  I eat, sleep, and breathe baseball.  I was a spoiled child in my high school.  Since I was the varsity baseball captain for two years, I have had everything handed to me on a silver platter in high school.  I should not be stereotyped for a typical jock who underachieves academically (Although it may seem like it, I am not trying to come off as arrogant and egotistical).  I maintained a 96 transcript average throughout my 4 years in high school.  I am constantly working out at the gym.  The gym is where all my stress from my baseball team, my family, and my school is released.

My first concern is coming to Baruch unaccompanied by any of my friends.  Entering Baruch for the first time, I did not know anybody who attended this college.  At my high school, which was very overcrowded, I knew about 75% of the school’s population.  It was very hard at first walking around the school and recognizing no one that I was familiar with.  The learning communities have helped me meet new people and make me more comfortable in college.  My second concern are the professors.  In high school, all my teachers told me terrible things about the professors.  My teachers said that the professors just lecture fast and do not stop for you at all and they are hardly willing to help you if you fall behind.  This made me extremely nervous about how I would be able to adapt to the work environment.  So far, I have not experienced anything my teachers have warned me about and that has been a relief.  My third concern is the tests.  In high school, all the test were simple, common sense examinations.  I do not know what to expect from these college exams and that frightens me a bit.

One essential thing that I believe will be different from my high school experience besides what I stated in the second paragraph is that I am going to have to be more independent now.  In high school, I had all my friends and we would all work together in order to excel.  The main purpose of college is to help me pursue a career of my choice and in the end, it is going to benefit me more than anyone else.

I believe my first year at college will help me improve my communicational skills and it will open me up to different fields of studies that I can begin to inquire about to see if any of these studies will be the right career choice for me.  Finally, Baruch College will open me up to new views of the business world in which I have yet to inquire about.