Monthly Archives: November 2010

Adam Ibrahim

lc22 learning community

3 minute monologue.

If there is one thing that i like in this world, it is being able to do what i want, when i want to do it. I like having the capability to snowboard, to drive a fast car at a fast pace, and to enjoy the company of other people on a regular basis. I understand that being able to to what one wants, however, is symptomatic of having enough money to dispel time consuming responsibilities that are not preferable. That is why i am going to college; so that if i should not have a genius idea to take over the world as mark zuckerburg did, i can at least have a place to start. That brings me to what i hate, which is coincidentally a lot of what college has entailed so far. Constraints, such as writing papers that i have no interest in or blogging on a website as a prerequisite to completing a course that yields no credit, define the most prominent stresses in my life. I wouldn’t consider myself a role model per say, however i would consider myself inspirational to some people that i am acquainted with. This is because i have a way of making some people do things which are productive, whether thats by dragging uninterested friends to the library, or by telling a friend that he will never drive an m3 if he doesn’t start going to wall street club. I also create an example for some friends by doing things that i hate, because it is the more responsible thing to do in a situation. These actions usually consist of blogging, going to work, or writing a paper.

I learned about the two types of resumes: the chronological one and the functional one. Previously, I did not really know about the functional one. I have always written my resumes using the chronological format. Also, I learned what to wear so that someone applying for a job does not overdue it by wearing too much jewelry or perfume but also looked prepared with their business attire. They had good interview tips as well. I learned to send a thank-you letter twenty four hours after the interview or mail the letter if I need more time. They told us we have to “sell ourselves” to the company and tell them why we would add to their company. I think the “Personal Pitch” is a great way of practicing this. You should take 30 seconds to 2 minutes to speak about yourself and your talents. I thought this exercise would be useful to do before interviews.

During the Career Exploration workshop, I was introduced to the STARR Career Development Center, which I’ve visited before and knew most of the details and points made during this workshop. I already had done and made my own resume before and it was of the similar format such as the Chronological Format. But I learned about the other format, the Functional Format, which seemed similar but was not. This format was different in the sense that you don’t list your experiences in the order of achievement or experience but instead you list the skills and tools (experience) that you have learned or have gained, and that you can still use in your future career. I was also introduced to the requirement to write a “thank you” letter after your interview with the recruiter, I’ve done these letters unconsciously after my interviews for college applications. But now their fixed habits to my routine in applying for a new job or position. I was also introduced to the “Personal Pitch”, and as stated by the worksheet given, “A Personal Pitch is a thirty second to two minute long infomercial about yourself. It should contain the most important and relevant information that you want the listener to know about you.” And to me the personal pitch was a must, something that I will added onto my future interviews as a way to sell my skills and expertise. I know that this information that I learned will be helpful and I will use the different services provided at the STARR Career Development Center, such as the mock interviews, résumé advice and career opportunities.

The panel at the Academic Enrichment workshop consisted four very diversely experienced individuals. These individuals were Charles N. Li the author of The Bitter Sea, Katrin Hansing a faculty member of Baruch College and a Associate Professor of Black and Hispanic Studies, Tashi Chodron a spokeswomen for the Tibetan Resettlement Project and finally Bruce Payne a director and teacher of programs in leadership and the arts at Duke University, respectively in the order of appearance. The panel discussion was conducted by having each panel from left to right introduce themselves and their stories, then the question and answer portion proceeded. The questions that were dealt with in this discussion were all related to the idea of identity and diversity, for example, all four panel members were of some short mixed origin including the moderator Stan Altman, a Greek Jew. The questions were interesting because they made me think about the friends that I had who were also of mixed decent and what they have to go through in their future and maybe what my kids may have to go through in a future where their identity is not clear. The workshop was what I expected because as I read the paper given out during Freshman Seminar, “What is an Enrichment Workshop?”, the description for the Academic Enrichment workshop fit what I saw during the discussion, the discussion of identity and this was what I expected as we in our freshman seminar class did the same, wrote about our identity.

Nikola Vulicevic
Freshmen Seminar
Monologue

I enjoy my times with my friends; I love playing volleyball; as I played for my school’s volleyball team and managed the school’s girl volleyball team. I enjoy going to movies, from scary to comedies and I enjoy playing handball as a result of the want to be competitive and play my friends. I enjoy the random conversations that I may have with my friends and how these conversations make us laugh most of the time. The least favorite thing in my life is arguments. I know no one likes arguing but if I ever get into an argument, it’s usually a verbal one, I always treat it as if it’s a court case, I always present legal proof and I mean legal proof. I never based my evidence on just the word of the mouth but on actual items that I can use and show to the opponent. I always never liked the moments when people never understood my situation and I was the only person not blind in the society. If I was to identify myself, I would say, I’m not your typical white boy, I am not a drinker, all those typical stuff. But I believe I am a awesome person to hang out with, I am open with everyone, I love doing new things and I love just having fun. I also identify myself as a role-model for my brothers because I am the first generation in my family to go to college and my brothers always looked up to me as an example or destination in their lives. My parents are the most important people in my life because they proved me with all these opportunities and without them, I won’t be here. Baruch has been a very amazing experience so far, I really am enjoying the environment, friendship and activities but I can’t say the same for the work and readings we have to do, especially the readings for sociology and the papers for philosophy but I’m doing well so far and no late papers or bad papers.

I love challenges but what I love more is over-coming the challenges.