POST#1

The question, “Who do you think you are?” is a broad and rather general one. To ask someone who they think they are is asking that person to dig deep into their souls & pull out whatever is there; to rummage through the values, memories, culture, traditions of their lives and share with us the ingredients in which make them who they are. When asked, “Who do you think you are?”, my only response is… “Well, I’m pretty sure I am Risa Hartsough.” There is no other way of explaining it.
Being who I am (Risa Hartsough, if you did not know already), I have little concerns, little worries, little fears, little sadness. What one considers a concern I may consider an annoyance, or something expected. I always expected a lot of work for my freshman year at Baruch. I also expected crowded halls, packed elevators, and possibly showing up to class late. I expected to get lost, know absolutely no one in my classes, fast-pace professors, and to miss my friends back at home. All that I expected were never concerns. Concerns do not concern me. Do your best, try your best, achieve your best, succeed your best. That is pretty much the way I handle what some may call “concerns”. I call concerns “daily life challenge’s we all have to face no matter where we go, what we do, or who we are so we may as well just go about our business.”
A positive outlook on life, hard work & an open-mind will make my experience at Baruch College different from when I attended high school. In high school, you know all your classmates and in some cases, grew up with them your whole life. You are comfortable asking the teacher questions, they take the time to get to know you, and you know that all your peers know and love you. Not knowing the people around me and getting the special attention from the professors is definitely different, and has helped to make me a more independent person. If I don’t understand something I look it up, whereas in high school I would just attended an extra help class, or ask a friend. Tests and quizzes are based on the assigned reading, as opposed to what we learned in class. Long story short: do your reading & be dependent on yourself for your education. I’d say that is quite a different experience than back at Patchogue-Medford High School.
My first year of college: still a strange term to get used to. I’m in college? I’m living on my own? Just those two situations alone can change a person, let alone the both of them combined. I have already begun my transformation into an adult. Besides not being financially stable, I do as an adult does. I work an 8 hour day (of schooling, not in the workforce), I do my own food shopping, laundry, I take responsibility for the work I have to get done, as well as maintaining a clean household. Did I do all this before? No, of course not. I was a spoiled high school student whose mom did all of that for her (besides the school work). I have changed into a more independent individual, and for that I love college. If I never had the opportunity to go away I would not know how to live on my own or do such things for myself.
Thank you, Baruch College, for helping to transform me into a responsible adult and aiding me in my journey to independence row.