Author Archives: Sam

Freshman Seminar Course #: LC06
Name of Community Service Organization/Activity: Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk
1. How did your community service work help the community?

My job at the walk was to encourage and cheer for the walkers, instead of doing any actual walking. I feel that I helped the “against breast cancer” community by showing them that college students have their backs.

2. What were your initial reactions upon hearing that you would be engaging in a community service project?

It was definitely a surprise. I’ve done a lot of community service work during my high school years, I figured I’d have no extra time for CS in college.
3. How did it make you feel to give your time and energy to others?

I wouldn’t call standing and making noise for walkers “giving my time and energy to others”. I am disappointed about the job my peers and I were assigned.
4. What did you learn about yourself, the people around you, and the service site?

I didn’t learn anything about myself or the breast cancer movement as all I did was cheer and I already knew quite a bit about the movement. The service site was chaotic, I had to ask around to find my peers.
5. What stands out as the best and/or most trying experiences that occurred while engaging in your community service project? What did you learn from these experiences?

I learned that the ones against breast cancer are very enthusiastic when it comes attending walks, but what about when it comes to donating money from their pockets?
6. How did engaging in this project relate to your education and the larger issues in society?

The breast cancer walk had no relation to my education. This project relates to one of the biggest issue in our society: people’s lack of knowledge on how the donations are spent. We all believe we’re doing the right thing by participating in walks and donating money, but do you really know where the money goes and how they’re used?
7. How did your community service experience relate to the “Leadership and Service” session?

It shows me a walk without proper leadership could be a waste of man power and time. My peers and I were not led by someone knowledgeable. He gave me the impression that he’s improvising, telling us what to do on the spot.
8. How has your community service experience changed thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community service work as a whole?

It had no impact on my thoughts and attitude toward anything because my role was too small to generate any significance.
9. How has your community service experience impacted you personally? What is the most important thing you learned about yourself throughout this experience?

I believe supporting the walkers by cheering has no educational value.
10. Were you satisfied with your experience overall? Why or why not?

I’m not satisfied. It feels as if it created no impact at all. How would you describe the contribution of someone standing in a designated spot and cheering for others?
11. Do you see yourself staying involved in the community in your college and adult years?

If my involvement makes a significant impact and is efficiently planned, I’ll definitely lend a hand.

Are we all unique, or do we BELIEVE we’re unique? I believe for everything you say you are, hundreds of others have said the same thing. So what keeps us trying to be that one in a million? What is the meaning of life? Why do we exist? Did the chicken or the egg come first? Life is full of mysteries and unexplainables, but frankly we don’t give a damn. We live on and talk about ourselves despite the clicheness.

I’m yet another kid going through college with an open mind for logic & reasoning plus a handful of procrastination. I’m also searching for a dose of confidence. I excel at adopting to changes, but I’d rather keep things unchanged.

We’re surrounded by lies and ignorance. The first Thanksgiving was not a cheery feast with the Natives, they were killed by a plague and the Pilgrims stole the food from them. Is our military really fighting to “protect” our freedom and rights like most of us blindly believe? Or are they fighting to help defense contractors make more money than they’ll ever need (go read about the military industrial complex)? Politicians are using terrorism as an excuse to take away our rights, just take full body scanners/intimate patdowns/racial profiling at the airport as examples. Safety is an entirely different matter, Benjamin Franklin once said “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Our ignorance has made us weak, we’re incapable of defending our rights.

Another subject that irritates me is religion. “God” has blessed us with the ability to reason, so why most never question or doubt their faith? Why do believers choose to blindly believe, deny every debunking factor, and ignore the contradictions in religious texts? I’d say it’s a daring move to waste what God/Allah/etc. purposely gave you.

My name’s Sam and I’m just another freshman at Baruch. I spent half my life in Brooklyn, went to PS97, then IS228 (best years of my childhood, I miss the food fights), and John Dewey for high school. I’m not going to brag about this and that since I’m fairly modest.

I enjoy the outdoors. Admiring the nature’s beauty is a hobby of mine, but only when I’m with friends since when I’m alone, I lack the motivation to do a lot of things. This directly translates to laziness and procrastination, which is why I’m blogging in the last 30 minutes on the due date. I’m trying hard to get rid of this trait of mine, but it’s a tough fight.

Reading or watching anything that has to do with the military (i.e. firearms, fighter jets) is another hobby of mine.

I also like good food, coffee (Starbucks is a ripoff), biking, soccer, cars, black comedy, sitcoms, ’80s music, and video games. One thing that bothers me is the horrendous grammar mistakes people make on the internet. People don’t seem to understand the differences between “your” and “you’re”, “their” and “there”, “where” and “were”, and so on. What’s wrong with them? English isn’t my first language and I don’t have a tough time distinguishing the differences. Surprising, huh?

My top 3 concerns about my freshman year at Baruch College… I believe they’re quite common and obvious.

1. Maintaining a high GPA – Everyone wants to be the top dog, what other explanation is needed here? I just hope my procrastination won’t get in the way.
2. Internships – I need to get myself to the STARR center someday and get a head start. It’s not easy to get a job and I could use some experience/extra money. I’ve never had a real job in my life and I worry about not being able to support myself by the time I graduate and having to leech off my parents.
3. Making friends, networking, and outgoing-ness – Baruch’s a commuters’ college, networking might be difficult unless I really put time into a club/fraternity/etc. Hopefully I’ll find some awesome people to hang with for the rest my life, or at least a close friend to have lunch with everyday?

What will make my college experience different from my high school experience? Read on.

• Longer commute time
• More independence; less support; self reliance
• Maybe a part time job
• Walking by more people I don’t know
• Not having to walk through snow and ice skating rinks to get to school since I’m off for the winter semester
• Lack of sleep

I think my first year at Baruch will make me a more independent person, not exactly more mature (how do you define maturity?), and change my mind about the amount of stupid people that inhabit this planet.
“Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” – Albert Einstein

Ron Paul 2012!