Don't FRO Around

Before going to the convocation at Baruch, I remember looking over the schedule I received in the mail with my friend who was also attending with me. We were both dreading the idea about wasting the whole day there, sitting through so many speeches which we thought were going to be useless and boring. One of the first things that caught our eyes was the event about the whole “sex” idea. At first we laughed and joked about it thinking it’d be stupid. I remember how bummed we were knowing that we were in different blocks away from each other. We were sad at the fact we couldn’t be bored together. When I was walking to the lecture hall with my FRO class, I saw my friend step out and he stopped by to talk to me. He was joking around saying, “I hope you’re ready to learn how to say no when you’re getting raped.” I laughed and shrugged it off, hoping that there would be service in the hall so that I could text as a last resort if I ever got bored.

Stepping out of the hall after the speech had ended, I was quite amazed. I was thinking, “Wow, that was pretty interesting and fun to sit through.” It possibly was one of the best moments of that day. The man who presented the speech was a good speaker, especially in front of a whole lecture hall with kids. I think it’s pretty hard to maintain the interest and attention of kids, knowing that we just came out of high school. No offense to anyone, but we all know someone who’s still immature. It was pretty late in the day already once we got to the lecture, but our public speaker caught our attention and kept it. He accomplished his overall purpose and made it interesting throughout the whole time. It was obvious that his jokes were sincerely funny, and that it didn’t come off like he was trying too hard. He was enthusiastic throughout the whole speech, and even interacted with the audience. He maintained eye contact the whole time, and came off as confident. I think our public speaker did an excellent job; he deserves nothing but the highest scores on our rubric.

The best public speaker that i could remember recently was Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Mr. Markowitz spoke at my High School graduation held in Brooklyn College in front of a lot of people. Speaking at an emotional graduation in front of hundreds of rowdy seniors must not be an easy task but Marty stepped up to the plate. In his speech he mentions how he is small in stature but that never stopped anyone from hearing him (he spoke very loudly). Aside from being able to hear him well Marty was actually very funny during his speech poking fun at the principal as well as Anthony Wiener (his scandal has just broken out). This of course kept our attention and in between these funny moments he spoke truly from the heart and captivated us by recounting his life and how he was similarly in our position and how hard work and a level head propelled him to great success. He made you feel important because even though he heads a borough so massive he found time in that schedule to really dig deep and find just the right speech to put us in a proper frame of mind. I had a lot uncertainty and anxiety going into this graduation but after his words of wisdom i felt so much calmer about the whole thing. And right at the very end Marty ended his speech by whipping out a lightsaber and wishing the force to be with us (star wars refernce). I found it extremely comical for a political figure to do this at a graduation and it was a perfect ending to an awesome speech.

Who am I? This question should be easy, seeing as I know me better than anyone else. But it really is not that clear cut. I guess we start with basics I’m a 6′ 3″  18 year old Polish American kid from Bensonhurst Brooklyn. I mention my height because that’s what all people notice first about me. I really am the average Brooklyn guy in all senses, i love basketball and all sports for that matter, love my friends to death, and also am a fairly religious Catholic. I have never really been shy in my life which is funny seeing as my mother is a very quite and reserved women. I have an opinion on everything and have no trouble voicing it, granted it gets me in trouble every now and then =X. To sum myself up im just a happy go lucky person that loves to make people laugh but aside from being a goofball I’m also a very ambitious person looking to make something of myself =). My biggest concerns for college is GPA, time management, and obviously to a lesser degree parties and fun. All three concerns are of course in my control, if I stayed focused and on top of my shit ill have time to do everything. Baruch differs from my High School in both good and bad ways. I loved Midwood High School because everyone knew me, my basketball team, and i had alot of people i loved in that school. All this of course made it hard to leave but now that I’m in Baruch I am starting to assimilate my self to its culture. College offers freedom but also gives you a hell of alot more shit to worry about.

The last public speaker I saw was probably back during freshman convocation when we saw some guy talk about sex. I decided not to talk about him since most likely everyone going to.  Instead, I’ll talk about the speaker at my graduation. I don’t remember his name, but he use to be a senator for New York and he talked about the hardships he went through in order acquire the position he holds today. He talked about how it took him eight years to get his degree, since he had to work part-time to afford it. I found his dedication admirable and inspirational since it shows how much work one man can do in order to reach his dreams. If I had to rate this guy as an effective speaker, I’d give him a 4 in each category since he met the goals with extraordinary results. Now what makes a public speaker good? I believe if the public speaker has adequate eye contact, and speaks clearly while getting straight to the point, then that alone is enough to make him an efficient public speaker.

So who do I think I am? That’s a pretty deep question for a blog post, but I’ll try my best to answer it. Let’s see…if I had to describe myself, I’d say I’m funny, positive, calm and simple. I don’t like to over think things, and I don’t like to search for the deeper meaning in things which I know have no deeper meaning. (e.g., in English and Theater class). Other than that, I think I’m pretty average. I like gaming just as much as the next guy, and I like hanging out with my friends whenever possible.  Now what are my top three concerns? Well, to be honest I can’t really think of any so I’ll just roll with what everyone else said:  my major, GPA, and student life I guess. How is my experience in Baruch different from my high school experience? Well, to start things out, at Baruch I have a lot more freedom. Between my classes, I can choose to go out, have some lunch and hang out with friends, which is nice. I also get the same feeling I get from my high school since many students from my high school, Brooklyn Tech, decided to attend Baruch, so I see them around a lot. How do you think your first year of college will change you? To be honest, it probably won’t. It’s not like I’m going to find my lifelong passion during freshman year. I don’t plan on going through any personality changes either, so I don’t think my first year of college will have any major changes on me. Well that concludes this blog post.

I would say that I’m a happy person. I don’t like to let the stupid things get to me and bring me down. There is so much stuff going on in the world that it just seems dramatic to whine and complain about something so miniscule. I would also say I’m pretty awkward and it’s hard for me to be mean to someone. I feel bad for people really easily and I always try to justify their actions if they do something stupid.

My top 3 concerns about freshman year all revolve around academics. I’m freaking out about my GPA. I want to actually do well in college and not slack off like I did in High School. It seems like it was easier for me to not study/do homework in High School. Now with college, it is important to keep up with the readings and actually do the work. Secondly, I’M SO FRIGGIN NERVOUS ABOUT MY MATH CLASS!!!!!!!!!! It sucks to have the feeling that I’m going to fail the final when I only had about 4 classes of it so far. Thirdly, I’m pretty sure it is only a matter of time before I faint from walking up the escalators!

Baruch is really different than my High School. I chose it specifically for that reason. I went to a JFK High School on Long Island and my school was 95% white. There was no socio-economic diversity. I also chose Baruch because it was in New York City. There is so much more independence that goes along with going to school in the city. You learn to become street smart and other skills that you can’t really learn on a campus.

My first year of college has already been so exciting. I’m meeting so many new people from so many different backrounds. I think that it will definitely change me in a positive way!

The last public speaker I listened to was at the Diversity challenge presentation held for freshman the day before classes officially began. Although he was not the only person I heard speak that day, he was the one that stood out the most to me due to the manner in which he caught the attention of the class. He used a lot of body language in order to catch our eye and constantly involved us, plus he made sure to make eye contact with about everyone in the room; by doing this our attention would not wander off and I found myself paying more attention to the matters he was discussing. He also used a wide variety of examples which probably helped people feel they could relate to what was being spoken of and of course we would grasp the concept better instead of trying to relate to something that had nothing to do with us. He also made us participate in a several activities that gave reason to the topic we were dealing with, which was the different perspective individuals have on the same thing. Of course we’ll understand that people view the same thing differently a lot better if we see if it happen in front of us, which is what the speaker accomplished through a paper folding activity. Plus he dealt with a topic that is very close to all of us, being diverse. And after all, we are in a extremely diverse environment everyday when we come to school and are surrounded by different languages, customs, and traditions constantly. He reminded us that there are views outside of our own and we must respect those of others unlike us.

Who do I think I am? Hmm that is a question I ask myself every single day because who I think I am is the way other people will look at me. You can only be who you make yourself out to be. I think I am for the most part outgoing, funny when I want to be or maybe sometimes not so funny depending on your sense of humor, I feel I have what it takes to be a leader, I am brave, and also smart but lazy too. I think I am a kind person and most important a caring, loving boyfriend. My three top concerns I have about my freshman year here at Baruch are being able to maintain a high GPA while getting used to this new transition from high school to college level work, being able to get through the long commute back and forth to school everyday without going crazy! haha, and also not only making time for studying but also time to spend with my girlfriend, friends and family.

My Baruch experience will make it a different experience because for one my old high school was all boys so having girls in the classrooms is different, also I used to have to wear a uniform everyday so being able to wear what I want is awesome. There is so much more freedom in college versus high school, it is refreshing to have control over your own life instead of being told what to do your whole life. I feel it will change me for the better. This year is up to me so it is going to make me a responsible hard working individual. Hopefully my years spent here will pay off and I will become a success in life.