BLOG #3 (DUE EARLY DECEMBER)
Now that your first semester at Baruch College is nearly complete, how was it? Reflect on the following questions, and craft a response of no more than 500 words. Feel free to integrate media into your post!
a. Tell us how your experience at Baruch College has lived up to your expectations? Not lived up to your expectations? Exceeded your expectations?
b. How well do you think your first semester at Baruch College went?
c. What would you do differently during your first semester if you could do it all again?
d. How have you changed since you started at Baruch College?

Stanley S. Litow was the speaker of the seminar Beyond Responsibility: The Role of Citizenship in the 21st Century on December 8th. He is the Vice President of IBM’s Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, and also the President of the IBM Foundation. The main topic of the session was Corporate Social Responsibility, the backbone of IBM’s successful business strategy.

This enrichment workshop was awkward, to say the least. I was the only one not in business attire. On top of that, the woman who was writing my name down to “register” for the seminar asked me,”Are you sure this is the right one you’re looking for?” No,lady, I’m not sure. How many seminars could Stanley S. Litow be conducting at Baruch that night? I’m sure he’s a busy man.

Despite the awkwardness, I found the workshop to be very informative and helpful. I wasn’t even aware of the concept of corporate citizenship until this workshop, and I’m very interested in looking into it.

a. Tell us how your experience at Baruch College has lived up to your expectations? Not lived up to your expectations? Exceeded your expectations?

-My experience at Baruch College has lived up to my expectations because I have the freedom that I always believed would come with college. It has not lived up to my expectations because some of my teachers aren’t as informative as I thought they would be.

b. How well do you think your first semester at Baruch College went?

-I think my first semester went pretty well. I got good grades, and kept up with most of my classes.

c. What would you do differently during your first semester if you could do it all again?

-I would miss less class, and do my work ahead of time instead of at the last minute.

d. How have you changed since you started at Baruch College?

-I have become more independent and responsible since I started at Baruch.

1. How did your community service work help the community? – I participated in a bake sale which helped to raise money for breast cancer awareness.
2. What were your initial reactions upon hearing that you would be engaging in a community service project? – It wasn’t a big deal to me because my high school required that we do 70 hours of community service, so I’m used to it.
3. How did it make you feel to give your time and energy to others? – It always feel good to do something that you know is helping others.

4. What did you learn about yourself, the people around you, and the service site? – I learned that I actually enjoy doing community service, and that there is mutual benefit in helping others.

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? – The best experience was baking because it was enjoyable and I did not have any difficult experiences.

6. How did engaging in this project relate to your education and the larger issues in society? – This bake sale benefits the community and the world because it raises money for an important cause.

7. How did your community service experience relate to the “Leadership and Service” session? – Community service is a huge part of leadership and service.
8. How has your community service experience changed your thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community service work as a whole? – It made me realize that even though you may not want to do it, community service can be a fun and rewarding experience.

9. How has your community service experience impacted you personally? What is the most important thing you learned about yourself throughout this experience? – By doing community service I learned how to be less selfish and how important it is to help your community.
10. Were you satisfied with your experience overall? Why or why not? Yes, I had fun doing it.
11. Do you see yourself staying involved in the community during your college and adult years? Why or why not? -Yes, when I have the time to do so.
12. Sum up your service-learning experience in a one-two-sentence headline:  Help others and you help yourself.

My experience at Baruch College was alright. I was not what I expected it to be because it’s not the college campus life everyone dreams of having when they go away to college. I was disappointed. I came to Baruch with a positive mindset but it got shot down by the lack of people I’ve met and the terrible professors I encountered. I don’t think my first semester at Baruch went that well because most of the time, it was just a lot of work. It felt like high school except with more studying and exams that are actually really important to study for.

If I could do this all over again, I’d probably not even come to Baruch. The college has made me realize what I want exactly and Baruch does not provide that for me. It made me realize that this is not the place for me and that I should be pursuing my dream instead of feeling like I’m waisting my time.

I feel like I have changed since I started at Baruch in a way that I’m not careful with the choices I make and I learned not to settle just because something seemed “safe” and “easy.”

1. How did your community service work help the community? I made cupcakes to sell at a bake sale.
2. What were your initial reactions upon hearing that you would be engaging in a community service project? I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but I love to bake so when i heard that i could bake i got really happy.
3. How did it make you feel to give your time and energy to others? It feels good knowing that i helped people.

4. What did you learn about yourself, the people around you, and the service site? There are a lot of things you could do to help your community even if it’s small like baking cupcakes it still helps.

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? My friends helped me bake so it was just a fun experience i didn’t really learn anything from it…

6. How did engaging in this project relate to your education and the larger issues in society? The money that goes into the bake sale goes towards the cure for aids.

7. How did your community service experience relate to the “Leadership and Service” session? There’s a lot you can o to help a community.
8. How has your community service experience changed your thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community service work as a whole? There’s a lot of things you could do to help and anything really helps small or big.

9. How has your community service experience impacted you personally? What is the most important thing you learned about yourself throughout this experience? In high school i volunteered a lot of with this experience it made me want to help out more with the community.
10. Were you satisfied with your experience overall? Why or why not? yes, because i know i helped.
11. do you see yourself staying involved in the community during your college and adult years? Why or why not? I’ll probably volunteer when i’m older as well but not every day maybe once a month or something.
12. Sum up your service-learning experience in a one-two-sentence headline:  helping bake cookies was fun. helping out is really easy..

Overall I’ve had a pretty good first semester at Baruch College. I feel I have learned a lot and made some very cool kids and friends who I hope to be friends with for a long time. The semester went by pretty fast but that’s okay, its time for a vacation anyways. I thought that college would give me a lot of work but I’m happy to say that wasn’t the case. It seems as if I worked harder in high school then here and I like that, plus Fridays are off. After some hard work I was able to get the classes I wanted and I’m excited for spring. I hope that the people I made friends with stay and touch and everyone enjoy vacation>

As a kid who lived in New Jersey all his life, coming to school to Baruch College in the city was over whelming. Although it is pretty near, I came to the city only once to eat the famous chicken and rice on 53rd and 6th. However ever since then, New York has been my new home. I moved into a little apartment with a friend and have adjusted to the New York way of life. The once tall skyscrapers and the number of yellow cabs don’t surprise me anymore. The bright lights are entertaining and fun to watch, but it isn’t as exciting as it used to be. Many do not excite me as much, but I am actually starting to love it here. The people that I have met are different, unique and enjoy many different things compared to my friends in New Jersey which makes it a whole new experience. I am starting to gain a greater appreciation of the city of New York and its environment. Anyways, I am glad I chose Baruch College although I had the chance to attend schools with tighter communities and big campuses and division 1 sports which I love to watch. The school offers a business oriented foundation with many opportunities and I am appreciate of that, yet alone the fact that I have the opportunity to even be able to receive a college education because I know many are struggling to do so. I feel that a person needs to sit down and relax one day and just be thankful of all the opportunities and chances that he/she was given because hey….It could be worse. All in all, by the time I graduate, I hope to have grown and mature as an independent, responsible young adult. I hope to have a strong network of friends that I can always depend on and truly learn to stay humble amongst everybody.

Community Service Self-Evaluation Assessment
Name: Zev Yefet
Freshman Seminar Course #. IDK
Name of Community Service Organization/Activity: Eco Commission Beach Cleanup

1. How did your community service work help the community? We cleaned up a public beach of all garbage and any junk found
2. What were your initial reactions upon hearing that you would be engaging in a community service project? I was always involved in my ecology commission in highschool so when my only Rabbi called me to join in this years beach cleanup I was very excited about it so I went
3. How did it make you feel to give your time and energy to others? I felt good I guess, it wasn’t much of a chore for me because I do like helping the environment and in school I was the trip commissioner for teh Ecology Commission                                                                                                                                       4. What did you learn about yourself, the people around you, and the service site? Nothing I didn’t already know, just the same old with friends
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 was just happy to be involved it brought back a lot of good times from highschool
6. How did engaging in this project relate to your education and the larger issues in society? I have no clue.
7. How did your community service experience relate to the “Leadership and Service” session? It related to me because I felt some form of leadership, being I’ve already been on these kinds of trips.
8. How has your community service experience changed your thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community service work as a whole? It doesn’t, my views haven’t changed, I’ve always been concerned with the environment.
9. How has your community service experience impacted you personally? What is the most important thing you learned about yourself throughout this experience? I learned that it’s always important to give back to your community and be fortunate for what you have
10. Were you satisfied with your experience overall? Why or why not? I was i guess, it was just a fun event being able to see all my old friends
11. do you see yourself staying involved in the community during your college and adult years? Why or why not? If I get the call I will definitely come through
12. Sum up your service-learning experience in a one-two-sentence headline: Beach Cleanup was so much fun, I was very happy to be able to give back to my community. I was able to see all my friends from highschool and it was really cool. If anyone ever has free time we can all do something like a beach cleanup or a nature walk just let me know.

I could have sworn that just the other day I was asking my mother for permission to ride my bike on the sidewalk. But now I’m asking her for permission to borrow her car. Something isn’t right. I feel like I don’t have time for anything anymore. I used to stay up all night. Now I can barely stay up in some of my classes. There’s no such thing as free time anymore. I don’t have time for myself or anyone else. My days go by so quick and every day is the same. I wake up and get ready for school. Whenever I’m ready to leave, I walk to the train station and get on the train. If I’m lucky maybe only two people will ask me for some money. I mean I don’t really mind giving if I have it, but damn I gotta give somebody something EVERYDAY?!?! What about me? What am I gonna be left with? Anyways, I get to school and everything just becomes a blur. I feel like I’m moving in slow motion and some of my classes just makes everything worse. How my art teacher expects me to not fall asleep when she turns off all the lights and sounds like the guy from the Visine commercials?  And then expects me to know every last thing about art like my last name is Picasso? She should know better. The same things happen every day. Whenever I’m done with my classes for the day, I chill for a little bit then go to practice and only God knows when that’s gonna be over. Well when it is over, I get on the train and head back home. So on average, I end up home at like 10:30 – 11 p.m. Now you tell me where the hell did my day go? So you mean to tell me I’m supposed to come home and open a book? Yeah right, the only thing on my mind at this point is how many hours of sleep I’m getting. And being that I’m lazy doesn’t help the situation either. It’s like I’m always sleepy and I have no idea why. I mean don’t get me wrong I get things done when they need to be done. But I don’t know why whenever I think about work all I wanna do is suck my teeth. Like, there are so many other things that could be done in this world. Like instead of speaking to you guys right now, I could have been in the white house asking Michelle Obama what we’re having for dinner. Seriously. But honestly, I have big dreams and I’ve come too far to let them go. I have a vision and I swear I could see it so clearly. Ten years from now, I’m gonna go to one of those fancy little restaurants where you don’t even understand what they have on the menu and I’m gonna pay the bill for me and my friends and tell the waiter to keep the change. Then, I’m gonna give him a $100 dollar tip just cause I could do that. Ahhh I can see it now. Oh and I’m definitely gonna go back to all my old schools and tell all my teachers and professors “LOOK AT ME NOW!” But anyways, I’ll just do whatever I have to do now to get where I want to go.