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Name: Gartim Li

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? I encourage the runners. They ran for Breast Cancer victims.

2. What were your initial reactions upon hearing that you would be engaging in a community service project? After spending years in High school as a volunteer, I regret saying I did not feel unusual warm bursts of pride, adrenaline for the unknown or anything dramatically special. However, I knew I would enjoy it.

3. How did it make you feel to give your time and energy to others? I was happy I could help.

4. What did you learn about yourself, the people around you, and the service site? It’s very cold.

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? Getting the emotions of support across. I really want them to know we are there to support them, and what they are doing.

6. How did engaging in this project relate to your education and the larger issues in society? We should support each other in times of need.

7. How did your community service experience relate to the “Leadership and Service” session? We see leaders.

8. How has your community service experience changed thinking, attitudes, and actions towards others, yourself, the community, and community service work as a whole? Not exactly.

9. How has your community service experience impacted you personally? What is the most important thing you learned about yourself throughout this experience? It did not change my life.

10. Were you satisfied with your experience overall? Why or why not? I was satisfied because I could help. I also had a chance to meet up with my friends.

11. Do you see yourself staying involved in the community in your college and adult years? Why or why not? I do, because I have been involved for a better part of my life, and will continue to do so. I think it’s what we should do. I enjoy knowing people want what I give.

12. Sum up your service-learning experience in a one-or two-sentence headline. “To define a community”

I’m not a punctual person. Usually you’ll see me rushing to places. When I say, “Meet at 10”, I will probably be out my house by 10. When I say I’m at a certain street, I’m actually a few blocks away. I always assume that I have an extra few minutes to do a million things. When this happens, I think of myself as a superhero, saving myself time by squeezing in 10 errands in an unreasonable amount of time. School? Yeah, I try to get to school on time, it’s always either I’m on time or a minute or two late. Proud? Not very much. I should work on my time management… maybe tomorrow.

I am one of the many new freshman’s at Baruch college. I was definitely set on attending this school, and had no other preferences because I knew i was going for a business major; accounting most likely. Math has always been my strongest subject, and numbers have been simpler to me than language. However, in order to do well I must master both, which is one of the greatest issues I have for my first semester, considering that I have no math classes and all other classes require literary skills. I am trying my best and really hope I do well in these classes. I really strive to get a degree here and achieve a succcesfull career.

My whole life I have seen my parents work so hard to have the position that they have in their careers now. They have shown me that you have to work hard to get what you want. Their success and work ethics inspires me to make something of myself, in order to obtain what I want in life, and take pride in what I do.

When I arrived to the breast cancer walk, it was quite early and cold. Although this event did not have the most favorable conditions, the environment and the people inspired my mood. It felt great and motivating to be apart of a greater purpose with an enormous of people who are for the same cause. It also gave a vibe of unity and hope, for the fight against cancer. I will definitely  be planning on attending the next walk for breast cancer.

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.

I am a Chinese girl that grew up in Brooklyn. I have no siblings but I didn’t grow up to be spoiled. I am a student at Baruch, a friend who’s all ears, and a daughter. I look forward to doing well at Baruch. I have been in Chinese school for ten years now, although, that may seem like a long time, I don’t think I can win an argument against kids in China. I enjoy going swimming over the summers. I am not afraid to try new things, but I don’t always succeed like in ice skating. However, if I have to sit down and think about who I truly am, I don’t think I have the right words for it just yet, I guess I have to continue through life to get to that answer.

I woke up late that morning. I didn’t know to get there. I was in such a panic, I didn’t even have time to eat breakfast. I got directions and rushed out of the house. My dad came along since I don’t go on the subway that much. This is my first year riding the subway by myself. While going there we ended up getting lost on the subway. After a while we finally figured out where we had to go. We ended up taking a taxi so I wouldn’t be late. It was amazing how many people showed up. It really showed that we all truly care about the health of others, and that we really want everybody to keep smiling and staying healthy. I had a lot of fun cheering everyone on.

Amy Wang

LC06

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk

1. How did your community service work help the community?

This community service event helps to raise the awareness of breast cancer. The event was to help make the the people who were helping to raise money for the event by walking to get food, water, and cheers. Thereby helping to motivate all of the people who came out to volunteer and the walkers.

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

I thought that this would be an interesting event because I remember walking in this event a few years ago in Prospect Park, now I get to be on the other side and help motivate these walkers.

3. How did it make you feel to give your time and energy to others?

I did not mind  giving my time and energy to others because the event is motivating to me and the others. It also helps to make me feel better about myself.

4. What did you learn about yourself, the people around you, and the service site?

I learned that although the weather was cold on that day I and the other people were really happy and hyper and actively helping out around the entire service site.

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 thing is that we can help to motivate the walkers because of their great efforts in the cold weather and the most trying was the weather since it was really cold. I learned that the motivation to raise awareness makes the event runs stronger than ever.

6. How did engaging in this project relate to your education and the larger issues in society?

Engaging in this project shows that it is not just about making money throughout our daily lives. This is one of the larger, and a pressing issue in society that needs to be solved in order to help people live longer and more satisfying lives.

7. How did your community service experience relate to the “Leadership and Service” session?

This community service experience teaches us that the leaders needed to really organize the entire event so it can run smoothly and that more walkers can get snacks and water and cheers to motivate them to make their trip around Central Park. For this event it was also necessary to have people committing to the services, in this case, us to help make sure the materials actually reach the walkers.

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?

This experience is not the first community service event is not the first one I have engaged in therefore my thinking and attitudes haven’t change, I still believe that volunteering is something that is very necessary in modern day society. As for actions to others, myself, and community service I think that people should treat others with more care because then there can be more improvements. For community service in general I think that it is important for us to know that it is very important and it comes in many forms so everyone can participate.

9. How has your community service experience impacted you personally? What is the most important thing you learned about yourself throughout this experience?

This community service made me feel better about myself and has taught me that the Breast Cancer volunteering is not limited to just walking but aiding the walkers too. The most important thing that I have learned is that when I am not walking in the event I should wear a thicker jacket.

10. Were you satisfied with your experience overall? Why or why not?

I am satisfied because it helps people and makes me feel better about myself.

11. Do you see yourself staying involved in the community during your college and adult years? Why or why not?

I would hope to be able to complete more of these activities and be able to put this into my busy schedule. However, I definitely do not mind doing another one.

12. Sum up your service-learning experience in a one-or two-sentence headline.

Volunteering to Light More Candles

I am my family. Every thought, moral, and interest comes from them. I am a mutt between extremities of personalities. My father and brother are extreme type A personalities; my mother and sister, type B. I was bombared with so many qualities at once. I am the baby and I can honestly say that I did get the most attention-from every single person in that house. My siblings take care of me like no other and they are my favorite people in the world-my role models. My brother taught me how to be happy. He taught me to keep my head up through anything and that absolutly anything is possible no matter what hand your dealt. My sister taught me how to be responsible. She is always there to anchor me down and tell me where I went wrong or went a little bit too far.

My clash of personalities do make me contradict myself all the time and I hate it. I’m indecisive, but I can’t handle having only one option. I lack confidence, but sometimes it seems as though I shoulda been an actress. I’m curious. I need to know what everything is like for myself. I learn from my own mistakes, not others. I am pretty stuborn that way. My biggest regrets are not that I’ve done something wrong, but that I didnt do anything at all.

My goal for life is to see and try everything. My favorite quote comes from Albert Einstein: “The only source of knowledge is experience”. We only live once and I’m horrified of spending my one chance to live on doing the wrong thing for me. There is so much out there and I’m willing to keep my mind open so I could find the place where I fit in. It’ll take some trial & error but I’m determined to find happiness.

I love to smile. The sights and sounds of happiness around me make me smile. The sadness around me makes me sad. I wish to help everyone I can, to make more people smile, and laugh.  Want peace in the world. ­­­­My family and friends are very important to me, the reason I smile. They make me who I am today. They are there for me when I am sad and when I fall. They are the greatest treasure I have. My life would be nothing without them their on my side.  A child’s smile makes me have hope. The sparkle in their eyes shows me the bright future ahead. I may be young, I may not have much, but my  dreams are big and I’ll prove to the world that a smile can truly create happiness and make peace around the world.