Hey everyone! I know I wasn’t with you much at Convocation and I wasn’t able to sit through the long activities with you guys. But tell me how Convocation was.
What was your favorite and least favorite activity and why? Did you get to meet new people? And how was the indoor block party/barbecue?
To refresh your memories, your activities were:
1. First Year Experience Seminar (this is where we talked about the freshman text)
2. Performance of “Voices III”
3. “Sexuality: Making Peace with Passion”
4. ADL Diversity Training
and
5. Baruch Beginnings Block Party & Barbecue (It’s too bad it rained because it would have been totally awesome outside.)
Note: This isn’t a mandatory blog but I’m interested in what you guys thought and we can share our experiences with Convocation together! So be honest! LOL. 🙂
I liked all the activities except the diversity training. I felt like it was promoting reverse discrimination, as in being nicer to people of other races and cultures simply because they are of a different race of culture. I think the best way to approach this is to remind students of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.” Stereotypes will be around forever, and realistically it is impossible for them to go away, so I think the class is obsolete.
Overall, the convocation was great. I especially liked the performance, because it was entertaining and I could connect to it. The diversity training was boring, to be honest, but it was helpful I suppose (the things we went over should have been obvious prior to it). I can’t say anything about the block party because I had to miss it, but I hope whoever attended enjoyed themselves…
…However, the rainy weather sucked. (no umbrella)
Eric, I can understand how you feel that way but I can’t say I would agree with you 100% because I wasn’t a part of it to be able to make that judgement. But thanks for being honest! 🙂
And Greg (I’m using the right name this time!! LOL.), sorry you got caught out in the rain. It doesn’t help you now but FYI, I had 2 umbrellas. HAHAHA! Don’t hate me.
The convication, overall, was pretty cool I guess, but I totally agree with Eric… it was really just “be nice to other races”… so yeaa… it got kind of awkward? cause I mean you can’t EVER stop stereotypes… it’ll always be there. I mean I say “you’re such a jew” ALL the time… no harm intended of course. Buttttt, I liked the performance, it started out very strong with that actress and it was really cool to listen to. The block party, I missed, just like Greg, considering that it was changed to the gymnasium which I felt would be WAYYY too crowded… but overall, not baddd.
The convocation was alright for me. It was pretty good at first, but then there was just too much talking going on and I was starting to fall asleep. Probably because I had to wake up super early to get there. The first freshman seminar was fun. I really enjoyed the little games we played to try and get to know each other more. “Voices III” was really interesting and I was really into it. I really knew how some of the people who wrote the monologues felt and I could relate to them. I especially liked the actor who did most of the humorous monologues. Though I must admit, towards the end of it, I really did fall asleep for a good 5 minutes, not because it was boring, but because I was just super tired. And honestly, I was bored out of my mind at the Diversity Training. I mean I get what their purpose was, but I agree with Greg. I’m pretty sure majority of the students there and at Baruch in general already know to respect each other no matter what race we are. Last but not least, the block party. I would’ve enjoyed it more if it were outdoors. I only took a quick glance inside, but left after a few minutes when all I saw were “Greeks”, if you know what I mean. They were everywhere trying to recruit new members and I was actually approached by one sorority, so I just left before I got asked by any more of them, lol.
I liked it but i think it was a tad too long. As the day progressed i’ve learned that my attention span became shorter shorter and shorter. I think the “voices” thing should have been earlier in the day and make the different lectures optional
I didn’t go because I woke up realllllly late and my wall mirror fell and shattered so i had to clean it up. But I heard that i didnt miss much. I went to the “block party” and got a free shirt!