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Freshman Seminar was a good class in my opinion. I liked my mentor and instructor, and they were both very kind and lenient. I liked the laidback feel of the class, and how we never really had to do work. I also enjoyed some of the field trips. For instance, the trip to the Rubin Museum of Art was a really cool experience. In addition, some of the workshops were extremely helpful like the one on how to set up your classes. This class helped me get fully acclimated to Baruch, and showed me the important things I need to know to succeed in this school. Some of the things that I didn’t like was how the class started at 9:30. I have to commute from New Jersey so I had to wake up at 6:30 to make it to class on time which was very difficult for me to do. Also, the blog posts were kind of tedious, but they weren’t that bad. All in all, I liked this class and thought it was a great class to start my career at Baruch with. Thanks Ying and Brett for being great mentors, and maybe we’ll meet each other in the future!!

If I could pick one thing to change about the class it would be to have more in class debates and discussions and less informative lectures. To go through a 20 slide powerpoint on the career center may be helpful to some, but engaging in a class wide discussion helps students to build persuasive skills which will carry on to their professional lives.  When the students had to pick a point of view point of their own and argue that point, this to me was the funnest part of freshman seminar simply because it was the most interactive and interesting activity of the entire semester.

I think that the freshman orientation class , at the start, was annoying , because it made me wake up early on a Tuesday , which I could’ve just woken up lateLike I do Thursday. But now I realize it really did help. Te little things we talk about in class did make me a little more knowledgable on how to get around in Baruch. And Isis enjoy the thing we talked about in class especially thedays where thoughts our thoughts on certain subjects.

My completely honest opinions on this freshman seminar class is that it was really fun. It was something different every week and that’s something that i’m truly gonna miss next semester. It took me away from the actual work of college and I had a lot of fun learning random things about the policies and expectations of Baruch as those are things I’ll need throughout my years here. The activities we did in class were extremely engaging and challenged me to think about many things such as morals, obligations, etc. The only bad thing I have to say about this class is the workshops that were mandatory. If the workshops weren’t mandatory this class would be perfect. I’m actually doing this blog post to avoid having to go to the make up workshop. If I was a peer mentor and actually ran the class I wouldn’t make the workshops mandatory I would instead have the students pick what they would rather do. If they would rather go to the workshops then they could do that and not have to do any blog posts or if you don’t want to go to the workshops you could do extra blog posts. But that’s just me and other than that I had tuns of fun and am grateful for the experience.

If I was Ying for  a day I would make the class more fun. For a few days we played a debate game where there were two sides and we got to choose our side and defend our claim. I had alot of fun actually, and I really wanted to do more of them. We had really good discussions concerning the issues brought up such as ethical dillemas. I think if we had more of these it would have been a much more enjoyable class, which is very needed when the class meets at so early on Tuesday mornings. Also, it would be alot more fun if the class could meet in between our history class (which is right after) and our english (which is 3 hours later). having it in between would cut out our 3 hour wait period

the way the Reuben Museum of Art inspired me is to always give something a chance before i speak my mind on a subject. At first i thought it would have been a waste of time to even attempt to go to this event even though it was mandatory  as i got there i realized that it was very interesting. I always love art but at first i was skeptical to go to such a place especially that i was dragged to go there. Once i hit the first floor i saw excitement and my desire to learn more kicked in suddenly. its crazy how giving something a second chance can change your whole perspective on something. not only did the Museum show me marvelous art work and sculptures but, it taught me to never judged something without knowing about it at first. The Museum itself showed how even before technology had a huge expansion craftsman showed so much detail in there art work. its amazing how a person can turn a rock into a human sculpture and show a story on a piece of cloth using paint. My personal favorite thing at the Museum was the sculptures of the gods that were worshiped. it showed me the creative mindset people have to view higher power. they tend to always show gods having more of something. example more heads arms legs etc. this shows gods think and can due tasks at a faster rate that humans cannot do. the sculptures also show the gods being something beyond human sometimes even being animals or exotic type creatures never seen before with different color skin tone. the more of something meant the more power the god had and also whatever the god held meant what type of worship you had to do to get that item.

Out of the several special events and workshops we attended, here are my thoughts on Baruch Voices – the most recent such event of showcased poetry and monologues.  The pieces, written by students and read aloud by rehearsed and animated narrators, were undoubtedly one of the most interesting gigs I’ve seen on campus.  Spanning an array of topics ranging from overbearing parents, suicide and lust for bacon, it was apt to give anyone looking for something funny, serious or both a decent time.

None of the messages found in the topics particularly resonated with me on a personal level, but I give serious props to the second and fourth orators (both male) for their acting and voice talent.  The feel, the attitude, and the spirit of these works were very well portrayed and “lived-through” the actors on the stage, but especially through these two readers.  In regards to the writer with the greatest talent, this would easily be the piece on growing up.  The selection on bacon lust, however, was a close second.  I think the part on restrictive parenting was quite trivial; it was the individual that still needed to grow up if they hadn’t found the stones to say no to that sort of control by age 19 or 20.  The suicide piece could have also had more constructive and inspirational twists or spin, but instead it still felt a bit downer even at the conclusion.

In short, checking out Baruch Voices just once won’t hurt; it’s likely you’ll have a good time if you have nothing else to do.  Again, kudos to the talented people writing and recounting these works, the school is better because of you.

– ZH

My first few months at Baruch have been quite a new experience out of all of the things about Baruch the one that stands out to me most is my three hour math class. The one word I would use to describe this class….miserable. It has to be the hardest class I have ever been in and it makes me question what my future would be like if I stayed at Baruch for four years. If I can’t even handle the introductory math class maybe the school with the hardest math classes I’ve ever taken isn’t the best fit for a person like me who dreads abstract math. Other than that I do like most of my professors however a few of them seem to treat their students with the same disrespect we all got from our disengaged high school teachers. However some of my professors are great and make me consider not transferring out of Baruch.

As a class during Freshman Seminar, we went to a lot of different workshops this year. Out of all of them, I think that the one I liked best was the Rubin Museum of Art. This particular exhibit seemed boring at first, and I was pretty reluctant to go. However, once I went, I quickly found that it was a very interesting museum. The statues and sculptures were all very intriguing and it seemed like I was being transported back in time. I especially liked the exhibit of the worship shrine in another person’s home. The candles and the statues everywhere made for a crazy image, and it was one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever seen in my entire life. From a personal perspective, the shrine or worship center resonated with me because I’ve seen places like that before due to the fact that my great grandma was a Buddhist, and I’ve visited her before in Korea. This experience to the museum inspired me to not have tunnel vision, and to explore and learn about different cultures and artifacts of the world. We are all so small, but yet we live in such an immense world and this museum inspired me to learn as much about the world at large as I can during my lifetime.

My first 3 months in Baruch have been an interesting experience. I’ve met new people, taken completely new classes, and experienced NYC. However, I think the biggest thing that stands out from my first 3 months here is the immense diversity of the student population at Baruch. It’s certainly been a eye-opening experience seeing all the different cultures and ethnicities, and how they can all come together to create a cohesive student body. The diversity at Baruch represents my first experiences here because that is what stands out most, and that is also something that I feel will become a valuable tool for me in the future. Being a person who is familiar with many cultures, and has friends from all different backgrounds will certainly not only make me a better person, but will help me in the real world as well. As I continue my journey through Baruch, I hope to not only become more involved in the school, but to meet all different kinds of people and learn more about where they come from, and how they live. So to conclude, diversity has definitely been the biggest thing for me in my first 3 months at Baruch, and I expect that it will continue to be a thing that stands out as I continue my years here.