FRO13 CRA

Sorry for the late post…I completely forgot about the blog post until now.

But yeah, first semester has been quite a challenge. I actually have no idea what I’m doing. No idea what I want to do, no idea how I’m going to get past the next 4 years. It’s not that I’m not passing classes, it’s that I don’t know if I want to go through college. I may take a semester or two off just to have some time to figure it out. Work full time, who knows?

But yeah, I actually have no idea what I’m doing.

Sam Jin

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The first semester at Baruch flew by way faster than I would ever expect.  The change from high school to college was very scary at first. But couple weeks into the semester I found it really simple. When I they say that college style of teaching is far different from high school they were right. You don’t have any teachers holding your hand and walking you through class. Everything is all on you. This was scary at first but I had use my time wisely and i adapted to the style and was able to receive good results in a lll my classes. The scariest part about leaving high school was leaving my friends behind. It was a fresh start and new stories to make in my life. I was very lucky because I meet a lot of nice people here at Baruch that are amazing friends. The coolest part of going to college is the freedom you know have. You can pretty much do anything you want. Baruch is a great school and hopefully it could lead me on the right track to job for the rest of my life. I will always keep growing as a person as my years at Baruch grow more.

My first semester at Baruch was definitely interesting. I met some amazing people, got to know the gist of what college is like, realized that studying in high school is not the same as studying in college, worked and went to school, and never in my life have I ever experienced such fatigue. Throughout the semester I definitely felt like uncertainty was my best friend. Classes were overwhelming and confusing, the teachers expected so much from us that I was not used to, homework and learning things at home while studying got pushed back due to work, it was so much, and sometimes still is, a lot to take in at once. Though my first semester has helped me narrow down my major, it still hasn’t helped me decide. Being undecided is no fun at all because it gives me the impression that I will not finish on time, run out of financial aid, not find a good enough job, etc. I look forward to the rest of my time here in hopes of finally coming to the conclusion of what it is that I really want to do. I swear I haven’t lost all hope, and thankfully this enrichment workshop has introduced me to fantastic resources that I will be using to figure this out. I’m excited to see what the future holds, and eventually see what I end up doing!

The Enrichment workshop was a great experience. I learned a lot about why it is important to help out the community and volunteer. When one volunteers or does something good for others, it makes one happier. When I volunteered at the 10K swim in September, It was a great experience. I was able to motivate swimmers to finish the race, and help then as they cross the finish line.  During the school year, I work with kids at an after school program. This is a job and not a volunteer program however it still makes me happy when I’m helping kids do their homework. As well as doing homework with them I also play different games with them, tutor them, and take them swimming. As hectic as the day may be, the kids always have huge smiles on their faces when I help them out, and that always makes me happy at the end of the day.

So far, college has been such an enriching experience. As someone who enjoys keeping things simple and not adapting well to change, I had a hard time getting used to the concept of “college”. The transition from high school into college is so drastic that it took me quite some time to really set into the college flow. Unlike high school, college give you so much freedom; the freedom to choose classes, the freedom to explore your campus, the freedom to have breaks like you’ve never had in high school and the freedom to be who you are. The biggest change in college opposed to high school is your own self control and will power. In other words, you have to show you want to learn and you have to try. No one is there to push you to do your best. Not the professors, not your parents, and not your friends. Of course, they wish you do your best. However, it is up to you to decide whether you want to give it your all or give up. College doesn’t “baby” you like high school did. People will not try if you don’t try the hardest yourself. This took a while to sink in for me. That’s why I’ve been feeling like I’ve been walking on thin ice. One mistake and I could be drowning in the cold water of my own failure. Until finals week is over, this feeling will not change, but what WILL change is my will and self control. I will try hard to ace my tests and I will succeed.

– Sangmi Cho

Attending the enrichment seminar was a new experience for me. Of course i’ve heard how important volunteering is and that it’s good to volunteer, but this workshop really helped me understand what volunteering does for everyone, not just the needy, but for the volunteer himself. I would love to be able to volunteer everyday and help out the needy as much as I can. However, my life revolves around so many things and I cannot seem to find the time to fully be convinced to devote my life to volunteering. It did feel nice though, helping the kids in the school that was affected my Hurricane Sandy and I would love to see those smiling faces again, but school, my job, family, and other things keep me occupied as a person and prevents me from going out of my way to help these people in need and that bothers me. On the other hand, however, what I WILL do is continue to be a good person. I will continue to respect and love others as I do now and do small things that will bring joy to those faces around me. This workshop reminded me that even though i don’t physically attend volunteering events, I AM volunteering everyday of my life in ways that I didn’t know myself.

– Sangmi Cho

Through my first year at Baruch, I have learned that everything is about you. Like a collage, there are many different parts of an individual that create the whole. In the same way, there are different parts of a person’s college years that make up the whole person. Whether its through character traits or through the friendships that we make, our choices affect us the most. Every little aspect of my semester was my choice at the end of the day. Of course like any other individual, there were numerous ups and downs throughout the semester because every person has to be responsible for balancing themselves. Time management was a key factor that help me recreate my “true” self. Overall, I believe that the transition from high school to college was very easy because my high school prepared me very well and this important factor made me change my direction in life. Conclusively, Baruch helped me understand that challenges are what I need to face to feel satisfied. Accordingly, I feel more motivated to work harder because of this first semester.

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The enrichment workshop was an enlightening experience. It really shows how far the values of charity can impact the world. I agreed with the ideas of our guest speaker Stephen Post. He stated that doing for others make you feel better about one self. I had a first hand experience of this feeling when I volunteer for New York Cares. I read to the little kids at a local public school in the Manhattan area. In opened by eyes that doing something as little as reading a story to a child can put a smile on people’s faces. The feeling of achieve after my act is what i believe StephenPost was talking about. His works has really inspired he to good out into the world and lend a helping hand. Even something little as helping a fellow classmate with Webwork, can be a helping hand to society. I really enjoyed my experience volunteering for New York Cares and will most likely do it agian.

-Michael Sukram

During the enrichment workshop yesterday, we were informed about the true benefits of community service and helping others just for the sake of helping. I can say that I definitely agreed with what the presentation focused on. I have to say that doing work for the benefit of others with nothing in return has its rewards. The New York Cares project, for instance, not only gave me the opportunity to volunteer my hours, but it also gave me the chance to get to know different people and remain in contact with my leader from the event, Lisa. I was able to just be a helping hand among many other people to make an event truly successful. The presentation yesterday reemphasized my feelings towards volunteering. I definitely feel like this isn’t going to be the last time I willingly volunteer.

-Sarah Olivo

Through attending the enrichment workshop, I was able to understand the difference that volunteering could make in an individual’s life. The personal and societal benefits of volunteering were both interesting to learn about because I was able to understand the true impact that it had on both physical and emotional health. Personally, I have volunteered often and have felt the same “good feelings”; however I was very saddened to say that it did not motivate me long enough to keep volunteering. The Final statement really made a difference for me because I always believed in being a good person because at the end of the day, I believed that there would be a balance of return for the good I have done. In the same manner, I understood that I would like to volunteer because its not always about getting rather giving. Most of my life, I have always wanted to get things whether materialistic or intrinsic, but I feel as if the seminar helped open my eyes to the inevitable truth that the giving back to whether its family, friends, or even a stranger that really counts more because at the end of the day, you feel very happy knowing you did so. It inspired me to also to continue to try to be a good person even though I am not perfect at it,but I keep pushing forward in life when it seems impossible to do so. Overall, the enrichment workshop really motivated me in a unique way.