This is me right now.
I know there are plenty of people who have a view WAY different than mine when it comes to the college experience, but I’m not saying I don’t like it. To be quite honest, I loved my senior year in high school and I wish I could relive that year and have gone to a few events (excluding prom; I do not regret not going). No, I am not a pessimist, but college is somehow not giving me that edge I was expecting. Workshops and announcements are thrown at me time to time, there are days I have to wake up early like in high school, and the community doesn’t feel different than the one I had in high school. It’s just larger and less…..judgy. (Can we just look past how I made up that word? .___.      please..)

Anyways, I’m not gonna just say all those things without mentioning the pros that I can definitely admit to. The breaks between my classes are amazing and absolutely beneficial for me. I never felt so loose and relaxed in my life. (EXCLUDING EXAM SEASON)
It’s also helping me spend more time in the island I came from, as I was only a child when I would spend some days in East Harlem and be “in the hood”.

I know something interesting will happen to me as long as I stay at Baruch. I enjoy it here, overall, and wouldn’t wanna stay away from it. JUST KEEP SWIMMING. JUST KEEP SWIMMING. JUST KEEP SWIMMING, SWIMMING, SWIMMING. WHAT DO WE DO? WE SWIM, SWIM.
You guys can stop reading my post now. Thank you~

South Africa’s Cape of Good

http://www.whalecottage.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/cape-of-good-hope-01.jpg

I picked South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope as my picture to identify my experience thus far, since it’s such a great metaphor to my experience here. I feel as if I am standing at the edge of a cliff, surrounded by amazing things, in Africa its nature but here at Baruch it would be a new environment… College. I am nervous about grades and want to do well, but at the same time there are so many things here to see, try, explore, and obviously taste (Free Food like everyday) that I am excited for it a little bit. It’s also hard, just like balancing at the edge of a cliff; it’s hard to keep up with everything in my daily life. From sports, to school, to just regular responsibilities its all difficult to handle, but unlike standing at the edge of a cliff doing that, I welcome the challenge college life brings.

The enrichment workshop provided me with great tutelage from making mistakes that I would have inevitable if I had not gone to the workshop. I now understand how difficult it will be running a club and balancing school at the same time, but I am glad to know that people can do it, and some have even provided tips for an easier transition from a full time student, o a full time student and club president. Some hints they provided us with were involved with finding the time for all the tasks, the better and worse ways of dealing with other people that your club might depend on. Finally how to deal with professors if you feel overwhelmed and need more time for assignments or more time to study for that pesky mid term.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150416466044016&set=pb.696894015.-2207520000.1384889776.&type=3&theater

This is a picture of a opossum who’s playing dead but is not playing. I took this picture myself about two years ago in Georgia and it caught me off guard. Baruch within the span of three months  has had a similar effect on me. My experience and my expectations were way off. First off I honestly did not know what to expect from college but this wasn’t it. I had a rough relationship with high school and expected something along those lines. However, it is rather refreshing to meet knowledgeable professors who are passionate about their work. Some of these courses are extremely thought provoking and do help you identify yourself in a sense. It’s also rather refreshing to see students who are actually eager to learn rather than my experience in high school where the kids we’re physically at school but refused to enter classrooms and smoked weed all day.

The picture also vividly and accurately displays my mood on days when I get no sleep (particularly how I felt today). Although I cannot complain because those days are usually self inflicted. The workload here at Baruch is actually doable and I plan to continue improving myself. I have fixed many of my faults from high school, but inevitably some do carry over (I’m talking to you procrastination). All in all my experience has been a positive one and hope to enjoy the next few semesters here at Baruch.

http://mypreretirementmusings.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/change-road-sign.jpg

I hate change.  This may make me sound like an old person, but it’s true, I hate when things don’t go as usual, according to plan.  I did not intend on attending Baruch, but decided “What the hell” and chose to go here.  Coming from a rather small high school, Staten Island Tech, I was used to a cozy and friendly environment with faces and places I knew and was familiar with.  Being from Staten Island, in general isolated me from the rest of New York City, because of the suburban, relatively slow and quiet neighborhood I live in.  The closest thing I had to a New York City experience was the occasional outing to Manhattan and seeing my dad come home from work exhausted and rambling about his day in The City.  Baruch was a completely new experience for me.  It has so far opened up many new doors in a place I thought I’d never call home.  I went from dreading the long commute from The Island to The City, but now I’m gracious for the weekend to end so I can go to Manhattan again (at least on Wednesdays and Fridays).  Interacting with numerous clubs, especially IVCF (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) has helped me find a place at Baruch with familiar faces, something I yearned for since leaving high school.  I hope to further find my place at Baruch in the years to come and become complacent and adapted to city life, as I may very well be spending the rest of my life in this great city.

When we were told about the workshop initially, I felt it was going to be another “helpful” program which would aid my college career that I was begrudgingly forced to attend.  As it turns out, the workshop itself was actually not that bad, beneficial, actually.  I have never been much of a leader, due to not really being into any organizational sports, groups, or clubs very often.  I usually go off on my own or find companions who share in my mentality instead of conforming into a group and following instructions and orders.  This workshop has shown me that being part of an organization is not always this way.  To be an effective leader, one must know what it’s like to be an underling.  A leader must command with experience, integrity, and perseverance.  A leader must inspire hope and pave the way for future generations.  By doing such, a leader ensures that he/she and their followers have the best experience and the greatest accomplishments.  This is what I took away from the workshop and hope that it comes in handy in my academic, work-related, and social careers.

1. What was the “theme” your group selected for your front page, and how did you select it? How did the articles you selected fit within that theme?

The theme our group chose was Medicine, specifically, Advancements of Innovations Among Vaccinations.

All our articles centered around health and vaccinations, as well as solutions to medical problems.

2. What was your individual role in the group process working on the NYT project?

I wrote the Bearcat post, the one concerning Baruch itself.  It was interesting to see what Baruch sources, such as The Ticker count on as significant news dealing with medicine.

3. How has your experience within this project influenced your understanding of “news literacy”?Provide a link to your NYT Front Page Project.

I am a pretty avid reader of news and try to keep myself knowledgeable about global news as much as possible and this experience only encouraged this.

https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/orangebuttercream/

The enrichment workshop was a mixed bag for me. Just hearing the words enrichment and workshop put a sour taste in my mouth. Anything that is supposed to be enriching, or that contains enrichment in its name tends to do the exact opposite, so I did have some bias against it. All in all I did not mind the workshop for the most part. The story about the Brooklyn Bridge was actually quite interesting but, the whole workshop itself felt generic. Probably felt generic because we have been told very similar things on multiple occasions.

It was a great thing that they tried to get us to participate. Thing is that when we did go into groups, since we’re all in blocks, most people already knew each other and tend to stay within their comfort zone. I kept waving madly every time they mentioned their names and am rather proud that they noticed me too. Although the waving scenario was out of sheer boredom, the workshop itself was informative and I was able to enjoy it ever so slightly.

Baruch has become a very big part of my life, despite me only been here for less than 3 months. These past few months have gone really quickly, and they have been a lot better than I expected. All of my classes and professors have caught my interest, I actually enjoy doing the homework and readings because it is all very thought provoking and nothing like high school. Even though I plan on studying accounting and I am not taking any business classes and I am taking mainly liberal arts classes, which is not my strong suit, they have all been really great though. All of my professors are deeply invested in what they are teaching and have been extremely helpful when I do not understand something. I thought that since I am a commuter I would immediately go home after class but I actually stay at the library and do my work there. The library is one of the best resources, since so many people are doing work it motivates myself to study. I do not mind spending a few Sundays at the library during the midterm season. Even though I have not joined any clubs yet, I am looking forward to joining clubs next semester and get more involved.

I used to be the type of person who would be cautious and be afraid of change. During my first semester at Baruch, I decided to move away from my fears and throw away any regret I had. I told myself that college life was a whole different beast, a new world, and a path that I can control; no regrets.

The experience of my first three months at Baruch was different from high school. Many of the classes were enlightening and interesting. I felt it was a time for exploration, of both different subjects and me. Philosophy was, while sometimes confusing, enlightening. Anthropology taught me to look at the happenings in life in a whole new perspective. English led me to great works of literature and expression. Communications set me onto an unexplored platform of learning.

I believe that these brief three months do not define my experience in Baruch, but have given me a chance to get to know both the school and myself better. I hope that as the future unfolds, my life at Baruch would be just as positive as my first semester.