Coming into Baruch, the common theme that came across was “join everything you can”. I was always reluctant to join things but whenever I did in High School, it always paid off. Thankfully I decided to get involved in things early and with the help of my friends, already joined multiple clubs. Ironically, I had to miss 3 important club events to attend this leadership workshop that advocated getting involved. I agreed with the students entirely, participation is important. The students on the panel learned so many things from their leadership experiences like how to direct meetings, how to communicate effectively, how to manage time, etc. Networking is a huge bonus of joining activities because the people you meet and the relationships you make will allow you to meet even more people that will unlock multiple opportunities. You will hear about events, meetings, workshops that you wouldn’t have otherwise know about. You could possibly meet influential leaders in a variety of fields and even find jobs through networking as many students have. Although we don’t always want to say it, its not always what you know, its about who you know.

Joining a club at Baruch has so far made my entire college experience. I joined Hillel within the first two weeks of school and haven’t left since. You’ll see me there at almost every break between classes, attending multiple lunch and learn series with influential leaders, CEOs and other businessmen. I met over 50 people just through this club and I never expected this to happen. I am generally very shy but meeting all these people with whom I had shared interests allowed me to break out of my shell. You get so many points of view about teachers, which majors are beneficial, which teachers aren’t the best, how you should allocate your time daily and schedule wise, what classes you should take now and which to save over for next time. By interacting with people and joining clubs you get so much more input about EVERYTHING and without it, I would honestly be lost. Schedulizer was introduced to me days before registration all because of the kids I met at Hillel and without it, I wouldn’t have been able to make a schedule at all. I attend EMET fellowship every week, am an active member of Hillel and B.O.S.S. and am currently working towards creating a jewish based sorority. Being a part of all of these things has made me all the more knowledgable and I couldn’t be any happier.

I feel like this leadership workshop was very successful in getting the point across about participating in as much as you can. I enjoyed each of the stories from the students on the panel and found their advice helpful.

What resonated with me most was a quote said by one of the students:

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room”

This quote really got me thinking and made me realize the importance of participation. However, just participating isnt enough. Being an active member of a club means you can influence others and be influenced by them as well. You should be able to contribute all you can while simultaneously helping yourself. Overall, I also advise joining everything you can as soon as you can!

Coming into Baruch I had no idea what FRO would be like and hand no clue what to expect. I was excited to see that Lancia, our academic advisor would be with us during class, giving us guidance as well.  Both Lancia and Namit gave great guidance and it was nice to hear the point of views of an advisor as well as a student. I generally appreciated the powerpoint that explained what classes were required to each major, each school and pathways in general. The one on one meeting with Lancia was helpful as well because I got to express my worries and struggles and get a bit of guidance as to whether I was headed in the right direction and what I should change. I learned about a lot of events that I wouldn’t have otherwise known about, like tutoring workshops, networking workshops and all the wonderful lunch and learn series that were provided for Dean’s Scholars. Overall there was a lot of interesting discussion, especially during the class where we discussed morals and ethics as well as the lack of classes regarding ethics in school. however, at times I felt like the gaps before and after class made the day more stressful. At times, I felt as though FRO required more work than some of my other classes. Other times, I felt as though it was a good break from actual school work where I could just interact with my LC. Although we weren’t able to spend a ton of time together, FRO allowed us all to hang out and get to know each others perspectives.

One thing I really enjoyed was the introductory discussions that allowed us to learn more about one another and build better communication skills and battle the fear of public speaking. I personally think that high school prepared me very well for college but FRO did help me keep my focus and gave me time to make a schedule for every week of everything I had to accomplish. The community service project seemed like a great idea at first as well, but I wasn’t a fan of the fact that it was a mandatory deadline. It felt more forced and took some of the enjoyment out of the activity but it definitely reminded me to get involved in my community and I got to know my classmates better through it.

However, my favorite activity would have to be the first blog post. We got to share some personal things to a group of people we didn’t know too well and I think that helps when you’re part of an LC for your other classes because you build a level of comfort and speaking in front of each other becomes a lot easier, especially in Gander’s Communication class. I loved sharing our favorite songs and seeing the variety of music taste. Coming into college my biggest worry was not finding a group of people that I could relate to but this activity automatically gave all of us something to talk about.

As I Am

http://grooveshark.com/playlist/Who+I+Am/90681087

To me, asking me to choose 10 songs to describe my personality is about as difficult for me as summarizing the history of the United States in one sentence. I listen to music whenever I have the chance, like now as I am typing all of this, so narrowing down the choices is tough. Each one of the songs I picked are tied to a specific memory and combined in this playlist they represent my radical personality, reflect my concerns and reveal my passions. When you first meet me, you’ll notice I’m pretty shy and reserved but once I become comfortable around you, I reveal a ridiculous range of emotions just like these songs.

Some songs in this playlist are really upbeat and carefree, like “Heads Will Roll” “We Are Golden” and “On Top of the World,” putting me in a lively mood. “Heads will Roll” has a lyric that reads “off with your head, dance, dance, till you’re dead” which not only reminds me of Alice in Wonderland which is one of my favorite Disney movies but also mentions dancing. I danced for 11 years and although I stopped attending a studio, I still dance around in my room, at parties or in the streets in public because who cares about public humiliation nowadays? So ever since I was little, music has been a huge part of my life. I played piano as a kid and taught myself to play guitar a couple years back. The songs “Santeria” and “Someday” were one of the first few songs I learned to play on guitar and listening to them brings back a ton of memories. The songs “Say Something”, “Summertime Sadness” and “Don’t You Worry Child” are much sadder than the others and relate to me on a personal level. They remind me that things don’t always turn out as you hope but somehow the odds will turn out in your favor. These selections show yet again how diverse my music taste is. Lastly, the song “Titanium” was my go to summer song and I could listen to it on repeat for hours while “We’re Gonna Be Friends” reminds me of all the great friendships I made in high school and the new ones I look forward to making at Baruch.

I probably over analyzed this assignment and thought about each song too deeply when I could have just looked through the top 25 most played songs on my phone but that’s another thing this assignment reflects about me. I am an optimist, a perfectionist and always over-write as I always have too much to say.

-Victoria Slavinsky