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.