FRO 14 DFA

Hiking

My experience as a student at Baruch has been challenging thus far. It’s an ongoing struggle to strike the perfect balance between life at home, school, and work. My classes require me to put in an immense amount of effort to study and complete my assignments, but that was to be expected. This isn’t some easy game in which I can just toss the dice and let chance determine my fate. I have at least some power in being able to control what I can do to further my advancements to reach my goals.

Besides crawling up a small dirt mountain with a fleet of my distant cousins the one time I visited Pakistan nearly ten years ago, I have never been hiking before, but I would imagine that college life is rather similar. The terrain is steep and rugged, and it  is not very well known for its delightful pleasures. It seems that all the odds are against the hiker because the forces of nature are constantly impeding progress with topographical obstacles, inundating weather, and gravity. Yet, despite of all these deterrents, people still willingly run to these mountains and are eager to hike, no matter the difficulty, to the top. But why?

Like me, these hikers, or college students, are daring to face these hurdles because they envision the final result, conquering the highest peak. Once they embark on the journey, they will do everything in their power to continue hiking until they reach the top because they are working toward ultimate success. I might have trouble finishing a paper or completing a test or starting a long reading, but I know these supposedly trivial things are necessary for me to do well and eventually graduate from college one day. I know that if my balance falters because of a small rock, I just have to look forward and keep on hiking until I make it to the summit.

I’m not incredibly resilient or as tough as nails, but I try my best. I don’t like letting minute conflicts and petty problems get to the best of me and divert my attention from more important experiences. I am a realist and am sometimes dubbed as a naysayer, but I feel as though it is more useful to consider the negative side of things very carefully rather than only focusing on the positive aspects to avoid disappointment and being let down.

Ever since I was a child, I have been stubborn about trivial matters and have a propensity to be easily annoyed or angered by certain things. I am working hard to rid myself of these toxic tendencies because I know that my psychological burdens will then be diminished. I know that during the times in which I have a cheerful disposition, I am a lot happier and generally more satisfied with the way things are in life. A mere human cannot control everything.

An important goal of mine is to learn to be more optimistic in sticky situations and be more tolerant of things I do not have power over. Conquering these obstacles will allow me to achieve immense personal growth as a young adult.

Hello everyone! My name is Hurmat Hashmi and I am seventeen years old. I will be eligible to cast my votes for elections as of November 2 (go Scorpios!)  I am undecided on what I should major in, but I am considering finance. I am, unfortunately, often indecisive on several matters.

But one thing I am sure about is my passion to help others. I find it important to be able to give back to my community in any way possible to encourage positive change. I love to work with nonprofit organizations such as the Resilience Advocacy Project, which seeks to rid of injustices that often result from poverty and to empower the youth of New York City through numerous action-based programs. Another nonprofit I work for is Publicolor, which transforms public spaces and other institutions throughout bleak, often disadvantaged New York City neighborhoods into vivid, brightly painted areas that enhance the academic environments of young people.

I participate in various different programs and am therefore pretty busy a lot of the time. I’m sure that for many of us, it would be so much more convenient to have more hours in the day to do things we really like. I have enjoyed painting ever since I was a tiny tot and wish that I had more time to create new works. The last thing I created was a tulip for Mother’s Day using acrylic paint. I like listening to almost all kinds of music and seeing different dance styles. I think that music and dance are so important in many cultures and are usually among the staples of people’s interests. In my free time I like to practice a variety hairstyles on myself and my sisters; we often volunteer ourselves as each other’s lab rats.