FRO 14 DTI

“We are live in 5, 4, 3,” the director counted down to the start of the multicultural show with over 1000 people in the audience. This was my first show running the soundboard. I was all alone and feeling every beat of my heart like I was standing next to a church bell. As I looked down from my small operating booth I saw the whole auditorium full of eager families awaiting a perfect show. “2, 1, Go Sound Cue” that was my call, the show began, and the adrenaline in my blood, coursing through my veins, seemed to double. As the first couple of acts went by, I felt light headed, as if living a dream hoping beyond hope that everything went well. Needless to say, there were some mishaps in my first show, which I had learned from bettering my experience and myself. I also became the Audio Director for my schools popular shows, running over 25 various shows including everything from musicals, to plays and even talent shows, later learning how to Dj I started to Dj events. After that I don’t really get scarred in front of huge crowds anymore, but the opposite I learned to use their energy as a boost for mine.

Entering Baruch as a freshman, I immediately found the schools radio station WBMB, my gateway into participating in school events. Not knowing how fast I would be accepted into the station, within a week of giving in my résumé (which made me overly qualified to be accepted) I had 2 initiation interviews and my first event. Now, only a couple of months into my first year I’ve helped run over 8 events in Baruch.

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/1020hermans4.jpg

Throughout my life expectations have been piled up continuously as I got older. From being the youngest girl in my family, the second eldest sibling, being a south Asian daughter, to being really good at math. Every category I was placed into put more pressure and responsibility on me. But coming into Baruch helped alleviate so much of that pressure. Before I had to get home everyday around sunset everyday and now I simply tell my mother that I’ll be home late and I have until midnight. It may not be late for some but for me it’s a great privilege. Before I had to help my siblings and cousins out with school for being “the smart one” in the family. And now I can simply say no to them because I’m “busy” or something. Before I wasn’t allowed to hang out, be out of the house on the weekends, go over peoples houses, or anything that most people probably take advantage of and don’t notice that others with strict religious parents don’t have. But Baruch helped change that, most of that. I still have responsibilities, yes, but I am not pressured much and I feel so much more freedom from before.

Freedom differs from person to person. And I found my freedom at Baruch.

Best Is Yet To Come

Many adults I have talked to make sure to mention how college was the highlight of their youth. Most even add, “Who cares about high school?” I do.
I was one of those kids that did everything in high school. I was a part every main event, having organized more than half of them. I cared about developing new policies for students. I card about making sure all events were carried out successfully. I cared about making sure the 1400 other students in my graduating class had a good high school experience.
Near the end of my high school, I really wondered why I decided to care so much about everyone else and not enough on enjoying the moment myself. In a way I regretted wasting my time.
Fortunately, that regret didn’t last long. Near the end of the school year, I helped my physical education teacher organize a bodybuilding competition. It was something everyone advised me not to do because they were skeptical about the success of the show. However, I enjoyed working my teacher so I decided to go ahead and do it anyway.
On the day of the show, I ran around stressed before and during the show but I loved every minute of it. It was something I was doing for myself and my own enjoyment rather than satisfying others. The show was a huge success and I couldn’t have been happier. That success also made me realize that I had not wasted my time in high school. I experienced and explored things that a typical high school student didn’t, but that just made my experience that much more special. It is also my drive for experiencing new things in college by getting partnered up with a foreign student for a conversations program or even taking dance classes.

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Throughout my entire life I have been living up to everyone’s expectations,more specifically my mom’s expectations. I grew up in a very loving but serious household. I was allowed to have fun and mess around at home but for free time, it was usually spent at after school programs, homework groups, Chinese classes, and prep school. My upbringing was the standard Chinese way, go to school, study, do homework, study some more and then go to sleep. Even the extracurricular activities were controlled by my parents, I was forced into every single sport possible: Basketball, Tennis, Soccer, Baseball, Swimming, etc. Nothing was in my control and everything that I did served a greater purpose. I followed my brother into the middle school Christa Mcauliffe and went on to being in the specialized high school Stuyvesant. After I got into Stuyvesant the nagging stopped temporarily and it was then that i realized that school bored me and that I didn’t like the environment there. Everyone was studying for tests on things they don’t care about and they were stressed about studying and homework. Instead of taking the good student route, I went out and made friends rather than studying and hung out with people. This made me feel much more happier at school and less stressed. Of course I kept up with my grades but they didn’t mean as much to me at all. For me going to college was the least of my worries, I took the sat and got relatively high and was expecting everything to come to me as it did in the past. I was wrong, I messed up in more ways than one and ended up in Baruch. Coming into Baruch, I thought it would have been a total nightmare but surprisingly it wasn’t. I got to meet so many new people that I would have never meet if I had gone somewhere else. Coming to Baruch also taught me that I had to take school much more seriously but that everyone should have a two sides to them. One side is having fun and goofing off but the other side is their serious side, the side that professionals want to see and how you want others to see you. I learned that I have to take responsibilities into my own hands and that I had to take my life in my own hands. I cannot let others tell me what to do but do what I want to do. What I want to do, I do not know yet but it’s alright because I’m fine with that.

This is a picture of a troll which is basically my personality.

Back in high school, one of the first life lessons I learned was that between good grades, sleep, and a social life, I could only succeed in maximum of two of them. By entering college, I thought I would finally succeed in all three, especially because the amount of class time was shorter. Sleep would be guarantees because my classes would start later, and I wouldn’t have that 8am class anymore or wake up at 6:30am every morning. As for social life, I thought of course it would be possible. After all, what else are longer weekends for? For grades, I thought I’d be able to suffice with decent grades, that the same quick review before walking into class or studying for maybe an half an hour max would be more than enough. But I proved to be wrong when I realized I still had that alternating 8:15am morning class. The hour breaks and long weekends weren’t spent socializing, but on catching up with the next class assignment or reviewing notes for a test. With less days to meet during the week, assignments and exams came much quicker than I was prepared for. When I was finally free from my workload, social life was nearly impossible because others would be busy with theirs. I realized how important time management skills were and regretted not taking the life lesson seriously or learning not to do every assignment last minute. It was much easier to fall behind on the lengthy readings, especially when you are fully aware that the professor won’t be calling on you in class to check that you have read, or because you have to prioritize a written assignment from a different professor.

—Annie Kong

This picture represents the results of poor time management and how important it is to balance your priorities in college. Source: http://cstrips.bitstrips.com/G73GP_JP5S.png

In elementary school, I thought the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up” was asked far too often. In reality, I was bothered by the question because I had no real thoughts on what I wanted to do in the future. As a result, I just sat there expressionless, as if I didn’t even hear the question. And I couldn’t come up with an answer for this question. Up to college, I spent all my days playing games or hanging out with friends, ignoring that question. Even though I’m in college now, I still don’t have a concrete idea on what I would like to do. However though, I think Baruch college has just the right environment to help me figure out what I want to do. Each day, I’m spending more and more time on campus doing something for school, and I feel that I’m slowly uncovering what I want to do. I believe that my previous friends from high school, and the new people I’m meeting everyday will help me along the way.

I thought college would be just like that of High School. Everyday consisted of being home, then school, work, and home again. However, in reality my days now in Baruch seems like endless hours of being on campus. Although constantly being on campus doing work and being active in a organization includes less hours of sleep, less time spent with my family, and less time to focus on schoolwork, it has also helped me become more independent and create a family of my own within Baruch. In Baruch I was able to find friends who share many of the same goals as me, and I learned the joy of being able to accomplish things with many people. Through countless hours of laughing at not so funny jokes, bashing on the same professors, stressing over the same midterm and simply arguing over the quality of the cafeteria sushi, I realized that college is not as dreadful as everyone makes it sound. Through the past three months, I realized how much I have stepped out of my comfort zone. I was determined that my friends from High School would be the only friends I would have at Baruch and only until recently have I realized how wrong I was. College is not only about learning, it is about putting yourself out there, being able to network and build a bond that you will be able to keep for a long time.

When you’re accustomed to the Chinese cuisine, speak Chinese, or even admire Chinese culture, doesn’t that make you Chinese? In my personal opinion, identifying yourself as a Chinese-American doesn’t mean you have to eat, speak, or appreciate Chinese culture like a Chinese person. Identifying yourself as a Chinese-American involves understanding all of those aspects and much more, then utilizing your heritage to supplement your current lifestyle. It is when one has achieved that, one can identify oneself as a Chinese-American and fit in with the Chinese community. Unlike my parents, who were immigrants from foreign countries, I was born in America and raised as a typical American child. For them, it was a new experience to arrive in a country that was not similar in every way imaginable to their home. Eventually they learned to adapt to the American lifestyle and fit into the American society. My first language was English, my daily staple was spaghetti and meatballs. While my parents struggled to identify themselves as Americans, I constantly struggled to identify myself as a true Chinese-American. Viewing the importance of my Chinese heritage, my self-identification as a Chinese-American became much more crucial. Instead of asking for the American utensils for the Chinese cuisine at the large family dinners, I began using chopsticks. Instead of listening in Chinese and speaking in English to my family, I began to converse in fluent Chinese. I am the kid that will prefer Jackie Chan Adventures more than Jimmy Neutron. I am the kid that enjoys learning about the Chinese culture. I am a Chinese-American.

Baruch was never a college that I planned on attending. I wanted to stay in the city but I didn’t want to go to a CUNY. It’s funny how I ended up at Baruch because it was the first college I had ever visited. When I was in middle school and my cousin was visiting different colleges, I went with her to visit Baruch. Throughout senior year of high school, my friends who were already going to school at Baruch kept telling me to just go to Baruch too. I told them “nope I’m not going to end up at a CUNY.” After the first week of college, I started to love Baruch. Two of my best friends go to school here as well. I went to high school with them and never thought I would be able to see them so often again, after they had graduated two years before I did. I think that going to Baruch has been great so far because even though I spend a lot of times with people I have known for years, I have made a few new friends who made my college experience even better. Even if I never wanted to go to Baruch, I am glad that I am because the people that I have met here are great.

Grace Chan

Growing up, I was always told by my teachers and my mom to finish my homework as soon as I got home. So every day, when I got home from school, I would eat my Cheez-its and immediately open up my notebooks to do my homework, instead of watching TV with a bag of chips on the couch. I never understood why everyone around me always told me to do my homework as soon as possible when I was a kid, but now I realized how having good time management helped me at Baruch. Now, when I get an assignment, I always try to begin it on the day it is assigned, even though it is not due until two days later. In fact, when I start on an assignment late, I begin to worry about whether or not I will finish it on time. I also find it a lot easier to start on assignments early than to wait until the last minute, because the end results are usually, although not always, a lot better than if I had started the night before. Overall, I think having good time management is very helpful for college students. And if I still maintain the habit of getting things done early and on time, I don’t think I will have problems getting assignments done on time, during these next couple of years at Baruch. The picture below of a clock shows how important I think it is to always keep track of time because time cannot be replaced.

Source: http://www.askingsmarterquestions.com/time-is-money-improving-time-management/