Monthly Archives: October 2016
Trip to the zoo
As a resident in New York City, one of the things I looked forward to about living near Baruch is exploring the city. So, on October 10, I went to the Bronx zoo with my girlfriend Amanda. We had an amazing experience from seeing the lions and the gorillas to seeing professionally carved pumpkins. We saw all kinds of animals and had fun chasing birds that were out in the open. We saw kids dressed in Halloween costumes, few of which ran into Amanda and I. I definitely look forward to exploring the city more as I spend more time living here. Going to Baruch has opened up so many more opportunities for me as I get to see this concrete jungle as a resident. Going to the zoo has made me want to join a club or attend an event at Baruch that has to do with animals as well.
T.E.A.M Baruch
Classic Josh Face
I went to the T.E.A.M Baruch meeting on Tuesday night and I found it very informative. Ever since my orientation I was very interested in joining T.E.A.M Baruch, but never actually went to any of the meetings or found out how to join. This meeting gave me all the information I needed and some. After the meeting I really want to join T.E.A.M Baruch, this is primarily because I was interested in similar organizations in high school and would like to continue a similar path in college.
Rubin Museum of Art
This past Friday I was able to go to The Rubin Museum of Art with Ruana and Halina. This museum showcases art from the Himalayas, India and surrounding regions. What I like most about the museum is that very little things are behind glass cases so you can get close to the artifacts and really get the opportunity to appreciate all the fine details that were put into the art. A lot of them followed the similar theme of religion. Many of the statues and paintings were of spirits or different items dedicated to the spirits and gods. Overall the whole trip was nice and I got to see a small regions art which really allowed me to appreciate the culture in a way I hadn’t before.
TEAM Baruch Information Session
On the 18th, I came into school in order to find out more information on an organization that I’ve heard of many times, but haven’t learned much about. T.E.A.M. Baruch is a student leadership development program that affords students the opportunity to unearth and develop their leadership potential. There were many informative representatives that I learned a lot from, and they definitely kept me interested.
Classic Josh Face
I plan to apply to the program, because when I was in high school, I was involved in a lot of programs that helped out incoming freshman. I also love getting involved in events throughout the school, and I think that this organization would not be any different.
On Friday, October 21 I went to the Rubin Museum of Art for the first time.I saw Himalayan art and I had nerve seen anything like that. The art was extremely detailed it was amazing. They had extremely huge paintings that covered entire walls, with hundreds of people in each painting. I found it really interesting that someone sat for hours painting faces on each person. Not only were the paintings really detailed but also the sculptures. There was even a display showing step by step how the sculptures are made.
While the art was beautiful, I can’t say the Rubin is one of my favorite museums and probably will not go back. It was still really cool to see art I have never seen before.
Rubin Museum of Art
This past Saturday I went to the Rubin Museum of Art. I missed a chance to attend the Team Baruch meeting (but i do plan on going soon), so I hit up this really interesting museum where I learned a lot of things and came out with a great experience that I know I would like to revisit again.
The Rubin Museum of Art is a museum that specializes in showcasing art from the Himalayas and regions similar to it. Walking into that museum really made me feel very immersed into a culture of the past. The artifacts and galleries had a very distinct smell to them. Every hallway and room had its fair share of item and great lighting to make everything stand out and look very unique.
All of the artifacts and paintings i learned where either made out of metal, clay or stone and wood and had very unique textures to them. This was because these were the most used commonly used materials in this area and time since they were the easiest to get a hold off and portray the cultures ideas.
Something i found really unique was that on one of the floors, there was this huge shrine. I never seen one in person and this shrine was a very culture based and religious one and it was just an amazing sight to see. It was huge and all up in your face once you got off the staircase.
I ended up taking a lot of pictures of the artifacts and paintings in the museum but my favorite had to be this giant face that was just sticking up on the wall. According to the description, this is the face of Hatha Dya or the “Devine Grandfather”. The amount of detail that was able to go into this face is just insane. The material used here copper alloy and its just crazy to see all the little ridges on the headpiece and as well as on the facial features (mouth and eyebrows).
Anyways heres proof of me being here taking a half faced selfie with the “Devine Grandpa”.
A Nerd with Board Games
A few weeks before the term actually started, I picked up a club schedule from the Student Life department. I looked through all of the clubs and while I found some interesting ones, I became interested in this one club. A few weeks after the clubs opened, I decided to attend a GIM for a table-top gaming club, also known as the GRID. The first time I went to a GIM, I found out that they weren’t even hosting it yet! So I waited two more weeks for it to host one, and finally I attended the second meeting. I went in, introduced myself, and was immediately covered in board games and memes.
My face in the club-room shared by three different clubs.
It was pretty nice! I met someone who was willing to host a RPG board game and spent the rest of the meeting discussing plans for it. There were so many board games I had never seen before, and I finally got the opportunity to play The Settlers of Catan at my next meeting, and while I lost, it was an amazing experience to share a board game experience with peers!
I visited the club-room some time after the first meeting and found out it was actually shared by three clubs: The GRID, The Anime Club, and the Environmental Cooperation Organization if I recall correctly. It has become somewhere I visit when I wanna relax and play or observe some board games. All in all, it was a pretty great find for me.
Team Baruch Info Session!!!
On Tuesday, October 18th, I attended the TEAM Baruch Informational Session! I had first heard about Team Baruch at Freshman Orientation, when I stated bombarding all of my orientation leaders with questions, and they began asking me about my interest in TEAM Baruch. Because I was just starting out in college, I generally wanted to keep a low profile and simply get used to college life, not jump into a million things straight away. I already knew how stressful it could be joining a lot of clubs when I went to high school, so I thought to myself, “I know I don’t want to jump right into this again.” However, when I attended the Success Network Boot camp in August, it had a large impact on that original decision I made. I was so intrigued by the possibility of being a peer mentor, and being a guide of sorts for incoming freshman, because my peer mentor and orientation leaders were that for me. I felt welcomed and a part of something when I walked into both the Success Network Boot camp and Orientation, and knowing that TEAM Baruch had a large part to play in both most certainly grabbed my interest. I know for a fact my transition wouldn’t have been as easy if I had decided to take my first couple of months by myself.
The meeting had several parts throughout, mainly consisting of general information from the administrators, (such as how to fill out the application and the entire selection process, the roles that TEAM Baruch members apply for and take on.) I also heard the exciting trips that the entirety of TEAM Baruch goes on, to build their leadership skills and solidify their bond as one team, which sounds amazing! Also, hearing from three current TEAM Baruch members themselves was helpful, and hearing their first hand takes and their experiences with balancing these jobs/roles, and still remain academic and social role models was great to hear and see. I was so curious about the TEAM Baruch leadership program, because it was so similar to the leadership program conducted at my old high school, but I never got a chance to apply. Therefore, I’d love to join TEAM Baruch as the chance to my a positive role model for next years incoming freshman, but to get the chance to do what I wish I had. I’m glad I was able to attend the meeting and get a further insight of how this can shape me into the type of person I’d like to become at Baruch.
Hackathons aren’t just for nerds!
I’m serious when I’m making that statement. As a nerd myself (and very proudly so), I’d like to say that hackathons are not these super exclusive events for the “techy” types. Sure, some of them have their merit/skill requirements. However, for the majority of them, all you need is your interest in attending, and maybe a laptop.
The majority of them include a competition of some sort that happens over the course of the event. For example, a certain problem or challenge is given, and the task is to create a program or application responding to that problem. Teams are assembled, and people have a certain amount of time to design, test, and create their solution. Then, the projects are presented in front of a panel of judges, and a winner is declared.
Now that might turn off some people. Wouldn’t you need coding experience to even create a program? Yes, but who says you have to code?
If you’re not knowledgeable on the programming side of things, there’s still room for you to participate. If you’re the artsy type, creating eye-popping graphics for your team can be your main task. And, after all, presentation is the most important!
If you don’t believe yourself to be talented in anything, then speak up when an idea comes to mind. Communication is key, and you might just be the start of a great idea!
At the end of the day, whatever talent you might have (or don’t have) will be a valuable asset to your team. Hackathons are social events at its core, and they bring strangers together to make something great. And also, it isn’t the Olympics, everyone wins something, like t-shirts or other cool stuff.
I’m just saying, give it a try at least once!
