Recently I attended Baruch Voices in support of a friend from our fro class, Tammy. As I listened to the performances before her, I felt like I learned so much more about our school. There are people all around the world in Baruch whom presented their thoughts on this stage. Some with insecurities and some appeared confident. They all pulled themselves together to share what was meaningful to them. It was interesting to see them do this and put in so much effort into their freshman monologue, than what the average student would do. I kept thinking about why they were doing this, and specifically for whose benefit. Some had a funny purpose but others had a deeper sincerity. The conclusion, I came to was that these students were looking for this opportunity. It was finally their chance to join a group of others who wanted to express something for an audience to hear them . What other time are they gonna get to be able to go on stage and share just purely their feelings? One girl I specially liked, performed a piece just purely about her hair, expressing her confidence and emotions about all experiences with her hair. I could tell how hard it was for her to speak through it, however she stuck to a loud clear voice holding her head up high. I was proud of a speech like that. It made feel kinda like maybe one day I’ll be able to do something like that, no matter how scary or unlike me that is. Tammy’s speech about ballet and hiphop made me relate in ways as I was a dancer myself. I knew she was nervous perhaps prior, but on stage she seemed as casual and natural as can be. I was proud of myself in that moment. I was proud to be apart of Baruch and just realized that moments and events like this, we should cherish, because although their may be many food festivals, things like this don’t come around often. Perhaps next time I’ll give it a try too.