Freshman Seminar Fall 17 CFB

Author: c.andrade

Career Workshop- Finance 101

Hello all. This is the last blog post of this three-part series. After much insistence, I’m going to write this blog post about a past career workshop that I thought I did not need to blog about.  Using my memory, I will try to recreate this experience.

It was on a Wednesday of the 25 of October. The room seemed a little full, but not that full as I expected. Immediately after sitting down, the presentation started. The speaker first addressed the basics of finance like budgeting and other things. I then received some pamphlets and papers about finance.

The most interesting thing that I learned was about retirement. I really did not know that you had to save for retirement. I assumed that all occupations would give people pensions for their retirement. In addition, I thought that Social Security would help all retirees, but this program is an uncertainty due to the growing US debt. I also learned about special programs like 401(k) plans that help people to save up before retiring.

This workshop helped me be more mindful of saving up money for later. I also feel more likely to choose jobs that offer some type of pension or 401(k) planning, so that I don’t spend my later years counting every single penny I find. I will try to use the Starr account more so that I can find a job that suits my interests and goals.

 

 

Student Life Post #2

Hi all! As part of the freshmen seminar class, I’m required to post my experiences in several enrichment workshops. This will be the second of three. Here it is.

For my student life assignment, I chose to attend a heritage month event. That is the Latinx Heritage. This event was made to celebrate the great achievements of the Hispanic community in America. It was an honor for me to attend such an event because I saw many people who as myself are proud of their Hispanic ancestry. I myself am a first generation Ecuadorian-American. 

In this event, there were many types of food with Hispanic origins. Some were tacos, arepas, and tostones. These were just some the diverse types of food that were available during this event. In addition to this, the decorations were on point. They had all the flags of Hispanic origins.

I was also pleased with the different types of people I encountered in this event. There were some who seemed like they just arrived yesterday and others who spoke perfect English. I would have never expected to see these types of people in one event, but I was clearly proven wrong. 

This great event is a great testimony to Baruch’s mission of encouraging diversity. As many of our beloved politicians have said, “Diversity is our greatest strength.” This great diversity that we have in colleges help us to meet people from different parts of the world. It helps us to gain a deeper understanding of where this person is coming from and what they stand for. It also helps us to enjoy many different types of food as shown in the Latinx event. Diversity is a great thing for our country because we receive people no matter their intelligence, their credentials, or their economic status. This shows how great America is because everyone is accepted and integrated into neighborhoods where we all get along. Thanks Baruch for embracing great diversity in the campus. Thanks for the Hispanic heritage events. Without your help, I would have felt so left out.  Thanks Baruch for making diversity great again!

 

Academic Blog Post #1

Hi all! As part of the freshmen seminar class, I’m required to post my experiences in several enrichment workshops. This will be the first of three. Here it is.

I chose to do the option of attending an exhibition at a museum. The museum of my selection was the American Folk Museum of Art. Admission to this museum is completely free. When I entered, I thought that this museum was really small, but it turned out to be the gift store. How funny! Eventually, I was greeted to several quilts. They were not ordinary quilts, but they were quilts made for war. In addition to this, these quilts were all made exclusively by men. These quilts had several geometric patterns that made them stood out. The exhibit also had a redcoat (uniform worn by infantry) which was used extensively by the British Empire. All in all, this was a pleasant experience. Although the collection of the museum is somewhat limited, the exhibit itself made up for its size. I generally get bored by museums, but this one proved to be an exception.
This event contributed to my first semester in Baruch by teaching me not to judge something before experiencing it. Before I even planned this visit, I was contemplating doing another academic enriching activity, but I decided to give it a go. It turned out to be great! Instead of having a mindset that something might be boring, I should try to check it out before I make assumptions. At first, when I got assigned my classes at Baruch, I thought that my classes would be hard, but they are less difficult than what I have imagined. People sometimes assume that things are something, but when it is time to encounter them they turn out to be something completely different than what you would have ever expected.
Moral of the story is, do not assume anything as a given because it will be a given that you are mistaken.