Tag: Student Life

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!

 

I attended the United Chinese Language Association’s (UCLA) General Interest Meeting #2.  UCLA is a club that strives to promote and educate students of the Chinese culture. This was one of the clubs I was interested in and signed up for during the club fair on convocation day. At the meeting, I was able to meet some of the few representatives of the club, as well as other first year students. The club members introduced to us some of the events that would take place such as the Mid-Autumn (Mooncake) and Lunar Festival. I also learned that in order to verify as a UCLA member we have to attend 1 GIM, 1 Social event, and 1 Chinese Learning Program. As a whole group we split into two teams and played Google family feud and a zooming in picture game. Chinese food was also served and everyone was able to get to know each other. Attending this event in general was really meaningful. I’m glad I went not just only for the FRO assignment. My experience was really fun and it was nice being around people who have a similar background to me. Being someone who lived in the U.S. for most of my life it’s nice to be able to learn more about my culture and where I’m from. This is officially my first step in taking part of Baruch Student Life and I really hope on continuing of being an active member in this club.

For my first blog, I attended the Family Feud night hosted by USG for Latinx Heritage Month. I had a lot of fun with my friends Monica, Elda, Shazath, and Anthony.

We were not a part of the teams actually playing in the Latinx themed family feud games, but we participated with the audience by shouting out answers. The questions were both Hispanic and Baruch related questions like “Name famous Hispanic athletes” and “What are the types of clubs and organizations at Baruch”.

It was a very welcoming environment that made everyone feel comfortable to be there even if they were not Hispanic. The “families” were made up of various student organizations at Baruch including Lexicon and LASO. Everyone made everyone feel included and as though they were all good friends just hanging out.

I really enjoyed this experience because it allowed me to talk to different types of people and people that I don’t always see in my classes. I made a new friend at this event, too. His name is Zayn and he is a senior here at Baruch. He is studying business and plans to graduate at the end of the upcoming spring semester. If it weren’t for this event, I probably would never have met Zayn. He is in the picture that is embedded with the blog post. He’s standing next to Shazath with the peace sign.

I can definitely see myself coming back to one of these events because it was great. For example, I would definitely like to attend the Let’s Eat event on Thursday, September 28. Not only would I learn how to prepare healthy Latinx cuisine, but I will also learn how to make it on a budget. This makes it even better because life is expensive.

I really had a lot of fun and I can’t wait to attend more student life events.

For my student life activity,  I attended the Vietnamese Student Association’s DIY Summer Roll/Language workshop today.  I decided to check out VSA because after going to their first General Interest Meeting, I felt that I really clicked with some of the members and I really liked the atmosphere that was in the club. The other reason I wanted to join was because I’m half Vietnamese and I want to learn more about my culture and how to speak the language since I was never taught about it.

During the first GIM, I got to meet a lot of the e-board and a lot of new faces. I met someone named Jonathan and I got really close with him. We found out that we both went to the same high school and we just reminisced about our high school times. He was also to help me out with where to buy my textbooks so I’m really grateful for him saving me a few bucks.

I ate Summer Rolls a lot since I am half Viet, but I never really knew how to roll one. Tam who was leading both the DIY Summer Roll and Language Workshop taught to me in a really simple way. He also got to plug in the club’s YouTube Channel.

During the Language workshop, I got to learn how to order some of the popular food choices in a Vietnamese restaurant and how to do a simple greeting and say thank you. I was ecstatic to learn some of the phrases of my culture.

Overall my experience in the club was great. I really liked it and how they have language workshops where I can learn more phrases.  I plan to come back to the next VSA event.

I attended the Baruch Accounting Society’s first General Interest Meeting. As of now, I don’t intend to major in accounting (finance), but many of my friends do and so I decided to tag along. Given that accounting happens to be a related field, I figured that it couldn’t hurt. Besides, there’d probably be food there at the very least. The members began their presentation with a description of the club and its history. Right off the bat, I was surprised to hear that the Society has been around since 1968, making it one of Baruch’s oldest clubs. That kind of longevity is very impressive seeing as how it is the result of the efforts of many generations of Baruch students and because it is a testament to the club’s value. They then discussed membership requirements, which include attending a certain amount of meetings and events, and volunteering a few times from what I recall. That seems to be the standard for many of Baruch’s clubs. A membership fee, however, was not one of them, which was relieving to hear. The members went on to discuss in further detail the opportunities that membership provides. For myself, their most attractive talking point was their massive amount of events, ranging from meetings to informational sessions, many of which involve speakers, recruiters, and other professionals coming in to interact with students. Such individuals certainly have a lot of knowledge and insight from their experiences in their respective fields that they can offer us. The Society also organizes a Semi-Annual Networking Luncheon for the purpose of networking and forging relationships with other students and professionals alike. I honestly came for the food, but that was before I knew a single tidbit about the Accounting Society. I left very impressed and satisfied for having been there. I am now strongly considering joining.