m.kim20 – Freshman Seminar Fall 17 CRA

The Whitney Museum

Like many others in my block, I went to the Whitney Museum for my English class. All of us except for two people are in the same FRO class, so we planned to take the opportunity to use this class trip as our third blog post for the semester. I went to the new building for the Whitney Museum multiple times throughout high school, and it’s my favorite one. There are so many floors and the seasonal exhibitions are always so interesting to see. Also, the outdoor view is great, especially at night, and walking on the High Line afterwards is my definition of a day well spent.

This time, the exhibition that I visited talked about protests in America throughout history. There were so many art installations that went against the typical painting/drawing on walls. There was a room with a bunch of trophies that represented an incident of police brutality. Another piece that I enjoyed was actually a video. It was named Free, White and 21 where a woman of color talks about the different events throughout her life where she faced discrimination. At the end of the video, there is a clip where she wraps her face with toilet paper and puts sunglasses, gloves, and a beach hat while saying, “It’s O.K. though, I’m free, white and 21,” which made me laugh. I learned so much through these artworks and it’s always interesting to see how artists portray similar topics differently through different mediums. Every time I visit the museum a lot of their exhibitions portray groups of people that face discrimination such as people of color, women, the LGBTQ+ community, etc.

Being a First Generation American

When you grow up as a first generation American, you have a different perspective of the world. You see people murmuring racist slurs and imitating your parents’ accent. You see the surprised face expressions when you speak fluent English. You see your parents fight and shed tears to earn money to support you. You feel useless as you try to translate things you don’t understand to your parents. You feel angry seeing the way people treat and undermine your parents. You feel sorry for not living up to their expectations and not achieving their American Dream. You feel frustration when they apologize and say, “I’m sorry for not being able to support you 100%.” That sentence always makes me feel like shit. “No, don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.” I want to say, but those words mean nothing at that point. We just stare at the floor, desperate and wondering what lies ahead of us. What type of struggle we’re going to face next. But I have hope. I know that we can make it through, because we have each other. As long as we stick as a family, we can achieve anything, maybe one day we can even achieve the American Dream.

Bloomberg Workshop

When I first heard about the Bloomberg Workshop, I had no idea what to expect because I have never heard of this software before. To be really honest, I thought it was somehow connected to the previous Mayor Bloomberg. But I learned that the Bloomberg Terminal was a program used to keep track of different companies and stocks. It was very interesting to me, even though I was still very confused by the end of the workshop. I knew very little about stocks, and seeing all those numbers split into two computer screens accompanied by a colorful keyboard was very hectic at first. But as the instructor taught us the basics, I learned how to find the different stocks and data a company had. It was very interesting to see the history of different companies and their products. For example, the data for iPods were discontinued in 2014 (I think, I forgot) due to it’s decline in popularity and demand.

I would say that this workshop gave me my first ever insight in the world of economics and finance. Stocks had always seemed very intimidating and confusing to me but this workshop showed me that with a little bit of learning, it’s not as hard as it seems. Of course, all of it is still confusing since the instructor just taught us how to work the program. It also made me proud to be part of a school that provides access to extremely pricey programs like these. Maybe one day I’ll be more comfortable with the program, but it was definitely interesting to learn about something completely new.

DSP Brother’s Panel

Recently I went to the Brother’s Panel for the Baruch Business Fraternity DSP (Delta Sigma Pi). I had already gone to one of their General Interest Meetings and I really enjoyed the sense of community there so I decided to learn more about the frat through the panel. I was actually pleasantly surprised that a lot of the stories the brothers told were relatable. For example, one of the panelists is currently majoring in Graphic Communications and minoring in Psychology. At a first glance, a lot of people might be taken aback at her choice of majors at a business school, but she talked about how she wanted to pursue art, but not strictly in art. So she compromised by taking her interest in art and applying it to business with marketing. In high school, I studied graphic design and film and grew an interest in it, and even considered applying to SVA, but I didn’t want to go to a strictly arts school. The other panelists also mentioned their different experiences as a freshman and how they grew professionally and mentally through college with the help of the frat and the different internships they landed. It made me more comfortable in my current position because I thought I was behind everyone else since I’m currently Undecided.

DSP — With one of the “brothers” and two more of them photobombing in the background.

It was also really cool to see people who started in the same position as me land internships in Publicis, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and other well known companies. Like I said before, this was my second interaction with the frat, and yet there were so many people I couldn’t stop talking to. In a school as large as Baruch, it’s so easy to get lost, but it was nice to see a community with such a friendly and strong bond, and be very professional as well. This experience definitely expanded my perspective and knowledge of the college student life, and has made me motivated to do my best as well as enjoy the college life ahead of me.