Tag: Student Life

It was a mere 36 hours before my blog posting was due for Freshman Seminar and I still hadn’t gone to an event. Luckily my friend, Dung, saved me. She was going to a suicide prevention event and I tagged along. Once we arrived I was bombarded with all types of statistics about suicide in college. One man said that “8 percent of students in college have thought seriously about suicide.” It was at that very moment I realized I was part of the lucky 92%. Another woman told me about how she is trying to break down the stigma associated with mental health. She told me that the stigma is that we look down upon people that have mental health issues, but when someone has a physical issue most people are understanding. She told me her goal was to get people to think of mental health in the same way we think about physical health now, and to understand that there is nothing wrong or weak about asking for someone’s help. She then offered me a red stress ball, which I politely declined. I also didn’t understand how that small squishy ball would prevent someone from committing suicide, since a majority of suicide victims commit suicide as a result of depression rather than stress or anger. I think a pint of ice cream would be more helpful at that point then a cheap red ball made in china. However, I learned a lot from the experience and  now have a new outlook on suicide. I will be now be keeping my eyes peeled for those 8% that struggle, and hand them some ice cream, when and if I find them.

 

 

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.

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.