Author: j.petillo

On Thursday, November 9th I was able to attend the South Asian Student Association’s (SASA) “From Ideas to Reality” Resume Building Workshop. I felt the need to attend a resume building workshop as a resume is one of the most vital things to simply have, let alone be a good one, in order to even be considered for a job and can be the “make it or break it” aspect in getting hired or not.

Now, your resume is what sets you apart from other job applicants, so it is crucial to have a professional, strong resume- which is what these workshops are there for. The upperclassmen of SASA had the mission of helping other students create and properly format a resume; along with other tips and tricks. This workshop was very helpful as no only did SASA just offer tips for building a resume but also had someone that you could talk to for help on how to deal with job interviews, they offered to take professional head-shots, and “most importantly” had pizza and refreshments!

A member of the SASA, an upperclassmen named Lav was the lucky man who sat down and spoke with my friends and I; explaining to us how a resume should be formatted, the importance of certain information and how its presented in a resume, and other little pointers to try and maximize our potential of landing a job in the future.

Overall I had a good experience because I do feel like I learned a lot and I am most definitely motivated to create my own official resume as I did attend this without previously having my own. But with that being said, I  now do understand the importance of a resume  and feel confident that I will be able to have a solid one for my first time making one thanks to the workshop. 

On Thursday, September 14th, I was able to attend the Study Abroad fair in the auxiliary gym. I’ve always wanted to study abroad and experience different cultures, different ways of life, etc. I knew that this fair would be great to attend as it would provide me with info that could assist me in eventually studying abroad. I’m interested in visiting a number of countries so I went and conversed with the spokespeople and grabbed flyers of every country(specifically the city in which the university is in) that could be a possible destination for me in the future ; there are just so many that are appealing. During the hour and a half or so i spent meandering around the gym I ended up with a number of cities/countries I could travel to such as: Zurich-Switzerland, Berlin-Germany, Galapagos Islands-Ecuador, Stockholm-Sweden, Tokyo-Japan, Amsterdam-Netherlands, Copenhagen-Denmark, Ghent-Belgium, and Madrid-Spain.

The best part about this fair and what I feel assisted me the most with learning about studying abroad was being able to speak to the foreign students of Baruch telling me about studying abroad in their respective countries to gain sort of a first hand perspective. One student in particular named “Henri De Bel” from Belgium spoke to me for an extended period of time and I was able to learn that the college system is very different in Europe- where basically you just have to show up for exams.(yay, no class!) It is also very common and easy to travel through Europe by train to visit different countries during the semester, and a great part of it is that you get to meet students originating from all over the world.

At the end of the fair, I was satisfied in hearing all the great things of studying abroad and seeing all these amazing possible destinations. I’m definitely looking forward to taking advantage of this magnificent opportunity.

During this past Thursday’s club hours I was able to attend my first General Interest Meeting (GIM) for the Absolute Adrenaline Club. Coming into college I knew i would have to get involved in student life, so I decided to try and see if I could join a club that peaked my interest and offered something that I really wanted to be a part of for my first student life experience.

The Absolute Adrenaline Club seemed great for my first club as when I read about them; their mission as a club was clear and pleasing to me. This club is a social/athletic club that focuses on an athletic/healthy lifestyle while trying to have fun by organizing both indoor and outdoor activities for members to partake in such as sports days, hiking, 5k runs, paintball, snowboarding, etc. I like to think that I am an athletic and outdoor person, so this club felt like the perfect fit and I just had to join.

On Thursday afternoon, the GIM was started off by the president of the club- George- a rising junior. George gave me and the rest of the students there a warm welcoming and a great overview of the club and what it has to offer. After a slideshow presentation, the rest of the club committee introduced themselves, we played a couple of icebreakers, and all the students were offered baked ziti and refreshments. It’s safe to say that Absolute Adrenaline made a good impression on me. I signed up for their biweekly newsletter and plan on attending their next meeting/first event which will officially make me part of the club.

I was specifically intrigued by the sports day, paintball, snowboarding, and hiking they plan on doing as by attending these events is how I am planning to get involved. Sports day is a day in the gymnasium where club members can let loose, forget about school and just get together to play any sport they please. A weekend of paintball is planned to take place in November which is projected to be their biggest event. Snowboarding and hiking happens outside of the school and is planned as a social event with friends within the club.

I anticipate to have a fun time in this club and am looking forward to socializing and living a more active, healthy lifestyle.