September 2017 – Page 2 – Freshman Seminar Fall 17 DMC

Ascend Club

I went to Ascend Club’s meeting last Thursday. It was awesome that you could see many people which were moving in a dark, crowded room, just like the elevators we took during the freshmen orientation. There were five group leaders of the club talking about how to success on some majors such as finance, and so most of the people there are majoring in finance and accounting. Some of the people are very funny. They were keeping joking as some ice-breakers. Some of them looked very funny and I believe they were thinking about their due assignments like me. So they first introduced themselves and their groups like what they do. They informed us about the inner structure of the club, such as the different departments within the club and what will happen if we attend the Ascend Club. And they actually talked about many of the benefits of the club. People in different groups are doing things a little bit different but generally they are looking forward to meeting their mentors to learn how to make your resume cool. The numerous opportunities were really attractive that after dressing yourself you may meet many business owners of those big company. You can talk many things to them about like being a good employee and etc. After the intro they turned on the lights, we entered a free talking session. I like soda there the most since I was thirsty, noodles were also good. As for the small meat balls, I have only one doubt. Why is every club doing that for us? Anyway. Goodnight and see you guys tomorrow.

All right then.

Honor societies

So I didn’t know which club to go or where to join for enrichment I accidentally bumped into the Honor societies where they were giving free food!!! It was really cool that some clubs give free food and I got to ask questions about what they do in their club and bunch of other things. As much as I would like to join a club sadly I can’t really join one because of personal reasons as well as having no time to participate. So I would go for details on what I did to make this long. I went with a friend to walk around the campus and other places to see if there were any activities around. We saw this and decided to see what was happening and I believe this was on the 9th floor of the new building. We went there and saw that they were giving free food. So we joined and decided to ask some questions regarding what they do. I asked them what the point of this club? They answered that this club was for a variety of reasons that include as supporting students with leadership, cultural liberty, and help them develop as young leaders and another bunch of stuff (sorry I forgot) It was really cool and hopefully there would be a chance I can join club that interests me and I would try to look around more to see if there’s anything more interesting and maybe I would join them in the future if my schedule fits perfectly their club hours or when they do activities. I also enjoyed many other clubs because I went to many of them to see how they were but that was a long time ago and I can’t really remember and I didn’t take pictures at all too so I decided to talk about honor society.

Accounting Club Workshop

On Thursday,September 7, I went to the first meeting of Accounting club at Baruch college. At the beginning of the meeting, we get to eat and drink a little while. Then there are some of the representatives that introduce us to the club.There were a short powerpoint full of picture of the past event and some main point of the club. The meeting includes many informations about the club. Joining the accounting club, not only you get to meet a lot of new friends. But it also gives us opportunities to meet professionals that in the accounting field. There are many other activities later in the semester such as practice interview that can help to prepare ourselves for job interview in our career life. One of them also mention about volunteer event during the semester that we get to contribute back to our community. There are walks that help to donate money, event that read book to those kids that have problem in their family, and event that donate new pajamas to those kids that can’t afford new ones themselve. There are also some requirements to join the club, like attending volunteer events. And there were no membership fee to join. Then there are some icebreakers that we play. It was a sets of picture that are being zoomed in and we have to guess the picture was. I though it was a fun activity to play. The meeting were overall intersting. We get know more new friends and the activities were fun. The representives show to be very enthusiastic, which it help the others to be active. There are some social media accounts that were on the powerpoint that we can follow. I think I will follow up the later event of the accounting club. Maybe I can also look around other club,there might be others that is also intersting.

Writing Workshop (9/14/17)

The writing workshop was simply a breath of fresh air. I never thought that such a place would have very few students using it nor the fact that the workshop itself is quite a petite rectangular room. On September 14, during my break from English after it ended around 12:00 pm that day, I rushed towards the vertical campus, visited the cafe for my daily sweet black tea and either a blueberry muffin or oatmeal cookie. Indeed, I was in a rush since when I left the cafe I had ten minutes before the session started. I power walked to the express elevators and made it on time. The general area where the staff of the writing center is quite limited and it surprised me since I thought it was going to be a large room with a lot of staff there to assist you.

Likewise, after arriving, I showed my Baruch ID card and I was all set to go. The actual room for the workshop was a boardroom style with tables in a rectangle. Colors were mostly beige except for the floor and the remarkably comfortable blue-cushioned seats. After about five to ten minutes getting settled in, our workshop leader arrived and began the lesson. He wrote the basics of reading efficiently on the whiteboard. He wrote down reading strategies such as skimming, skipping, scanning, annotating, and rereading. Also, he showed us how to find the meaning of the text by just reading the cover, the title, publisher, author, and genre. After those things were written down in my binder, we did a simple activity by using these newly acquired skills by reading a completely random business economic article concerning General Electrics. By using the notes before, we simply found out the meaning using contextualization skills, such as visual information, keywords and emphasized words. Honestly, I did not expect such a simple workshop lasting ninety minutes would be a great help in college. I might attend more of these workshops and keep the writing center on my academic radar.

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Starr Career Prep Workshop

At Thursday, September 14, I attended to Baruch CareerFair Prep Workshop during my break time. I saw the information about this workshop on the poster, so I decided to check it out. The Workshop was extremely helpful. There were two hosters: Fischer, and Johnson. The two ladies were introducing how to prepare for the fair; what is the need for the fair. After I sat the for like 20 minutes, I finally knew that this CareerFair Prep Workshop is too early for a freshman like me. And yet, for the respect to hosters, I forced and convinced myself to stay. The fair was almost two hours long. Hosters were teaching the audience how to make a good impression during the fair, like wearing a nice suit, acting properly. Then, the hosters gave the audience an example of a good resume and told us that at the Starr Carrer Development Center, there are SCDC staffs helping people to review their resume. Later, hosters asked people to practice for their introduction: a 30 seconds introdution contains background, career objective, experience, and strengths. Moreover, hosters told the audience what should we bring during the fair, such as Baruch ID and tons of copy of resume. Also, during the Career Fair, people have to line up around NVC cafeteria area. Last, the hosters told the audience, when we speak to the recruiter, be sure to establish an eye-contact, shaking hands, introducing ourselves. Smile and thank the recruiter for the conversation. The workshop was not really boring. I learned a lot of things from this workshop, such as how to prepare for an interview. This would be necessary when I attempt to find a fine job for myself in the future. To sum up, I am looking forward to this nice workshop. It does give people valuable knowledge, helping people to do well in Career Fair.

Baruch E-Sports Association

It was Thursday, September 7, 2017 12:30 pm. Me and my friend Xin Tao decided to check out the E-Sport club event at room 4-180. We were both into gaming, he plays Cs Go, and I play League of Legend, that probably why we become friends so easily. Anyways, we arrive at room 4-180 5 minutes before 12:30, but the room was already pack, there was only one seat left. My friend sat down, and I stood on the side like some other people did. Everyone in the room was discussing about their games. So people were talking about Over Watch, and some people were talking about Cs Go. and more than half of the room were talking about League of Legend. This guy right next to me was telling another person how annoying Singed(a champion in League of Legend) can be. And there was another group not far from me was talking about the new League of Legend updates. Few minutes later, a girl with a hat walk inside the room and introduced herself to the room, her name was Tiffany and she was the president of the club. Then she started to present a power point about the club. I learned that there are 3 competitive teams of League of Legend and 1 Cs Go team in the club which were the 2 most popular games world wide. The teams compete with other schools and play in competitive events. I was very interested, I am sure everyone who plays League of Legend dreams to become a professional player one day. Next, she also introduce other games that are available in the club but there are not enough people to make a team. Finally, we were separated into groups base on what games we played. Everyone in my group have to imitate a skill of their favorite champion, it was really fun. All in all, this club makes me feel comfortable, and I decided to join it.

Baruch Actuarial Society

On Thursday，I attended a club during my break time.It is extremely helpful that if you can come to join which you will hear a lot of information. This is my second time joining “The Actuarial Science Society”，which is great if you plan to major on this field，there are always president , vice president or some club members helping you. If you have any questions，you can come for ask and they wiling to help you. This program provides a useful information to lead you succeed later in the career. They provide you a idea of how internship is important，what are some tips to help you on the interviews，what kind thing you should done before an interview，how to preparing for Actuarial Career and more. On Thursday, which is a ASNY Career Fair, there is a representative shared his experience at ASNY, give students advice for how they can be at their best. One of the most important keys to succeeding at ASNY is coming prepared. In order to prepare for ASNY, students need to do two things: compose a great resume and do some research on the companies with whom they will be talking. The representative talks about tips to do well on a resume, like write one page document that tells companies who you are,and demonstrates you skills to them,skip the objective, be include your personal information, actuarial exams, GPA, and your past internships and make sure to bring resume reviewed by Starr first. Next, the representative provide students how to do well on a interview, for example,make sure to smile,speak with enthusiasm, be positive talk about past experiences, dress appropriately and don’t forget to ask them for a business card at the end of the interview. I enjoy the time participate in this club, which is extremely helpful for me as I begin seeking actuarial positions.It provides me an idea of what to do for Actuarial Career.

Baruch Accounting Society

On Thursday, Sep 7th, I decided to go check out the accounting club because I didn’t have any class around 12 p.m on that day. While I was waiting outside the meeting room, A dude came up and started talking to me, we started to introduce ourselves to each other, I learned that he’s name is Bhavik, and he was there to check out the club too. We briefly talked about major and reasons why we came to this meeting. At first I wasn’t sure how to explain it because I was not that passionate about joining the accounting club, but one thing he said was inspiring, “Well, at least we have some interest in this accounting club or else we wouldn’t be here.” I realized that it’s not about which club to join but try whatever you are interested in. Minutes after we got inside the room, Bhavik introduced me to another dude he knew that was also at that general interest meeting, Sam, it was surprising to me that neither of them is freshmen. After everybody settled down, the club members started to introduce themselves to us, and since it was the first general interest meeting, we started off with an ice breaker where we had to look at a zoomed in picture and guess what it is. I grouped up with Sam and Bee, a nickname I call him and formed a team of 4 and we each give our own opinion, but since it was just a game, we started joking around and guessing silly things. Total of 18 pictures were shown, and the club president announced that there were 2 winning teams, and ironically we are one of them, we gladly accepted the price of 2 pens and a bag of chocolates, and the meeting went on. The members started explaining different fields and areas that the club is involved in, and we can pick one we are interested in to join. Bee, Sam and me all decided to join the planning committee, and that was about it, met two cool guys and had a lot of fun on the first general interest meeting of the Baruch Accounting Society. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, their food/pizzas and cookies were more than enough for everybody compare to the few clubs I went before, but I wasn’t hungry at that time tho :P.

United Chinese Language Association

I attended UCLA on August 31 with my two high school buddies on the right. I didn’t hear about UCLA until they told me about it. They heard about it during Convocation Day, but I must have missed their table. I didn’t really know anything about UCLA other than the fact it’s about Chinese culture. The moment we stepped into the 10th floor, it was packed! There were so many people waiting for their door to open. My friends and I were completely baffled by the amount of people attending to the first general meeting. It proved to me that this club must be really interesting and fun. I mean my friends and I couldn’t even get in the hallway to the door so we were standing near the vending machines. The wait wasn’t that long and the president, himself made his way to greet everyone. We had a small talk together and it was cool to see him so energetic and calm despite the crowded hallway. At that point, I was slowly getting interested in the club since there were so many people here for the club. After 10 minutes, we finally got inside a classroom and it did not fit everyone. There were still people in the hallway trying to listen to the president and past members present on the powerpoint. The powerpoint was short, filled with images of their past events. There was one event that looked really interesting which was their Chinese Lunar event which I hope to participate. After their presentation, they introduced three fun games which included pictionary where we were split into two teams. The energy there was phenomenal and everyone was competitive and wanted to win. The pictures were really funny and my friends and I had a lot of fun screaming the names of the weird drawings. Lastly, they ended with four trays of food and it smelled wonderful. We tried to line up but there were just far too many people in a small room so we left. In the end, I really enjoy their mission and vibe and think I can defiantly attend and participate in their club. I’m looking forward to it!!

Finance & Economics Society （FES)

On Thursday during club hours, I attended the Finance and Economics Society (FES) club meeting where some of the current members of the club, mainly juniors and seniors, shared their experiences interning for companies in different business fields. A panel of six members shared their tips and advice for finding internships and where resources can be found. Resources such as the Starr Development Center is a great program to connect students seeking internships to employers. At the same time, programs such as leadership and mentoring programs offered by clubs and the school are also great opportunities to take advantage in where students have mentors and peers that offer their professional advice. From these programs, students go through training and learn skills required to work in a professional field. The club members suggest that students interested in the business field should start early with finding mentors and networking and building up a resume. To be prepared for interviews, club members advise students to do some research about the job that students are applying to such as watching videos and articles to show interviewers that they at least know the basics. At the same time, club members also suggest that when students become interns, it is important to be aware of their actions and be a like-able team member. Usually since interns will be assigned to a team of professionals and will be working long hours with them, it is important for future interns to collaborate with team members efficiently and build good relationships and bonds. It is important that students have good time management to work on assigned projects and coming to work on time. Similarly, club members remind students to be ready for negative feedback and expect for unexpected and challenging assignments. At the end of the interview, based on their experiences, the club members all agreed that it is important to “work smarter, not harder.”