Author: s.hassan4

Last week, I visited the 9/11 Memorial and it was my first time visiting the actual memorial. Even though I am always around the place, I never felt inclined to visit the memorial. I decided to give it a go so I can write this blog post. I didn’t expect much because I had already seen many pictures of it on the internet, and besides, how much can there be to a memorial? However, I was truly astounded by the beauty of the place when I got there. The atmosphere had completely changed. Whether it was patriotism or tourism, it felt as if everyone there had something to bond over with each other. The vibes were of warmth and unity.

My mother used to work in one of the towers and she fell in love with it. Growing up, I heard a countless number of stories about her time working in the World Trade Center. She would tell her stories with great enthusiasm and after every story, she would stress how much she wanted to go back to her time there. When I was a baby, my mom used to take me to the World Trade Center frequently. There are way too many pictures of baby me in front of the buildings. Since my mom came here when she was very young and had to establish herself from virtually nothing, the towers symbolized hope and success for her. The twin towers were her America and working in one of them was her form of the American Dream. Having said all that, it was pretty emotional to be standing there and realizing that the towers that once stood there so tall and so boldly were no longer there. However, it was heartwarming to see that the victims of  9/11 were being honored in such a fine and respectful manner.

 

I was confused and overwhelmed as I went through the list of clubs at Baruch. Baruch has many different clubs to cater to different kinds of students who possess different interests and ambitions in mind. I had no idea what clubs would interest me and where I would best fit in. I wasn’t halfway through the list when my friend, Rafal Wobbeltrovsky, texted me asking if I would like to go check out Toast Masters Club with him. He mentioned that it was a club focused on public speaking and that it helps in the development of astounding public speaking skills. That quickly caught my attention.

I developed a passion for public speaking at a young age. I admire people who have the power to impact people positively through their ability to speak well. I hope to be a public speaker one day, regardless of my career, and this is why I found Toast Masters interesting. I saw it as an opportunity to develop my public speaking skills and gain confidence by speaking in front of the 70+ members it currently has. Mike, Toast Master’s president was very welcoming and enthusiastically ironed out all the details of the club. He told me I had a lot to look forward to after I briefly mentioned my passion for public speaking. Mike also mentioned that improvisation was a part of what they do. He said members are given random prompts and are asked to give a short speech about the given topic. That sounded fun because that gave members flexibility and the room for creativity to say whatever they wanted pertaining to the prompt. I did that all the time in high school. In fact, that’s how I got my 12th-grade Economics teacher to think so highly of me. I am glad Rafal wobbeltrovsky told me what Toast Masters was about because I would have never guessed otherwise.