FRO Fall 2017 Section DTJ

For my second blog post I decided to visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. My mother has always loved this museum because of the way it is designed and laid out. It is structured for the most part the same way it has been for the last 150 years. Of course, many key parts have been restored in order to continue allowing the building to house a museum with constant people inside. While walking around I really felt like I was getting as good of a glimpse of the past as possible. Just staring into each living space and trying to imagine how supposedly 7,000 people were in one building was just a horrifying thought to me. It was then I realized why my mother is such a big advocate of the museum. Aside from the visualization aspect of it, there is also an educational component. I learned about the harsh living conditions of immigrants in the late 1800’s- early 1900’s. These immigrants all had different backgrounds and came from different parts of the globe and came here for one common goal, freedom. I think this is a very special museum and anybody who has a chance should definitely check out the Tenement Museum.

For my second blog, I decided to pay a visit to the American Museum of natural history. I visited several exhibits including the Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway. there I learned more about the earth and solar system. Then I proceeded to visit the North American forest exhibit where it showed us the different types of forests and talked about deforestation. right next to this exhibit was the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life. Where you’re immediately greeted by a giant whale.

It had all kinds of animals such as otters, dolphins, and even a model of a sperm whale eating a giant squid. The next exhibit was the Bernard family hall of North American mammals. where it had a wide range of animals including grizzly bears, moose, bison, and dears, lots of dears. I also went to the new exhibit the opened in June. it’s called Inside You. the exhibit was about the bacteria the lives inside the body, and how they affect it. in there I learned about a new theory that gut bacteria might be a cause of autism and that changing it in a certain way may treat it. Unfortunately, I did not have time to go and visit the special exhibits. So I just visited a random exhibit and snapped this as photo proof.

For my second blog post, I decided to choose the category that had the option of joining a club. I chose this category because I recently joined a club here at Baruch. I did not spend much time surveying the different groups I could have been a part of during the given club hours. I was actually referred by a sophomore at Baruch who I met during my first weeks as a student here. He told me I had to join Tamid at Baruch, and followed to explain all the benefits it had to offer. I heeded this guy’s advice and recently was accepted to Tamid at Baruch which I am very excited about. Tamid is a “student-led, apolitical business organization that develops professional skills through hands-on interaction with the Israeli economy,” as per the Tamid at Baruch website. This was incredibly enticing to me, as I spent an entire gap year, this past year, living in Israel and exploring the land while also engaged in theological studies and deep critical thinking. I decided I would apply to the club in order to put more of my free time toward productivity and further education. After completing my application and a phone interview with the club’s President,

 I enthusiastically accepted the offer to join the club, once notified of my acceptance. I look forward to learning about both consulting and investing, as well as participating in any networking opportunities that may come forth from Tamid at Baruch.

 

Today I attended the Hillel at Baruch. The Hillel is a Jewish origination/club where any and all Jews from Baruch can go to during the day and meet and talk to other Jews in the school. The Hillel also offers a wide variety of helpful Jewish services that many Jews can find helpful when adjusting to Baruch and college life. First off, The Hillel offers the use of Tehilim, Which Jews use every day to pray. They also offer prayer services where basically, Jews can pray with 10 people (a minyan) which would make the prayer in a way “extra holy”. The Hillel also offers kosher food in an event that someone doesn’t know where else to get however it is relatively easy to find in the city but still definitely an added benefit. It is also nice to be able to speak to other Jews, it’s easier to relate with them as most of us grow up similarly. In all the Hillel is an amazing institution at Baruch, their wide range of services provided are definitely a huge pro for Jews who need to adjust to city and college life. They do their best to make college life as enjoyable and simple as could be.

 

 

 

 

I had the pleasure of attending the LASO General Interest Meeting this Thursday. The atmosphere was very welcoming and many people were present for this event as well. They started the event by introducing some members of the group, all while getting support from their friends, and presented to us things we needed to know about the club. They informed us on how to join and what they do as a club. When we got to the middle of the presentation we were given the chance to get up and get some tacos. LASO is a club that I am genuinely interested in because of the diverse environment and, like I said before, the welcoming attitude that they have towards everyone regardless of where they come from. They did mention that this club consist of getting to know people and basically forming a tight knit community within the club, and a tight knit community is something that I think will help me get through these four years of college. There are also many positive bonuses that come from joining LASO, you get to meet knew people and they have multiple opportunities and internships throughout the year. I would love to be apart of this club group and interact with it more as the years go on. 

 

This experience was my first of many at Baruch with a culture other than my own. I attended the Family Feud event under Latinx Heritage Month. I spent my time in the audience watching as the clubs went head to head. It was entertaining, and interesting to see how different other cultures are compared to my own. Other members of the audience got the chance to go up and play alongside the teams, and I have to say, they did pretty well. Some of the clubs that participated were LASO, the Ecuadorian Club, Lexicon, and USG. The event was enjoyable overall, but I do have a few comments about how we can improve events like this. For starters, if you plan to serve food at the event, which is highly recommended by me, a broke college student, please serve the food while it’s hot. I understand that you want to ensure people don’t just come for the food and leave, but a whole hour and a half before we eat? that’s a bit much in my opinion. The pizza, once we got it, was greasy and cold. Another note, if you plan to serve beverages, which is also recommended, please, have ice, or at least let the drinks be cold, just anything but room temperature. Because trust me, cold pizza and hot soda equals at bad trip to the bathroom. In all, this was a great experience and I can’t wait to see where else my life at Baruch takes me.

Over the weekend my sister and I went to “Metropolitan Museum of Art”. There were surprisingly not that many people when we were there, so the line was pretty quick and the first thing I noticed when I walked in is how

big the place is, the curling date extremely high, and the room where I was had clear white walls which made the place look even bigger. The first room was full of Ancient Roman statues and different sculptures. It was really amazing looking at something that you know have been made thousands of years ago, and it just leaves you thinking of how advanced the people of that time were.

 

After walking around a little bit more the room that stood out to me the most was the one about African culture. The room was full of ancient African masks and sculptures, one thing that crossed my mind when I was there was, how did they manage to create a hollow base with such a small

opening hole and such a big base, it just seems impossible giving the time period. Also I learned that many of these exhibits are from all over Africa, most of the exhibits were from South Africa however there were also a lot of sculptures from Sudan and Central Africa. Over all I really enjoyed the trip and surprisingly had a lot of fun.

 

 

Unicef General Interest Meeting

 

         For my first blog, i decided to go to the Unicef@Baruch. When I walked in the club members were very friendly and offered me pizza. The class in which the meeting was held was filled to the brim. They then talked about Unicef’s mission to help children around the globe by giving them education, protection, and food. I learned about the struggles children go through around the world. We then played an icebreaker about what we had in common with each other, and I got to learn more about the other people in the room with me. After that, we learned about the roles of the club members and the importance of them. All in all, it was an interesting experience and I got to learn more about Baruch