FRO Fall 2017 Section DTJ

I went to an event hosted by the club chit chat. When I walked in they had chine food that was just being finished eaten and drinks. They also had music playing. People were playing some type of game of charades. Everyone was in a line and the ones from that line acted it out and the audience gave suggestions for them to act out. After this the leaders gave a presentation about chit chat and what the club was about as well as information about future events in the months to come. The leaders of the club introduced themselves during this presentation. It seemed like a very relaxed fun oriented atmosphere. One thing that made this club distinctive for most is that it wasn’t an academic or sports based club. This club has no outstanding requirements such as try outs, class seniority and GPA. This club prides itself in being a fun relaxed environment which is great to have because the ability to just have fun and socialize in a relaxed environment can really decrease the stress of some students. Chit Chat is a club that is meant for getting to know people. This is particularly good in a commuter school like Baruch because it gives people the opportunity to get to know each other.

 

NABA or the national association for black accountants is an organization at Baruch that held its general interest meeting last week. On convocation day, I was approached by a few members of NABA and I was given the same pitch that many of the other clubs and groups had been using all day.  But for some reason, the pitch given to me by the NABA members stuck with me throughout the day unlike many of the others I had heard that day and made me want to learn more about the group and what it does. It was because of my peaked interest in NABA and my need to fulfill my FRO enrichment workshop requirement that I decided to attend NABA’S general interest meeting. When I first walked into the room in which the meeting was to be held I was slightly surprised to see the number of other people who were also curious about what NABA at Baruch is about. A few minutes after I walked in the members of the NABA at Baruch introduced themselves and began a slideshow showcasing what it is like to be a member of NABA at Baruch. They showed off their different on and off campus events and their events out of NYC in places like NOLA and Virginia. Throughout the presentation, they made it clear that they not only care about their own successes but also the success of others as their motto is “Lifting as we as we climb!” Overall the experience was a good and I look for to attending any more events put on by NABA a Baruch.

The Thursday of September seventh was rife with uncertainty for myself. Going into school on that day I knew that it was club day and I had no idea which organization I would want to join. Having the faintest clue which club to join I walked through the doors of the school, the next thing that hit me was the blasting Latino music coming from the second floor. Then, in a few moments, I finally reached the epicenter of the music and there I found something that brought a smile to my face. A crowd of people dancing and having fun with each other in the middle of the dance

floor. This made me happy because it made me think back to my own family’s house parties. My family being of Colombian heritage added to the parallels of this experience and my personal memories. So after being inebriated by the music and the happiness that when along with it I decided to go get more information at the help desk. There the gentleman sold me and I knew I wanted to join the club as soon as possible. I look forward to experiencing the various different Latin cultures involved in this club.

Hey, everyone!

I hope you guys had as much fun doing your enrichment workshops as I did. I was so busy enjoying the activities for Heritage Month at Student Life, I didn’t even acknowledge that I could be utilizing my experience for a First-Year Seminar blog post until Diana (The wonderful woman next to me in the photo booth snaps I’ve attached) suggested we take a picture for First-Year Seminar during Baruch’s Heritage month event on the 2nd floor!

Honestly, I was unaware that we had a countless number of heritage-based clubs until that Thursday. Diana and I started our cultural adventure with the Mamita’s Batata Cream ices that were being given out by ASEDOM (Association Estudiante Dominicano) and then carried on to another table with some delicious empanadas. As we continued with our mini food tour, Baruch College’s very own radio DJ began blasting some hot jams on the large speakers.

At a little after half past noon, Diana and I made our way to the tenth floor to join UCLA (United Chinese Language Association) for their General Interest Meeting. We were caught by surprise when we walked into a room with over fifty people taking up all the seats and most of the tiled floor. Fortunately, we were welcomed in to get comfortable on the floor and proceed with a funny game of Google Feud. After finishing multiple rounds of Google Feud and Guess the Object in the Picture, we all gathered together for the officers of the club to take a massive group photo and went on to enjoy Chinese food. 🙂

-Aniee

 

As I wandered the halls of Baruch with a look of curiosity and determination, I continued on my quest to find the perfect. I stumbled across a room filled with faint sounds of laughter. As I entered I was greeted enthusiastically and things went on from there as we talked about college life and vibed out to cultural music.I got to meet new people and was exposed to different perspectives on life. During club hours I would rush to the room and determine the best route to acquire as much food as possible in the time allotted. The first event that I attended was the Latino Heritage Month Event. I was amazed by the results of what could happen when everyone comes together as a community.I goofed around at the photo booth and was invigorated by the smell of hispanic cooking and my newfound title of musical chairs champion. We sang and danced bachata and had a wonderful time. I then went to the family feud in which I was chosen to assist LASO and help lead them to victory. Although we weren’t first place, we weren’t far behind, and we had a great time in the process. We accepted our prize and ended the night satiating our hunger with cake and slices of pizza. I am amazed by the amount of memories that I already have with LASO at such an early point in the year, and I cant wait to see what’s next.

Choosing what club meeting I wanted to go to was a awfully big conumdrum that I had. After much thought I decided to go to the Baruch Traders general interest meeting. I decided to go to this club meeting because I have been interested in learning about trading stocks so this club seemed to be the exact thing that I was looking for. Although I thought that their would be only a couple of people at this meeting, the Wasserman Trading Floor was packed with people interested in what this club had to offer. The meeting consisted of current members explaining the premise of the club and the basics of how stock trading works. The Baruch Traders club runs a simulated stock market, and together they think of strategies to best make a profit in the simulated stock market. The club then goes to various competitions across the country to compete with other schools to see who has the best strategies to profit from the stock market. Although they only scratched the surface of the complexities of the stock market at their general interest meeting it was enough that now I want to take the time learn more about stock trading on my own. This first club meeting was a lot more different than the clubs that I had been to in high school. While in high school most clubs are only for fun, here at Baruch I noticed that many of the clubs offered not only let you meet new people, but they also teach you skills that can be very useful in your career in the future. I am very excited to continue trying more clubs here at Baruch.

For my student life requirement I decided to attend the UCLA ( United Chinese Language Association ) General interest meeting. I decided to attend this meeting because I was interested in the premise of the club and truthfully I thought it would be a quick way to get rid of my student life requirement. The general interest meeting started off with introductions from the members of the board. They were quick to introduce themselves starting with name, role, then a few quick ways in which they could solidify their “unique” personalities into our heads.

After the introductions we moved on to play some games with the people at the meeting as to get the crowd talking. We played two games If I remember correctly. The first game we played was Google Feud. We split into two teams ( the left side of the room vs the right side ) and battled it out to see who could guess the most common google searches related to the selected theme. It was fun to see the strangeness of google search results on the screen and it made it all the more enjoyable to hear people laugh and talk with each other. The next game we played was “zooooom in”, and the premise was to guess correctly the object on the screen from a close up perspective. Some were definitely impossible to guess but somehow some people in the crowd had figured it out. My only guess was that they were cheating. They just had to be…

When all the games were concluded they brought in food and everyone just stood around eating and talking. Overall I had a good time and everyone was extremely friendly making it more appealing to stay after school and be active at Baruch. 

The Hillel at Baruch is probably the single most important aspect of Baruch to me. Hillel clubs, nationally, are in most universities to give Jewish people on campus a sort of home base. They offer kosher food everyday, daily afternoon prayer services, and most importantly, it is a social meet up spot to meet and hang out with some other Jews on campus. Having the ability to walk into a club and be greeted with open arms to talk about anything whether it is academics, religion or social struggles you may be encountering is amazing. I have heard nothing short of excellent things about Hillel at Baruch and I wanted to check it out for myself. When I first walked in, I immediately saw four familiar faces. I then proceeded on to meeting two or three new people. I became pretty good friends with one of them as well as study in depth about our religion with him once a week after school. When I have a long break in between classes, I will almost always go to the third floor to see if I recognize anyone going towards the Hillel. The Hillel at Baruch is unique and inspiring for Jews who come to Baruch. The feeling you get knowing you always have a place in the building to eat, socialize, pray and just chill is always heartwarming.

To tackle the student life requirement for the blog post, I decided to go to a student club. The first meeting was riveting, compelling and informative. At first I was hesitant to attend, in my brain I connected Unicef with the little orange boxes that people throw spare change in. I thought that the boxes could not possibly help anyone and where not enough to be acknowledged as a club.For me, I thought it was the similar to donating and it would not suffice my urge to help people. Thankfully my friend coerced me to go. That meeting was an eye opener. It started simple enough, we were put into groups and had to do some icebreakers.The group started small but, all of a sudden, it felt like people just kept pouring in. Towards the end of the icebreaker, the room was full and everyone was attentive to what the presentation  was said. We watched a video that demonstrated that Unicef is more than just orange little boxes. They take part of a bigger picture, helping children go to school, get food and vaccinations. Just 10 dollars could provide 300 packets of Micronutrient Powder to help children become stronger during their development. Change does not occur with one person, so that little box might not be a game changer. Yet, if we all help the school get involved and join the club we can make an impactful difference in the lives of children in need. This club has captured my attention and I look forward to attending real meetings and possibly being part of Unicef@Baruch.