Month: November 2017

For my career blog I went to the Starr career development center. There I got to talk to a representative. I already had a job coming into Baruch but it was an easy job that required little to no effort so it didn’t make my life as a student any more difficult. But next semester I start a real job that will take up a good amount of my time. I and the representative talked about good ways I can schedule my classes. He told me all the pros and cons of having a part time job can have on students such as having their averages drop due to much work. However he also explained to me if I can juggle both my job and my requirements as a student at the same time, having this job can really help progress my future. I learned how just building up my résumé can really benefit me and make me stand out compared to other people applying to the same job. He explained how no matter how small or large the job requirements are getting the experience can be very beneficial. After talking to me for about thirty ish minutes and a series of questions he strongly suggested that I take the job. Even though our conversation was no more than about fourth five minutes. I learned so much like how I should schedule my classes and how to maximize my time, which I also learned at FRO. From the help I received at the Starr Career Development Center I was able to make a schedule that will allow me to go to my job but at the same time give myself time to study and keep up with my school work. The last thing he told me that I will try to remember is that if I see myself struggling or my grades start to slip up no matter how good the job is paying to quit right away because school comes first and if I do bad now then my chances of getting a stable job in the future will be bad no matter how much experience I have accumulated.

For my Student Life Blog post I went to the Baruch school gym to play basketball with Nick, Glen and Hafizur. We had just finished our Anthropology class and had a few hours to kill before FRO, and so headed down to the basement gym were we were able to play a few good pickup games. The teams were me, Glen and Nick versus Hafizur and two other students that were also in the gym. The first game we totally crushed, while the second was closer but we still managed to win. We went at it for about an hour and a half, and definitely got some nice exercise. I was highly impressed by my fellow student’s basketball skills, especially Glen’s three point shot, Nick’s post-up game and Hafizur’s  crazy blocks. My shot was pretty off and I didn’t play my best, as I haven’t really been playing much basketball the past few years, but was still able to get some nice plays and shots.  I’m really glad I went and will definitely be going more often in the future. I was able to get some exercise, have fun and meet some new cool people. It’s great that they have a gym at Baruch that’s available most of the time and allows students to play basketball during their free time at school.

Last week I attended a workshop at the Baruch Career Center titled, Let’s Get Starrted: Career Building Blocks for First- and Second-Year Students: Week Four.

After unfortunately arriving about five minutes late to this workshop, I was relieved to find out that the they had not in fact gone in-depth yet and that the instructor was still going over the introductory portion of the workshop, consisting mainly of questions about our general knowledge of Baruch’s student resources. Prior to the workshop I was not too keen on these resources so I wasn’t able to add any input however I was comforted by the fact that most of the other students in the group also did not express much knowledge of Baruch’s resources. Luckily for us the first major component of this workshop was our instructor telling us about Baruch’s many different student resources that could help us build sustainable careers such as SACC, or the Career Development Center, where we can get our résumés checked and gain valuable information through other workshops and events. After having us fill out a handout that assessed our knowledge of Baruch resources, the instructor also emphasized to us that even our professors are a valuable resource for career building information. After learning about that we then went over how important it is to keep a ‘clean’ social media profile because today the majority of companies in the U.S. do background checks on potential employees consisting mainly of their social media profiles. Finally, they then gave us a handout with a few various templates of a good LinkedIn profile and told us how there will be events in the future that will be focused on LinkedIn and how we can build better, more presentable profiles.

About a month or two ago I went to the Natural History Museum with my friends Alex Ayala, Nicholas Montoya, Samanther Berger, and Racquel Romero (from left to right). Nick, Alex, and I started having to wait on a line that, while at first seeming fairly short from the outside, turned out to wind extensively around a large section of the ground floor of the museum’s interior. After waiting on the line for a little over an hour to just purchase our tickets, we then were able to meet up with Racquel and Sam, who were already in the museum despite experiencing an extremely long wait themselves. After finally meeting up, we then all as a group went to various different exhibits within the museum. We went to exhibits such as the hall of biodiversity, which features displays of many different species of animals on earth today.  We also visited the hall of marine life, which features the museums iconic life size blue whale replica, along with many different dioramas of different types of aquatic life. After checking out the museum’s dining area and deciding that the extremely high price for dino nuggets, we finally went to see the dinosaurs exhibit which is also where we took this stunning group photo. All in all this was a fulfilling trip and a very educational way to hang out with my friends!!!

An hour before my second math exam of the year I was panicking as there were still a few topics that I did not fully understand. I had tried to make sense of my notes, done practice problems and even asked friends for help but I still felt like I wasn’t completely ready. It seemed like a lost cause for those topics and I thought I would certainly do poorly on the exam because of them, and perhaps even fail.

Before losing all hope however, I remembered somethingwe had been told about in my First Year Seminar class: the SACC math tutoring center. Quickly I grabbed my handy FRO student handbook, looked up the location and ran up to the 2nd floor. I entered the SACC office and asked if I could get tutoring for Math 2003, to which they thankfully said yes and that there was a group tutoring session going on that I could join. The tutor’s name was Abraham and he was with only one other student. I sat down with them and pulled out my notes and study materials. He asked me what he could help me with and so we went over the problems I was having difficulty with. Though he was fast paced, he went over every step and clearly explained how to do the problems and what I was misunderstanding.I was able to ask questions at any given point and made sure I was actually learning. We also did some practice problems, which was very helpful in teaching the material.

Overall it was a great experience and I left with a much better understanding of the topics I was confused on and with much more confidence for my test. It was very nice and helpful to be able to go in last minute for just 20 minutes and get things explained, though I think I was lucky in this sense and would have to make an appointment nexttime to ensure availability.

On Tuesday November 28th I went to the, ” Mastering The Job Interview: Advanced” Career workshop with Alex and learned some very useful information and skills that will certainly help me with future job interviews. It was located on the 2nd floor in room 290 at 5pm, an hour after our last class of the day (math). Naturally I was pretty tired, however my excitement did not waiver and headed to the event with great enthusiasm.

We arrived early and ready to go, only to find out that the event was meant for Juniors and Seniors. I was utterly disappointed, but had come too far, waited too long and couldn’t just turn around now. Thankfully, we were able to speak to one of the event hosts and explain our situation. He told us that the event is better if you have taken certain previous workshops beforehand, however was still able to  give us useful information and tell us some basic things on how to prepare for interviews as well as the aspects of a good interview that are most important.  Because of this we did not stay the entire time. Still I am very glad we went because of the helpful information I did learn and willcertainly be going to this Workshop as a Junior.

 

For my final blog post, I had the chance to attend a Job Interview Workshop with Tony Hawk (Marcus) and another freshman we met that needed to complete his final blogpost as well. Unfortunately, Marcus and I did not realize that this meeting would be set up primarily for Juniors and Seniors, so we didn’t stay too long and didn’t get to speak with or meet a lot of people… however, we did stay long enough for me to speak to one of the “event host.” I explained our situation and mentioned I already have a job but I wanted to know what else I can do or improve on if I happen to have an interview at a higher reputed job or internship. Though not many people were there at the time that we arrived and stayed for, I knew eventually when I become a junior and senior a Workshop like this will come in handy if I need help in situations like that. Overall, the little time spent there was a great experience.

A few weeks back I went to the writing center to review and edit a paper I was working on. I was fairly disappointed by how overcrowded it was and I ended up having to wait quite a while before I managed to actually sit down with someone. However, once I finally did they she was extremely helpful. She went over my paper bit by bit, making suggestions and occasionally giving pointers on how to do better in the future. She didn’t end up making many changes but, it was absolutely wonderful to have someone knowledgeable go over my work with me. Unsurprisingly, I got a stellar grade on that assignment. I will definitely be frequenting the center in the future.

On Tuesday, I visited the famous Museum of Natural History. It has been nearly a decade since I last visited the museum and there was a lot of new things to see. When I first went as a third grader, I didn’t get to see any of the dinosaur fossils and dinosaurs were my obsession back then. When I visited, now as a college student, I was surprised to see that the dinosaur fossils are right at the entrance. The Museum of Natural History is also home to the Titanosaur exhibition. The exhibition features a cast of 122 foot dinosaur that was discovered in 2015. The exhibition will be available from January 2016-January 2020. The dinosaur is a new species discovered in the deserts of Patagonia, Argentina. I also visited other various exhibit halls such as the Mammal Halls. The Akeley Hall of African Mammals showcases mammals native to Africa such as lions, rhinos, and elephants. The hall has an exhibit featuring a family of elephants. I recalled seeing this exhibit as a third grader and I was glad to see the museum still had the exhibit. Another place I had to visit was the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. I was greeted the same way as I was greeted ten years ago, with a big whale in front of me. The giant blue whale has become one of the museum’s iconic treasures. Blue whales are the largest animals alive today and are pretty fast for their size. They weigh about 100 tons and are one of the loudest mammals. However, the blue whale has been hunted to near extinction and the museum has the replica as a reminder to protect the environment. My visit to the Museum of Natural History was truly an amazing experience and brought some nostalgia. This is a place every New Yorker should visit.

I was able to attend an ANY Information session, which is a program that specializes in the professional acceleration of students through the use of mentors, networking and educational events. The program is tailored to help underfunded, first generation students who are looking to advance themselves. The event started off with a current fellow who explained to use the application process as well as some of the different opportunities this program can provide. The event that progressed into a panel with current fellows and their mentors. They each answered questions and explained their different experiences and how they have grown because of the program. The event ended with a networking session in which we were able to speak to the heads of the program as well as the other people participating in the event.