Freshman Seminar Fall 17 DWC

I was chosen by my classmates to present my monologue at Baruch Voices on November 2nd. My experience in Baruch Voices was really eye opening. There were a lot of people with inspirational, funny, and overall amazing monologues which made mine feel unworthy of presenting. At first I was a little nervous to present my monologue, but then I realized I didn’t know these people and would probably never see them again so it really should be no problem to go up and just speak. There were people preaching about racism in society, beauty standards of females, life changing experiences, and everything in between. There were even people rapping! I was the second to last person to go up on stage to present and by then all the nerves were pretty much gone because I wanted to just get this over with and go home and sleep. As I got up on stage, I began to just speak and everything went as planned. I recited my monologue and left. At first, I did not want to present, but I understood that it was something I had to do because in the future I would have to speak in front of people. This was a learning experience for me. I learned a lot about the struggles that people in Baruch go through on a daily basis, but most importantly I learned that public speaking is really not as difficult as I thought it to be. For the longest time I had a fear of public speaking and as I got older, the fear began to fade away, but it always stuck. This presentation, in a way was taking a step into getting rid of public speaking once and for all.

Last Thursday I attended a Starr Career Development Center workshop and got to work on my resume. I want to try and get an on-campus job and for that, of course, I need to bring my resume, which I had major trouble writing. It was hard to figure out which information or experiences to include, what to exclude and how to formulate appropriate sentences. I did receive a booklet from them before, but that still wasn’t enough and I felt very unsure about what I wrote. Finally I decided to attend a resume writing workshop. The timings for those are very specific, so I did have to wait like three hours, but I think it was worth it in the end. I didn’t have to wait long for an advisor and all the workers were very nice and helpful. Finally I got to sit down with my assigned advisor and we went over all my experiences that I should include and the structure of the essay. I did actually have a lot of things written correctly, thanks to the booklet, but we expanded on all of the points I was trying to make and made sure that everything is formulated as eloquently and convincingly as possible. Now I can finally start looking for a job and making my own money!

I visited the club fair and was interested in how many different clubs there were at Baruch. Many offered internships after the Junior year and helped set up an individual for future success like the Trader’s Club. I found myself interested in KIWANIS and archery club as well as TEAM Baruch and LEXICON. Kiwanis stood out because it is similar to a community outreach program but it help develop you as a person as well and your resume. My friend from high school ran KEY CLUB and told me to take a look into KIWANIS in Baruch and I look forward to attending their meetings and community outreach events and hopefully making a name for myself in the club. As for archery I though it was cool that the school had the space to set up its own archery range for students to learn to shoot a bow or just shoot a bow for fun if they already have experience. They also don’t require you to have your own bow which is really helpful as those can go for a lot of money, like four hundred to five hundred dollars for competition bows. The Trader’s club and the business clubs at Baruch definitely seem to be the most developed and connected to internships and jobs however, myself as an intended BIO major I look forward to the BIO Club which helps students connect to research opportunities and internships at labs.  In summation, the club fair had a good turnout and i’m glad I went and was able to find something to my liking.

Konrad Szenfeld

Last Thursday I visited a few clubs during club hour. Since I signed up for notification emails in the first general interest meeting, I was able to track down the rooms where the club took place in. I checked out the UNICEF club, Hindu club, and eSport Club. UNICEF club targets mainly on fundraising. The club leaders presented a powerpoint with all the fundraising events listed. The most recent one will be a Halloween fundraising and a multicultural food event. Another cool thing about the club is that everyone who are interested in becoming a member are given a piece of paper with tasks we need to complete. When we accomplished all the listed things on that paper, we are officially admitted as an UNICEF member. Although all the UNICEF fundraisers are for good cause, I am not interested in collecting charity from people. Hindu club also hosted a stand on the lobby. They had a few fun activities: water painting, guessing how many M&Ms are in a jar, and getting a henna done. The club has many exciting events coming up, and I think it will be an interesting club to join. Lastly, I went the general interest meeting for eSport club. Even though I barely game, it was surprising to learn that Baruch actually have professional gaming teams that compete in international and domestic competitions.

I went to the Korean club. My friend who is a senior is a committee of the club so she invited me to come. When I entered the room, there was subway sandwiches and they were playing bingo game. The bingo was to know each other. I was able to talk to other people while playing the game and figured out that I was the youngest one in the club. Mos of Korean students were transfer student for the business school. Therefore, I could find only one person who is in the Weissman school as me. He was also from the city where I came from in Korea. I could get to know lots of senior girls who is friend with my friend. And last Thursday, there was a party in Korea town. A lot more people came to the party than the first meeting. There was more than 50 people. I was surprised that there were this many Korean international students in Baruch. There was my brother’s friends even though my brother does not go to Baruch. I didn’t know who they are but they recognized me as his sister. I have not expected of being in the same party as my brother’s friend because they are over 27 years old and I am just 19. It was quite interesting to know lots of people.

After Receiving information from the CUNY brief for a couple weeks , I figured that there are a lot of events being held everyday at different CUNYs. On sep. 28, I decided to check out a mini concert in the elebash hall at the graduate center, reason being that I’ve always enjoyed classical music, the admission is free, and the location is just 10 minutes away from Baruch. It’s my first time at the graduate center, and first impression, it’s a neat place. The staff at the reception was helpful in explaining the program, the concert hall itself is clean, comfortable and the sound effect is quite nice, by the looks of it it should be more for chamber music groups. The one i went to featured musicians that’s currently studying at the graduate center, and I believe there are guests on occasions too.   I my self was a former member of some youth orchestras during high school, and I was really impressed with the preformance, the quality of it is comparable to those that you would pay to see. One small thing I noticed was that the audience is mainly consisted of seniors in the community, i would suggest it to all my peers who likes classical music, and I’m glad to have the opportunity to attend such event. Other CUNYs host similar events as well, and I’m looking forward to experience what they have to offer in the future.

 

The club I joined is the Hillel during club hours. I met one of my best friends, Ethan, who attended my high school. When I walked in I was immediately welcomed by other members who already joined. My friend invited me and he then introduced me to his new group of new friends he met at the club. Hillel preached being open to people and respectful to others. And this was evident when I entered the club. I am a person who is not jewish, I am muslims, and there is a stereotype that muslims and jews hate each other due to conflict in Israel but I was treated with respect and as if we put our conflicts aside and treated each other like adults. Everyone was extremely nice to me. I plan to attend many of there activities to fully immerse myself in the jewish culture because I would like to learn more about it. This club will allow me to meet new people that I otherwise would have never met.

On October 4, 2017 a friend of mine told me to visit her at her club fair. That Thursday seemed to have a lot of club activities on campus so I was interested in experiencing a new club. A friend of mine was a part of the comity of the HSA club at Baruch. So I decided to visit her, meeting new people and learning from other cultures. There they had activities from getting a free henna, painting, free donuts and free shirt. To get the free shirt I posted on Student Life’s Instagram on the question, “What makes me be Baruch?” I also got a henna for the first time, and it was free. I got to see for the first time how a person draws on henna and it was really fascinating. I also heard about the T.E.A.M. Baruch Peer Mentor 2017 recruitment and selection process. I was curious on what the activities a T.E.A.M. Baruch Peer Mentor does. At the information session they described to us the requirements and the process of becoming a T.E.A.M. Baruch Peer Mentor. They had people from different offices of T.E.A.M. Baruch to explain their interview process and the benefits of being in T.E.A.M. Baruch. After we also learned that the application process was on Oct 29. And we had time to ask questions to the representatives of T.E.A.M. Baruch.  I had fun because I got to experience the motivation and energy people put into making the Baruch community a better and welcoming place. It motivated me into learning about new experiences.

 

Walking around campus, you find that there seems to be more hidden treasures every time you enter the building. There are endless activities on campus and it seems that everyone can find a place that they truly belong in. Not only are there many different clubs and activities here at Baruch, but the actual building itself has a lot of things to do as well. Despite the large and impressive club selections you have here, clubs are not for everybody. I’ve never really been one to be involved in club life, and if I did happen to join a club, I would probably show up to one meeting and forget about it. However, if you aren’t too fond of the commitment of club life like me, it still is a good idea to explore the campus and be aware of the many events and rooms here. One of my favorite places to go in Baruch is the library. If you haven’t used the library recently, I strongly recommend you go! The resources are unlimited and it is a bare necessity when you have an upcoming exam. There are study rooms that you can rent with your friends that give you that extra study silence you need.

There are many cool rooms in the Newman building as well! The game room located on the third floor is a lively space where many different students come here to destress. There is a foosball table and ping pong tables as well. I went with my friends, Thomas and Jose, after class and we were surprised at how many students were there. It seems like a great place to meet new people easily and have fun at the same time. If you are a virtuoso, there is a room full of pianos on the 7th floor! You can practice the piano anytime you want and finally learn that song you’ve always wanted to learn. All in all, even if you haven’t joined a club yet, there are still many ways you can be involved in student life here at Baruch!