Freshman Seminar Fall 17 EMA

Academic Excellence is a key value in Baruch. Part of this means taking your success in academia into your own hands. Seeing as I was always an individual who struggled with math, I knew in order to achieve academic excellence in my pre-calculus class that I would have to work a little harder in comparison to my other classes. The workload is not that different to other classes I have scheduled. However, more time has to be allocated to receive the same results.

Knowing that a test was taking place that week, I decided to sign up for some tutoring sessions at Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC). Fortunately for me, there were weekly sessions available as well. I decided that this would force me to study and take time for the class, that I might otherwise not do so. It was also helpful, because it is more effective to study information as it comes than to try to learn it cumulatively shortly before an exam. Furthermore, there is some information you may not realize you need some clarification until you actually go over it. It helps to have someone there with you to explain it all. There is a wealth of information at the Student Academic Consulting Center. Everyone is very pleasant, from the moment you walk through the door– thought it takes some time to find this gem.

Something I have noticed is that the usage of tutoring centers in college differs from that in high school. In high school, it was rarely used, and reserved for when students absolutely needed it. However, I walked in during a dry spell of students at campus and still observed a rather full and operating center. I suppose that getting closer to our careers, and actually paying for our classes provide the incentive for students to use campus resources.

On Thursday I thought it would be fun to go out to the Museum of Moving Images because it’s a museum that’s relatively underrated but has some really cool exhibits, and also I’m a huge film buff.

The museum is basically split up into 2 categories. The first being the history of film and how they film certain shots and another exhibit dedicated to a specific director this time, it was Jimi Henson. Also throughout the museum there’s a lot of cool interactive things you can do. In one of the exhibits they had placed out all the cameras and equipment that that were used in classic hollywood and how those progressed. Some of the early equipment to film movies were gigantic compared to today’s technology. They also showed the relative progression of the Television. I got to mess around with the sound booth and create a cool project where you I did like a voice over in the Wizard of Oz, and also got to create a quick little stop motion film. I think it was smart of them to add these features because it really allowed you to understand what kind of effort and techniques that are involved in making a film, and how all those factors put together help to create depth in a movie.

In the Jimi Henson exhibit, there were a lot of costumes and puppets which were used in like Sesame street and The muppets movies. It was a very colorful exhibit compared to the museum’s other exhibits. Jimi Henson had created a lot of really creepy movies that all circulated around the use of puppets some of which were really disturbing and kind of freaked me out. The museum also had this creepy “set” of like a classic movie theater with cool hidden passages, and then an interactive classic arcade feature. I wasn’t exactly sure why they had the built in movie theater because they weren’t screening anything, but it was a good photo op though. The arcade had classic games like pac man, donkey kong, and other games that I guess were before my time because I couldn’t recognize any of them. This part of the museum was probably my favorite because it felt like you were in an actual movie set because of how everything was set up and displayed, it was kind of like you weren’t in the actual museum anymore but rather in another alternate place.

I vistited a LexiCon meeting this Thurdsay, specifically for the marketing department. I decided to go with Sofa and Yeathasmin. I didn’t know what to expect going to this meeting but I knew we would be discussing the yearbook. I was hoping to see a past yearbook to gain some inspiration. I really liked the directors of the club. Being apart of clubs in high school was always very disorganized. Sometimes the club would be consistent in the beginning of the year and then slowly starts to fall apart after that. However, based on how the directors stressed the importance of being accountable, I feel the club will be consistent throughout the upcoming semesters. I gave my contact information and they immediately added me on Facebook, so I am able to contact them with any questions or concerns about the club. I was very interested in the marketing aspect of the club. I am excited about learning more about the club. The directors stated that the marketing clubs attends a lot of events and are in charge of the social media. They stated that they are trying to get the club to be more consistent with the social media aspect, by posting consistently and getting the student to be more involved. They stressed the importance of making sure the seniors are informed about all upcoming events such as senior portraits. This wasn’t the official general interest meeting, but I am excited for the next meeting. The next meeting will have food and drinks, and I will get a chance to learn a lot more about the club. This time I hope to sign up officially. Additionally, after the meeting, Sofa, Yeathasmin, and I all went to get free t-shirts. It was a nice to get a free t-shirt and learn about LexiCon: Marketing.

Last Monday October 2nd I was very stressed about my math test. I decided to go over to the SAAC Tutoring session to see if they can help me in preparing for my exam. The only problem was that my exam was the next day, so I did not have such high hopes. When I got there the man behind the counter was so nice and arranged for me to have a tutoring session starting in 10 minutes. The Tutor was very helpful, she knew her skills for sure and gave me some advice on test taking.She did have a very strong accent which was a little hard to understand but overall it is very helpful to make an appointment there. I think for the next exam I might want to make a couple appointments a week or two in advance so it can really benefit me not just to cram it all in. Also, I am hopefully going to do a little more research to see who is the best tutor for my specific class to ensure the time i spend there is used the best. The actual SAAC office was extremely organized and efficient I recommend everyone checks it out ASAP if they need help in any class. I would like to thank my FRO teachers to urge me to do something I probably would not have done on my own. I realized at Baruch there is so much to offer you just have to seek out and really delve into the society here. Like how lucky are the students that we can be tutored in most classes by really smart people for free. There is also class reviews and one-on-one sessions its whatever you prefer. Appointments are easy and can be made and cancelled right online. Everyone should give it a shot, trust me.

On Thursday September 28th, Skylar, Sofa, and I all went to the club fair to look at what clubs Baruch has to offer. We took a tour around the gymnasium and stopped at a few of the clubs. We looked at Lexicon, Femcode, USG, Women in Business (which I am a part of), and many more. It was a pretty fun social environment with music playing in the background and getting to know more about how Baruch gets their students together for clubs. Going to this fair I got an insight of what clubs I really am interested in and if in the future I would be thinking about joining more of them since I already am in one club. Not only did we look at clubs, but we also got information about some of the committees Baruch has such as the health and wellness committee along with sexual harassment. It was an enjoyable experience because I spent time with my friends and because I got to see other students at Baruch. Seeing all the different and diverse clubs was also interesting to see. For example, I had no idea we had an archery club, and also, some clubs seemed really different than the rest which made me more interested in them, such as the Wall Street Club, even though they meet Friday evenings, I was still very interested in their meetings of bringing in successful people and getting opportunities to ask them questions. Overall, I really enjoyed the club fair because I got to see Baruch in a more interactive way and I also made myself more informed about what events and meetings other clubs have going on so I don’t stick only to Women in Business, but instead, I can try other things in the future as well.

When trying to find a club that interested me, I initially looked through the long list online until I saw the Baruch E-Sports Association. Because games have been a hobby of mine for a king time now I decided I would attend one of their GIM to see how the club worked, meet new people and of course get some refreshments/food. In the first meeting I found all the present members to be very friendly, I was quickly introduced to what type of events the club has and managed to meet many new people, several of which had similar interests making it easier to talk too. Throughout the year the club hosts many gaming events both on campus, and because they have their own computer room these events can be organized more efficiently. However I also learnt the club is also meant to be in many ways, a way to socialize with people of similar interests, as they described it “we host a variety of events from in-house tournaments to social events on- and off-campus”. Another element of the club I found interesting was the team aspect. Currently they sponsor two competitive collegiate games; League of Legends and CS:GO. This was greats news to me because League of legends has been a hobby for a while and perhaps it could be a new experience to play in an amateur team. After the meeting I also visited (on another day), the recently opened computer lab that allows the members of the club to partake in on campus event and gives them the chance to play on good computers in an environment surrounded by fellow club members. Overall I found the club well organized and is something I look forward to joining this semester.

Finally, on September 19th, I got the opportunity to attend an actuarial science workshop hosted by Prudential Financial. The awareness program cleared so many doubts I had in actuarial work. I found out that I didn’t have to pass all the actuarial exams before actually getting an actuary position. Moreover, Prudential may help pay for these exams, provide mentoring before taking the exams and even give a salary increase for every exam I passed. They also have a performance team to help monitor my progress and provide advice. I was happy to find out that Prudential isn’t only involved in actuarial science but also accounting & finance, global investments and assets management, just to name a few. Who knows, maybe I’ll get tired of all the mathematics courses essential for analytical skills in actuarial work. I also gained many insights on the internship programs Prudential has available for students. There is a one week Actuarial Success Awareness Program where you are exposed to actuaries and their work and a more intense Actuarial Internship Program where you actually get to do the work. Best part is even if I was placed outside of New York, they provide accommodations. Seems like the best place to work right? One interesting fact that you may want to know is that Prudential employed over 1/3 of the actuaries in the tri-state area. Even if you were not interested in actuarial work, there are so many great areas to explore. The workshop was quite intense as it was a lot of information being sent but the representatives were all very kind and keen to ensure I received relevant and necessary information. One of the representatives actually attended Baruch. There were many free gifts, snacks and refreshments provided. The meeting was great overall and I definitely think I will be applying for Actuarial Success Awareness Program coming this Spring.