​One of the clubs I joined is Actuary Club. Finance and making money interested me for as long as I could remember. Math also comes naturally to me, as long as I take the sufficient time to study. Actuarial Science involves calculating the probability of outcomes in various scenarios, and how to balance risk factors. Insurance companies are the primary employers of actuary students, since insurance is all about calculating risk and how much the insured subject should pay for policies.
Actuarial science is even used in meteorology: calculating the probability of certain weather. Florida utilized actuaries to calculate the risk of the damage Irma would bring and how people of each county should proceed. Thanks to actuarial analysis, insurance companies can calculate the proper compensation each policy holder should receive for the damages incurred by Irma. These are just two real-world examples of actuarial science being used on a mass-scale this past week.
​The Baruch Actuarial Science Society (BASS) meets every Thursday during club hours. Companies such as MassMutual, Prudential and MetLife visit to present internship opportunities which they have for Baruch students. However, most internships require that one passes at least on Actuarial exam.
​There are many actuarial accreditations and societies one engulf in. Currently I’m studying for the P exam, which is the first in a series of five exams which the Society of Actuaries (SOA) requires. P stands for probability. The exam also incorporates preliminary insurance concepts. Thorough knowledge of probability and insurance concepts is needed to be able to assess all possible scenarios and solve the problems correctly – it’s too easy to be trapped because the problems seem intuitive, meanwhile they really aren’t.
​Students passionate about statistics, calculus and assessing the probability of every-changing real-world scenarios would be prime actuary candidates. A solid framework of calculus and stats is required for actuaries to succeed. In my opinion, the hardest concept of actuary studies is developing deeper logic-thinking skills. When solving problems, one must consider many possible scenarios and properly compute the risk and account for overlaps in computational considerations, which may not be apparent at first.
​BASS provides many sufficient prepatory resources for examinations. Actuaries have a very laid-back lifestyle compared to other financial fields, while receiving a great compensation and benefits. For the following reasons, I suggest that everybody who’s interested in Actuarial Science stops by the BASS office, which can be found in the club section on the second floor.

 

^actuary career fair photo

 

On Thursday, the Seventh of September, 2017, I wandered the hallways of Baruch College Newman and Anita Campus during lunch and searched for a club to participate in. I decided to partake in this activity because I did not want to be lonely every Tuesday and Thursday after lunch with nothing to do for two and a half hours, and also I wanted to graduate in less than four years, so it is absolutely imperative that I do not repeat Freshman Seminar class. Unfortunately, being a new and lost freshman, I was not very good at finding places in such a huge and foreign place. Thus, I ended up riding the elevators up and down and up and down, and tiring myself by climbing the same steps of stairs repeatedly, all the while managing to pass by club rooms. I traversed deeper and deeper into the tunnel of helplessness, but by pure luck I saw a ray light at the end of the tunnel on the ninth floor. I chased after my last hope of salvation against a second semester of freshman seminar (this was before I realized I could complete the assignment during Tuesday), and chance delivered me upon the doors of the Anime Club.  I realized right away I have encountered a golden opportunity destined to enrich my student life at Baruch College.I realized for the first time here that I wasn’t alone, that there are many of my peers who also share similar hobbies and interests as me. I really like the anime club and am planning on joining it because I think it’s a really great way to make friends who I can rant to about manga and anime and de-stress myself during midterms and finals. Eleven more words for the three hundred mark. Thanks for reading.

My trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was lit. I never took myself for a “museum guy,” but actually going with a purpose opened my eyes. I appreciate the fact that these sculptures, paintings, and artifacts are hundreds of years old. The ability to preserve these things allowing us to track our history and progression as a race is incredible. You are able to get a sense of what was important to the artists and society of that time; in addition, you can also see how some of these ideas, feelings, and morals are still relevant in today’s world as well. Even though you will never be able to fully relate to these artifacts or paintings, it still allows you to valuably reflect on where we are now as a society. In some cases, it even allows you to reflect on yourself.

 

One painting that particularly stuck out to me is called Young Woman Drawing by Marie Denise Villers from 1801. This painting depicts a girl in a dark, isolated room drawing with a large, singular window with view of a couple enjoying their sunny day on a roof in the background. Even though the woman is alone in a dark room on a bright sunny day, she doesn’t seem to be sad. She finds joy in her craft and does not mind being alone. Her white dress makes her seem like she is at peace with what she is doing and where she is in life. The ability to take a message away from something that is from an entirely different culture and time period is amazing. A message lived on in a painting for over 200 years, and I think that that alone is amazing. The message I took away from that painting, and the painting itself, will stick with me for a long time. I learned that you just have to find joy in your craft. That even though life may seem bleak at times, if you love what you are doing, it does not matter.

The contents of my freshman writing class’s Blackboard page surprised me. I had to complete a 5-to-6 page draft of a personal essay by September 18, and my final draft the following week. The problem? I didn’t know where to start. I had a topic in mind, but could not think of a specific event to think about, let alone examine in depth. It was at that point that I turned to the Baruch Writing Center. As luck would have it, they were hosting a workshop on writing drafts on September 12.

Not deterred by the counterintuitive numbering system of Baruch’s rooms, I eventually found the room where the workshop was to be held. There were ten students, tops, sitting around a square table in a classroom-sized space. The fairly young professor who was hosting the workshop soon began talking about seven main tips to keep in mind while writing. Got no clear idea about what to write about? No problem, just freewrite about the easiest part of the assignment. Finding it difficult to write in complete sentences? Simply write bullet points! Don’t worry about if you write garbage at first – no one gets it perfectly the first time.

With these bits of advice in mind, we picked up our pencils and began jotting down our respective main points. I, personally, rambled about my trip to Italy, because that was what I was writing about for English class. I didn’t need to rack my brain for more than two minutes before I settled on a specific topic: rowing a gondola in Venice. By the time the 35-minute writing period had lapsed, I had filled two pages about getting into the gondola. We reconvened to talk about the strategies used to draft our respective pieces. The professor, listening to us while emphasizing the seven drafting strategies, gave detailed feedback and noted the efficacy of the different ways in which we approached our drafts. I walked away from the workshop with a clearer idea of how to write my essay.

One week ago, I went to the first meeting for the Grid. I had found the club at orientation, because a friend told me about it. I encouraged two friends of mine to come by as well. From my experiences so far, I can confidently say that I’ll be hanging around the club a lot. For one thing, the activities are engaging. Also, people are fun to hang with in all kinds of different ways. I’ve already gotten to know most of the people there.

When I went to the first meeting, we were playing werewolf. I’m familiar with the game, and enjoy it, so naturally I was excited. For the first game I got defender. I actually managed to save someone’s life before they accused me of being a werewolf and the town lynched me. Then I got to watch everyone blindly trust a werewolf almost through the whole game, stopping just barely before he won. For my second game, I got a bundle of fun. I got cupid, and chose my two friends to be lovers. They instantly knew it was me, and we played through that game with them fearing someone would get them both.

Model United Nations is a student organization that allows students to experience what actual United Nations members deal with everyday. Each Model UN team represents a country. Each team is responsible for researching their country and for pushing mock referendums that will be voted on. There are three conferences MUN Baruch participates in. One takes place in Montreal, Canada, while the other two are here in New York City. Each, with its own characteristics, is designed to let students experience what United Nations members do to get their ideas voted on. At the end, the team with the most votes and best research wins. Model UN meets every Tuesday and Thursday during club hours, and conference training are Fridays from 6PM to 9PM.

This club was appealing to me because I am a part of a United Nations campaign that focuses on gender inequality throughout the world. Being a part of the United Nations is something I would like to accomplish later in life. With Model UN, I’ll be able to experience what being a UN member is like. Also, Model UN compliments my intended majors: Journalism and Political Science. By researching a certain country and finding resolutions to their political and social issues, I’ll be able to learn more about the political science of that country. Also, I can use a journalistic approach by presenting facts about issues within that particular country. 

The afternoon of Thursday, the 7th of September was a time to be alive. Rather than attending my required Cross Country practice, I voluntarily  attended the Finance and Economics Society Club. While I do have interests in Finance and Economics as a whole, my personal aspirations are to become Patrick Bateman, investment banker extraordinaire from the classic, American Psycho. I have the morning routine down to a Tee, but am still have a long ways to go. I also wanted to see what sort of professional opportunities FES would be able to provide to me.

The Finance and Economics Society at Baruch offers three programs to its  members. The Mentorship program has you paired with an already successful financial service professional, who will attempt to guide you towards success. The program focuses on Professional Development, with weekly assignments, and meetings, to help build and fortify your network. FES offers two analyst programs,the Financial Analyst Program, and the Investment Banking Program. The Financial Analyst program is for those who are interested in Finance, but not decided on a specific career path. Weekly meetings consisting of guided, informative, and relevant discussions supplement the weekly workshops. The Investment Banking Analyst Program is meant for those who have already attained a decent grasp on Finance and Accounting, and exposes those students to the world of Investment Banking, with a focus on technical and conceptual aspects.

I was pleased with the meeting.

This past weekend my friend and I decided to go to the MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) which is located in Midtown, Manhattan. Since I was little, I have enjoyed going to museums because they are such an interesting way of learning about cultures, time periods, and ideas that circulate around us. I feel as if museums are a testament to an area’s values and interests. This past summer, I have visited museums in Paris and Colombia, and this was my first visit to a museum back in the States. I found that there were a lot more people in the MoMA than in the Museo Botero in Bogota, but it was comparable to The Louvre.  I usually go to The Met or The Natural History Museum when I am in Manhattan, so the MoMA was a nice change that exposed me to something different!

When we first got to the museum, we decided to go to the top floor and work our way down. We saw the original The Starry Night, painted by Vincent van Gogh which was a lot larger than I imagined. It was so breathtaking to see the texture hidden in the painting that can’t really be seen in a picture or a postcard of it. We also saw Reflections of Clouds by Claude Monet. This piece is amazing to look at because of the colors and the style of painting used. Aside from all of the paintings that are in the MoMA, there are a few fun and quirky exhibits that make you wonder if they are simply random or well thought out pieces of work. For example, there is a room with a rectangular pool of mud that bubbles up and makes an interesting noise. Being around the exhibit itself was very calming because of the sounds but also a bit unnerving because of what it was coming from.

Overall, I had a great experience at The Museum of Modern Art and I would recommend it to everyone!