n.chan2 – Freshman Seminar Fall 17 FRB

Blog #3 Career Workshop

On October 18, a Wednesday, I went to the Freshman 15 with Starr Career Development Center. I did not know this event was even going on until my friend informed me about this flyer she received. The event was a 15 minute one on one information session on internships in Baruch. It seemed like a really good event to go to as it was forwarded towards Freshman. The timing was also perfect as I could go right after my English class has ended.

The event was just a simple table in the main lobby with workers talking one on one with participants. Although it was so simple, having a one on one conversation allowed it to be really informative. The worker, a sophomore student, gave us papers filled with information regarding internships during the summer. On these papers it had information regarding internships with The Big 4. Not only did it have information about the internships for the summer of freshman year, it also included sophomore and junior year. The paper have everything I would need, including how to apply for these internships.

He also gave us insight of when he went into a summer internship recently. Although it wasn’t an actual internship, and was more of a getting to know the business and him, he still talked about how necessary it was to go to. It allows you start a relationship with the businesses early and be recognized. He talked about the importance of going to internships early as many students would wait till junior year. Getting into these internships would not be easy as there would be at least 1, sometimes 2 interview processes to go through.

The Freshman 15 event was really informative for the short amount of time provided. It allowed me to have a good idea of the importance and difficulty of an internship.

Blog #2 Writing Center

On September 26, I attended a Evidence, Analysis, and Claims Workshop. I expected many people to attend but instead there were only seven individuals. I also had expected that the people who would be attending, would be freshman so I was surprised when some of the students said that they were already graduates.

When I arrived, I thought the workshop was going to be a strict lesson that wouldn’t leave much room for discussions. When the professor entered my idea changed when she acted so care-free. She made us introduce ourselves and talked in a casual tone. She wanted to learn more about us and what we were hoping to learn in this workshop.

The professor begins with the basics starting with definitions of the words evidence, analysis, and claims. While these are words we were really familiar with, she uses these definitions to relate and connect them to each other. It gave us a better idea of how these three words can be seen in a text.

When practicing to recognize the use of the three words in a text, it became obvious that identifying the claim was not so simple. It was very easy to mix up when the text was using analysis versus a claim.

The lesson focused on being given evidence and coming up with our own analysis and claims. One of the examples is a pie chart on Stop and Frisk data. Given this information we came up with analysis like “Stop and Frisk does not correlate with arrests.” We were able to come up with a claim based on that which is “Stop and Frisk is an ineffective policy.”

Although the words evidence, analysis, and claim seem to be simple, this workshop made me realize how essential they are when reading and writing. Being able to recognize the use of these words in a text can really help the reader understand what the author is trying to say.

UCLA

On September 7th, last Thursday, I attended UCLA’s second General Interest Meeting. UCLA, which stands for United Chinese Language Association, was a club founded to promote and increase our understanding for the Chinese culture. Originally, I did not plan on joining this club but after a friend convinced me, I was glad I attended.

When I first arrived at the room there were already a lot of people inside. Despite how crowded it was, a member of the club still came up to me to have a conversation and asked if I had any questions and tried to learn more about me. He made me feel welcome in the community that they built.

After they introduced the members of the board, they had games ready that would involve the entire room. One of the games, Google Feud, required us to give an answer that would be the top 10 searches on Google within a category. This game allowed us to be more open and social with the people around us by making us work together. It made us feel like we were friends that gathered together to have fun.

At the end, they served food such as chicken fried rice and lo mein. During this time we were able to interact with others that are also interested in this club. It allowed me to meet many different people that were also freshman. I learned about where they came from, what they planned on majoring in, and how they felt about Baruch.

The UCLA Meeting was a time to have fun and socialize with others. Being given a two hour break in between classes for clubs gave me an opportunity that I would otherwise not have had. Instead of attending clubs, I would have been a commuter that just came to school for classes and then leave. Joining a club will allow me to be more social and become a part of a community.