Freshman Seminar Fall 17 FRB

  Last Thursday，which was September 7th，I attended the third general interest meeting of Alpha Kappa Psi. It was located in a small classroom while filled up with people. They provided us with McDonald nuggets and some other snacks before the meeting started. The Alpha Kappa Psi was founded in 1904 at New York University that made up of students, professors, graduates, and professionals with similar interests. There are more than 240,000 initiated members world-wide. Members in this organization are very nice to help you with your questions about career or any other concerns.  As one of the brother member introduced，they will also teach us more speech skills and many other things about business.

  After the short presentation of a RUSH member，we started to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. These sandwiches are made for people in need and will be delivered to local food bank or homeless shelter. It is a very tiny and easy thing for us to make sandwiches, but it could mean a lot to those people in need. In other words，as a college student，I am so proud that I can make contributions to the community as well as to the society. It is such a honor that I can also spread the love. This isa very meaningful event. Furthermore, it’s a good place to learn how to be a leader as they always holding different activities.  I am deeply impressed by their slogan which is “stand out but don’t stand alone.” Members in the group will strengthen you. Having good  teamwork is a  very important  factor in order to be successful.

   The relationship among RUSH members is so harmonious that attracts me to join them. Making sandwiches is a bit boring but the people there are not. I had a lot fun this time, and I am looking forward to being there again.

On September 8, I attended my first meeting with the USG Marketing Committee. The student government appealed to me because it is made up of a variety of branches that I could choose from without feeling obligated to stay planted in any specific one. Also, the marketing committee seemed to offer a great base for experience that would prepare me for a future job in the industry.

So at around 6:30 pm, I dragged my sister with me to the meeting for moral support and sat at a conference table of other potential members and the executive board. The meeting opened up with an ice-breaker introduction (my favorite…) of each member and then flowed into topics that needed to be addressed. When the members started to discuss matters such as updating the club website and amassing a higher following on social media, I was able to gain a general feel for the culture of the club and began to feel more at ease.

The main objective of the USG Marketing Committee is to get more Baruch College students to become involved in the school community through their new social media campaign, which is in the process of being organized. The committee is also responsible for providing Baruch students with information about other clubs through the website. However, on USG’s website, the icons of the clubs are not hyperlinked, thus making it an obstacle to access more information about that organization. This issue was addressed during the meeting and resolved to make the clubs easier to find online.

By the end of the meeting I felt inspired to contribute my creative energy into synthesizing some of the ideas generated. For instance, one of the ideas was, in addition to recruiting new members and receiving more social media attention, to create memes that would attract more followers on Instagram and Facebook. As one who highly appreciates memes, I resonated with that idea and would love to be a part of that project.

Looking forward to new experiences with the USG Marketing Committee at Baruch!

On Thursday September 7, I made my own summer rolls. This might sound weird, but many students had an opportunity to make and eat summer rolls at the Vietnamese Student Association, known as VSA.

When I first heard about VSA, I just thought of it as another ethnic club at Baruch. I asked my friend who goes to Hunter College how she thinks about Vietnamese club, and she assured me to go. Also, one of my friends whom I knew since middle school told me how he was going to join this club. Since I loved Vietnamese food, I decided to go and make some summer rolls. When I entered, students were already eating rolls they made. They mostly put romaine cabbage, shrimp, and rice noodles onto the rice paper and wrapped it. As students finished eating, board members taught us how to speak some basic Vietnamese words and food names. I saw some familiar words such as pho and bánh mí. I learned new food names that I can order at Vietnamese restaurants. “You’re welcome” in Vietnamese is ” không có gì,” and “xin chào” means “hello.”

I did not join many clubs at high school, but attending this meeting totally changed my mind. I thought focusing on my school work the most important thing. However, my mind totally changed after attending this meeting. I learned how important and valuable it was to meet people who come from similar culture and share different outlooks. Also, I was able to meet many new people and have conversation about my major and how I think about this school. I really loved how friendly and welcoming club members were, and I was happy I learned more about Vietnamese culture. Aside from Vietnamese Student Association, I would like to join another club or team.

I am looking forward to the pho night on September 19th!

This Thursday, I went to the third General Interest Meeting held by the brother members of Alpha Kappa Psi, called Spread the Love. During the meeting, the RUSH members gave a short introduction of Alpha Kappa Psi. Alpha Kappa Psi is a professional business fraternity. It is an association filled with students, professors, and professionals who share the common interest and goals. I learned that in this program, there are many business leaders and brother members that can assist you with your problems and concerns throughout your career.  One quote from the brothers that I really liked was “Stand out but don’t stand alone”. I think this is exactly how a leader is like. A leader would not be a leader if he/she has no followers at all. This organization is the best place for me to build my network and learn to be a leader.

I thought this meeting of Spread the Love was really interesting and caring for others. The main reason for this event was for us to prepare peanut butter and jelly sandwich follow along with other snacks and donate them to homeless shelters in order to feed people in hunger. This small room for this event was packed with people, there wasn’t even enough seats for us to sit, many people had to stand. The brother members even prepared food and beverages for us, which they didn’t include in the description of the meeting and I ate lunch before I went :(. After we ate, we started making the sandwiches one by one. I thought this meeting was really meaningful. As individuals in college and even in society, we should always help others with our full effort. Making peanut butter and jelly sandwich may be the easiest and cheapest thing for us, however to the people who are starving, this is what saves their lives. I am very proud that I was able to use my little ability and time to make a difference for others.