Before coming into Baruch, I was worried that I wouldn’t feel at home like I did back in high school, since most of my friends had parted ways for college. I spent the first week of college going from class to class in a foreign setting, not sure if I had made the right decision to come here. It wasn’t until a few days before club meetings began that Qi Qi Wu, a member of the United Chinese Language Association (UCLA), sent me a message inviting me to come to their first General Interest Meeting. She was so warm hearted and quickly convinced me to join.

 

Qi Qi had said that many Midwood High School students were in UCLA and it wasn’t until I got there with my friend, Melina, that I realized what she said was true. When Melina and I arrived, there were already a whole hallway full of future UCLA members waiting to go into the room since it was still being set up. We waited in a semi-secluded corner and it wasn’t long until we were quickly approached by Sandy Dai and Wendy Lei, who welcomed and thanked us for coming to their meeting. We clicked immediately and went on talking about our past high school experience and how we were adjusting to this new change. Sandy and Wendy even gave us a few tips on how to survive college!

 

After about ten minutes of waiting in the hallway and becoming acquainted with many new people, we went inside the meeting room which quickly became full due to the large amount of people who showed up. When we settled in, the UCLA E-board members introduced themselves while showing us a Powerpoint presentation. We then moved onto ice breakers, we played the whisper challenge, pictionary, and a dissing game. We were all dying of laughter from how much of a fool the volunteers for the whisper challenge were making of themselves. At this moment, I finally felt like I belonged, as if I had found my second home.

 

As we finished up with the last game, the whole group huddled up together for a group photo. As we finished up posing for the photo, the food finally arrived. It was apparent how hungry we all were with the cheers that erupted throughout the room. We were served many different types of Chinese food and beverages. I also got the opportunity to meet Qi Qi face to face for the first time along with Isaac and Sandy Mei while waiting in line for food.

 

This was a great experience and has made me realize how nice and welcoming people are. I cannot wait to officially join UCLA in the upcoming week and acquire many more of these memories for my college journey.

 

Throughout the application process, the orientation, convocation day, and Freshmen seminar class it was shown that Baruch College prides itself for all the different clubs it has and the diversity not only in the students but the clubs as well. With all of that said and done I felt that it was still hard to find a club that I was willing to dedicate time in to. There are definitely many clubs that I have no interest in at all and many clubs that I have interest in or would like to become passionate about. The problem being was my time, and while later on this semester or the next I will definitely be joining another club or two, choosing the first club that I would join fell to a small list. It should be obvious which club I ended up joining by the title of this post and the decision to join Toastmasters was somewhat influenced by my two friends wanting to join as well. However I feel like Toastmasters is a perfect opportunity to practice my public speaking a skill that I am sure will come in very handy not only in college but in the real world after college. I consider myself an okay public speaker I still get shaky hands and a bit nervous sometimes when going up to present in a class setting and I definitely get nervous when presenting or talking to a large group of people. The most people I have gone up in front of was probably around sixty to seventy people but the usual amount in high school was twenty to thirty-five people. Coming from a small high school I also knew all the people in the class that I was presenting in so there wasn’t as much pressure. While in Baruch I don’t know most of the people here and probably won’t just because of the sheer size of this school and the amount of people that attend. I’m excited for what will come next and for what I will learn and improve upon. When I signed up for Toastmasters today I met the president of the club, Mike, he explained how the club operates, when the meetings take place, and some of the events that they have. Public speaking may not one of my strengths but I will put the time and effort into it to make it one.

On Thursday, September 7th, I decided to attend one of Alpha Kappa Psi’s Rush events. It was the second general interest meeting in addition to a philanthropy event. I was choosing between other clubs, but at the end, I went to Alpha Kappa Psi. Out of all the business fraternities, Alpha Kappa Psi stood out to me the most. During Convocation Day, I was approached by two of their members with enthusiasm as they explained brotherhood and their ideology to me. At today’s event, Spread theLove, I learned more about them through their presentation and talking to members of the rush chairs such as Edmon, Henry, and Sarah. The presentation provided an in-depth introduction and background about AKPSI and further encouraged me to be part of their organization. After the presentation, we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for homeless people as a group. Gathering around the table gave us an opportunity to talk to other freshmen and upperclassmen that are committed to rushing. Despite the crowded room, Sarah passionately shared her experience as  a member of Alpha Kappa Psi at Baruch with Crystal and I. Sarah clarified many of our confusions and questions as freshmen. Not only did she talk about Alpha Kappa Psi, she gave us many genuine advices in accordance to her own experience. Sarah informed us about choosing minors and majors encouraging us to take our time and discover our true passion. Throughout our conversation, Sarah’s honesty and sincerity further motivated me to be a part of them. Overall, after attending this meeting, I felt more connected to Alpha Kappa Psi; I became more aware of their professionalism and philanthropy aspects through making sandwiches for homeless people and talking to the brothers. I learned that Akpsi is not all about business related things but they also care about social issues and take part in improving the society.

Roaming through the halls of the 9th floor, I heard screams and cheers through the door of the Vietnamese Student Association club. As I entered the door, I was approached with warm welcomes and friendly smiles from the executive board, many of whom I have met before through my sister who is currently VSA’s vice president. As I walked further into the room, I saw familiar faces from both my high school and students from my classes.

On this first General Interest Meeting, we were given a very brief presentation of who, what, where, and why VSA. We watched a video of the many past events and things that VSA did such as fan dancing lessons, sports day events, and many philanthropy events like earth matters. Joining this club was not because of my sister forcing me to but because of the supportive and awesome community that it came with VSA. It was a community that accepts and loves people from different backgrounds. It was a community that I can see myself calling family years down the road.

After the brief presentation of VSA, we separated into many different groups where we had engaged in awkward ice-breakers. One of the two ice breakers was to introduce ourselves with a certain action and we had to repeat everyone else’s action and name before we executed it. The other ice breaker was to follow certain rules such as “GET INTO GROUPS OF 4 AND EVERYONE SQUAT.” This game was to see which group could obey the rules the fastest; the incentive for winning was that the first group would get their food first. That day they were serving Vietnamese sandwiches of many different choices of flavours ranging from smokey barbeque pork to juicy tender chicken. Sadly, I did not have any of these sandwiches because I previously ate lunch.

I am circled in yellow.

As a freshman in a new school with a small handful of friends, I’m on a search to find a home in this massive school. Having been on a team in high school, I found that finding a family requires an individual to actively go out of their comfort zone to find one. Today, I took my first step in doing that by attending a general interest meeting for the business fraternity, Alpha Kappa PSI. I found out about this fraternity through my boyfriend’s cousins whom both are brothers in the frat.

Besides listening to a presentation detailing the background of the fraternity, we also made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a homeless shelter nearby. The event gave me an opportunity to meet the brothers and other students who are also trying to rush. What really sparked my want to rush was the fact that every brother I talked to today was genuinely open and down to earth. They seemed like a group of people I would want to be around. Another apparent notion was that every brother seems to have benefited from being apart of this fraternity.  One in particular, Sarah, whom I had the pleasure to have a 30 minute conversation with, informed Sethy and I about how she found her pleasure through the experiences that she was exposed to because of the connections she made since she became a brother. The conversation covered the topics of majors and minors, the importance of self awareness, and a lot of small talk in between. Through this conversation alone, it gave me an insight on what to expect in Baruch.

Although a small selective number of people will actually get the opportunity to become a brother, I will keep my fingers cross for that slim chance. Regardless of what happens, today’s experience has ignited the will for me to make Baruch my new home.