Author: k.chen18

Since my last blog was about something career related, this blog is going to be about my academics. Before our scheduled block advisement session, I had a pre-advisement session to help schedule my classes for the following semesters. The advisor I met with was very helpful and understanding. She knew that I was a freshman, so she took her time explaining the process of choosing classes. My friend always talked to me about her recitation class and I didn’t know what that was, but during the advisement I learned about recitation, prerequisites, and co-requisites, and Zicklin requirements. She gave me advice and suggestions that I found very useful. Our session was only supposed to be 15 minutes long, but she didn’t rush me when we went a few minutes over. Although I left a little confused on what I had to do, I still learned a lot.

I also went to a SACC tutoring workshop to review before my first math test. It was my first time there, so a woman at the front desk gave me a flier that had instructions on how to sign up for the workshop online. I signed up after school, the day before the test, before my practice. The workshop started at 6pm, but I came late because practice ended later than usual. I walked in and there were fewer students than I expected. I didn’t stay for the whole time. I only stayed for a little bit because I felt like I got it. Would I go again? I would if I really didn’t understand something. I ended up doing pretty well on my exam. SACC can be for everyone. If you don’t think that you need to be tutored because you are good in that subject, then you can apply to be a tutor and help others.

At Baruch, I learned to think on the positive side. Instead of dwelling on what I did poor on, I completely disregard the things that I do well on. What good does that do me? Nothing. It just makes it harder for me to get out of bed and be less productive. Thinking negatively also effects other areas of my life such as volleyball. Instead of focusing on the next play, I shoot myself in the foot by dwelling on the last one. I learned to be more optimistic and look on the bright side.

On September 14, I went to a resume workshop hosted by AKPsi. They had a panel of speakers that talked about the do’s and don’ts of a resume. They also talked about their own experiences with resumes and interviews, giving us tips on what they did and what employers are looking for. As they were talking, it started making me self-conscious about my own resume. I did a lot of the things that they said not to do such as following a google doc template of a resume. I also had a lot of blank spaces on my resume. The things that they said were very helpful and I would keep in mind when fixing up my resume. After the all the people on the panel spoke, it was time to break off into groups and let the members of the fraternity review your resume and help you make it better. I was very scared of showing it to them, fearing that they will judge how bad my resume was. I was going to say that I forgot or I didn’t know that we had to bring one and just take notes. We got into groups with a few other students with the same major and a member of the fraternity with the same major that was going to help us. After seeing that the other people in the group were in the same position as me, I became more comfortable and confident. They were all freshmen, accounting majors, and didn’t have much experience. I am happy that I did showed the member my resume because she really helped me a lot. She told me that her resume wasn’t that great at first either. She taught us how to format our resumes for accounting, how to organize the information, and how to make certain things stand out. After reviewing my resume personally, she told me which items that I should make more prominent such as extracurriculars because I was only a freshman and didn’t have much experience. She also told me what things that I can include to fill in the blank spaces such other language that I spoke and software skills. I am really thankful for her for helping me out. My resume really went from zero to hundred. Maybe not a hundred, but like 85%. I’m just trying to say that it improved tremendously. This resume workshop was a huge step in starting my career path.

     How many of you guys have asked yourselves “Why do we have blocks and what is the point of them?” these were the questions I would ask myself my first few days at Baruch. Why are we going to every single class together with the same exact people? Are we in middle school? However, on Labor Day weekend when I went on a trip to Pennsylvania with my team, Baruch Women’s Volleyball team, to the Desales tournament, I finally understood the point of these blocks. The point is not to force us into liking each other, but to enable us to become friends and build connections with others that we never would have thought we would have in the first place.

     That Labor Day weekend was filled a bundle of emotions: joy, defeat, and frustration. We left the tournament with a record of 3:1, losses to win. On Friday, we played Rutgers-Camden and Washington College, which we lost both. But the Washington game was a major improvement from our first game against Rutgers. The next day we played Gwynedd Mercy and won and Desales and lost. Even though we had 3 losses, we were able to learn and progress from them and it showed through every game we played next. Being able to go through these experiences together has brought everyone on the team closer together. We were also able to bond outside of the tournament like in the van ride to there and back, staying overnight at the hotel room, and grabbing something to eat. We were able to get to know each other outside volleyball.

     There are a lot of different types of personalities on my team, from shy and soft spoken to loud and aggressive, but we are all brought together by this one common interest, volleyball. During this trip, I was able to learn who the jokesters were, what people’s food preferences are, and who eats a lot or a little. My teammates were also able to learn a little bit about me. I became closer with people I didn’t expect.

     Like volleyball, the people on our block were put together for something that we have in common, whether that is the level of classes, or other reasons. From my first few days at Baruch, I have definitely witnessed a change, from people expressing their opinions on not being able to make friends outside of our block to people starting to get more comfortable with each other, some relationships stronger than others. We are experiencing what I believe is why we were put into these blocks in the first place to make these connections and bonds with others that we would not gotten to know if it were not for these blocks.