Month: October 2017

     A week ago, my friend and I joined Hillel and were taken out to a coffee “date” by one of the mentors. We went to Starbucks across the street from Baruch during club hours for about 30-40 minutes. The mentor, Goldie, told us about lots of different opportunities and events offered by Hillel and Baruch in general. She even told us about her art club, since she is the president. Goldie gave us details about the different scholarships offered and programs/trips that they do. In addition, she gave us the links to the Facebook pages of some of the clubs so we can follow what events are happening and when.

     On top of giving us a vast amount of useful information, Goldie took the time to talk to us about adjusting to Baruch as first year students. We talked about our professors, our classes, our homework, time management, and the social aspect of our first (almost) 2 months here. I had a really great time talking to such a sweet and caring woman. Hillel is a very tight knit community with lots of available opportunities and I will continue attending Hillel events (and other Baruch events, of course) to the best of my ability!

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.

On October 6^th 2017, I went to the UCLA event called Introduction to Mentorship. In this event, everyone got to meet the alumni and past leaders of UCLA. The presenter, Sunny, talked about the majors that the Zicklin School offers. For example, Sunny talked about the requirements you need for the Accounting, Computer Information Systems, Economics, Finance, Marketing, and etc. majors. He told us that if you like to talk in a public place and like sharing ideas, you should major in marketing. If you are organized, you should major in accounting. The introduction to mentorship is a great way to meet people and build your network. We can have a mentor and they would help us with getting internships in the future. Many alumni and past leaders of UCLA have great jobs and internships. Sunny also talked about what major we should pursue.

After the presentation, we played ice breaker games to get to know each other better. The first game, we played Bingo. We have to go around and ask people if they fit into the statement in the box. You have to fill the whole boxes to win the Bingo. For example, if one of the boxes says, “Someone with an October birthday,” you then have to find someone with an October birthday and write their name. The winners got candy. The next game we played was called, “Where the Winds Blows.” Everyone sits in a circle and there is one person in the middle. The person has to yell out “the wind blows towards people who (then a statement). If you can relate, you have to stand up and find another seat. This game is good because we can know more about each other and how much we relate to one another.

This event was very exciting. I learned a lot about the Zicklin majors. For now, I do not know what to major in. The Finance major is very interesting. I like that there are many people who have internships and jobs. The thing I do not like about the event was that everyone had an idea on what they want to major in except me. However, it is ok because I am only a freshman.

 

A week after the South Asian Student Association’s meeting, I went to the Hindu Student Association’s meeting. I am actually not Hindu but I decided to check it out. At their first general interest meeting they were serving samosas. Samosas are made with a wheat flour or maida flour shell stuffed with some filling, generally a mixture of mashed boiled potato, onions, green peas, spices and green chili or fruits. As I was eating the samosas, the executive board was introducing themselves along with telling us what they were planning to do this year. At the end of the meeting, we played jenga and they told us that they still have board positions available. Also, towards the end of the meeting, I realized how SASA did not really have anything interesting events, in my opinion, so I was really glad I went to HSA. Anyway, I decided to apply for the Chair of Events. Two weeks ago, I had an interview with the president, vice president and the treasurer. The interview went pretty well. I thought I had answered their questions to the fullest of my abilities. A day after the interview I got an email saying that I got the position! I was really excited to work with people that are so cooperative and nice. Ever since then, we have been working on a lot of the events. We had the club fair and the fall kick off! The picture below is a picture of me and Irine, another board member, at our Fall Kickoff that happened last Thursday. We were in the lobby of the second floor and had a lot of cool stuff going on. We had last year’s president doing henna, there was mango juice and doughnuts, people were painting canvases and guessing how many M&Ms are in a candy jar. It was so much fun, however, not that many people were around. It was during club hours so other people were busy at their own clubs but toward the end, people started coming to our stand and seeing what HSA was all about. I am really excited for the upcoming events for this club. Diwali, the festival of lights, is in October and HSA has planned two eventsto celebrate. We have the Diwali Kickoff and the Diwali Gala that is going to be awesome! We have dance performances, amazing food, a photobooth and other cool things happening at these two events. I really hope people come through. I really look forward to being a huge part in this club. The executive board is so nice, welcoming and organized. They created a comfortable environment for me from the start. What I really like about this club is that not only do they have these cultural events, but they are always wanting to give back to the community and I am glad that I can contribute.

Hey everyone, for this week’s blog, I scheduled an appointment at the SAAC Tutoring Center. Coming into freshman year, I was really scared of Calculus because I thought it was going to be impossible. After the first week, I concluded that it was. I knew I wasn’t going to get through the class alone and I needed help really badly, that’s when I went to the SAAC Tutoring center. The first time I went, they told me I had to schedule an appointment online by filling a form on the website. I decided to do a group session with my new friend Sarita, who was having just as much trouble as me in Calculus. My tutor was just another student who really knew what she was doing when it came to math. She was extremely helpful, friendly, and kind. Coming out of the tutoring session, I felt like I genuinely understood the material a lot more than I did after learning it during class. The SAAC Tutoring Center is definitely something I plan on utilizing during my four years here at Baruch. It’s an extremely helpful tool to use when you find yourself stuck on specific topic or subject.   

Hey everyone, recently I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Baruch Library to do my work. The Baruch Library has a very nice atmosphere and is suitable for many types of studying. I learned that you can borrow laptops, books, and even rooms for group session studying. You have unlimited access to all the media spaces, computers, and printing areas. Each semester we are supplied with a hundred dollars worth of printing credit, which basically equates to unlimited printing. The library also offers private study group rooms that can be booked for group studying sessions. The media space Other than the library floors, the building also comprises of the trading/stock area on the first floor, and many of the Baruch offices, such as the financial aid and Bursar offices. BCTC is also in this building so if you ever have a technical issue, you can come here for support. Perhaps the most useful part of the building, the wifi access here is actually reliable compared the the spotty service offered in the Newman Vertical Campus. In general, the Baruch Library building can accommodate many needs, and is not just an area to study.

During my time in the Ticker, I was given an assignment. The assignment was to go to the New Museum in Bowery Street to take photos of the exhibit, “Trigger: Gender and Tool as a Weapon.” I thought it was a good way to get a blog in for FRO. Melina went with me to observe. When we entered the museum, there is an entrance fee for students. Luckily both of us are 18 and we got in for free! The new exhibit took over 4 floors of the museum. I just had leg day so I had a hard time getting up the stairs.

The exhibit itself was a collection of newspaper articles, stories, designs, art, and recreational ideas. Melina continuously told me she doesn’t know what anything is about and she doesn’t understand art. I tried my best to explain. There was an exhibit of glass just showing a bunch of toys on leverages. I explained it as, when these girls are taken away and becoming rape victims, sex slaves, or used in human trafficking, their childhood and lives and memories are all lost. They lost a piece of themselves, these toys represent what was killed inside of them when it all happened. All of the exhibits in these floors were showing videos and footages of people using their own gender as power. We went to the basement where there was a footage of a cam girl stripping naked and using her gender as a lassie for money. Next to it, was a gay male who stripped and used his gender as a power. As expectedly, the female got more attention and more money than the male. One exhibit stood out to me, it was on the 4th floor. There was a hole just casually sitting in the middle of the floor. A tiny, yet powerful hole that no one realized. I took an opportunity to look inside to see what it is. I wasn’t surprised what I saw, a collection of videos of women getting raped and used and abused by men. Just a heads up, all these exhibits are uncensored. I would post pictures, but most of them are all NSFW.

I suggest students like us reach out and explore more museums, most of these museums are all free. In addition to that, they can possibly change the perspective in which we view the world for better.

Last Thursday I met with my Academic Advisor as part of the Success Network program. She was very nice and spent over half an hour talking to me, describing her job and how she will help me over the course of these four years. Our common goal was to have me graduate on time, and achieve any other academic goals I may have. The benefit of being part of Success Network is having an advisor assigned to a smaller group of students, allowing for a more personal connection. It’s way, the advisor will know you individually and will be able to play a greater role in my collegiate experience.

We discussed various things related to courses, future meetings, and even high school. After the scheduled academic advisement session we will have as part of freshman seminar, I will be able to go into greater detail with my advisor and have her help me decide which courses are best for me to take. I’ll be meeting with my advisor several times during the year to keep my on track and make sure I don’t slack.

Another imteresting thing was that both me and my advisor graduated from the same high school, Edward R. Murrow. That allowed us to connect since we talked about past teachers, school events, and her failed 10 year reunion which was supposed to take place this past summer. It was nice to see someone from the same beginnings figuring their life out and this took away some of the anxiety I had about my own future.

Overall, I’m very grateful for the the opportunity to have an advisor who is able to help me figure out the confusing mess that is college. Undoubtedly, this simplifies everything like choosing classes, applying to them, and completing my other academic requirements.