Author: a.sitt

Two weeks ago, I attended Baruch Voices, where many students presented poems or personal stories. My Fro teacher, Marwa, was actually the MC of the event. It was a great experience for me, being that I was able to hear very creative and interesting poems and stories. My classmate, Kenny, performed at this event, giving a great, and graphic story about his first experience working at a hospital. His story went as follows: Kenny was told to take an older man in a wheelchair from one room in the hospital to another. Kenny began to stroll him down the hall, not knowing that a bump was approaching. He unintentionally went up the bump fairly quickly and the old man sitting in the chair popped out and back into the chair. When he landed back into the chair, his reaction was simply “ooft”. With hundreds of nerves running through his body, Kenny continued to stroll the old man. Minutes later, Kenny was holding onto the bars of the wheelchair, as the rubber suddenly fell off. Instead of disregarding the rubber, Kenny tried extremely hard to pop the rubber back into the bar of the wheelchair, forgetting that he was strolling the old man. Consequentially, Kenny strolled the old man straight into the wall. His first reaction, before making sure that the old man was notin pain, was to make sure nobody saw the incident. Once he checked that no one saw, he asked the old man if he was okay, and once again he replied simply with an “ooft”. This was only one of the many funny, interesting, and talented performances that I was privileged to hear.

Before attending this event, I was grateful that I had not been chosen to present my monologue at this event. However, as I sat and watched these performances, I quickly changed my mind. I was regretful for not putting as much effort into my monologue. What if I was chosen? What if I was able to present my story or poem? Would I have gotten over my fear of public speaking? Did I miss out on a great opportunity? All of these questions ran through my mind.

Today, October 3, I attended a Starr workshop about interview preparation. Workers at target came to represent this workshop, stressing how important an interview is, as it can decide whether or not you are accepted to the job of your choice. The representatives of target gave us many tips as to how to act in an interview. They spoke about the importance of many things such as, posture, maturity, confidence, and background of the company or industry of your choice. Target tried to give us an idea as to what employers look for in an interview, by telling us what they look for when giving an interview. I learned a lot from this workshop, as I am sure everyone else did as well. We all need to know how to act and what to expect from an interview, as we all will have to be interviewed one day. The most amazing part about understanding the importance of an interview is how it comes full circle. You start by being nervous while being interviewed by a prominent employer, and then years later, in some instances, you are that prominent employer giving an interview to a nervous student. Once you are an employer you will be able to explain the importance of an interview to many people, and the cycle just continues. I am a very nervous person when it comes to being interviewed. When I was interviewed for my internship this past spring, I thought there was no way that I would be accepted to the job of my choice. I was practicing my speaking and confidence skills weeks in advance but nothing seemed to be working. Until, my father, an employer, told me that the best thing to do in an interview is not to hold back from saying anything that you feel.