Ascend GIM

After the short conversation I had with the President of Ascend on Convocation Day, I decided to attend Ascend’s general meeting on the 7th. The room was relatively small, but I was surprised to see a number of people. Then, the executive board of Ascend began their presentation. Usually, I think presentations are very mundane, but the videos that the Ascend Tech team made was quite captivating and informative. In the video, the execs talked about how Ascend connect the student chapters in the United States every summer and help all the members to connect with various companies. Last summer, all the Ascend members came together in Texas and had a workshop. Many influential speakers came to the workshop and taught valuable lessons that the Ascend members can’t learn in a classroom setting. After watching the video, I was attracted by how many opportunities Ascend is able to give to its members. I feel that Ascend wasn’t just any other professional business club, but a gate for me to meet others with the same goal and same amount of passion as me.

We then played the telephone game as a ice-breaker. Somehow every time it was our turn to listen to the phrase, my friends and I would repeatedly hear “Something is clear, but I don’t understand.” It wasn’t a very fun game by nature, but it definitely helped to heat up the atmosphere in the room. I was able to meet a lot of other freshmen and some sophomores. It’s definitely encouraging to know that there are so many others out there who are also passionate about a certain field in business. At the end of the GIM, I was glad that I attended because I’m pretty convinced that Ascend will help me to learn more about business and find an internship that will be beneficial for me in the future.

Hillel at Baruch

Last week I visited the Hillel club at Baruch College for the first time. My friend, another freshman, had attended it beforehand and convinced me to go there. We took the escalators down to the third floor and she practically pushed me in, encouraging me to meet new people. It was nice and almost refreshing to meet new people and see fresh faces, especially others who were Jewish like me. I met three club leaders, and even someone who came all the way from Israel to attend Baruch. The club members really made me feel comfortable, and we had conversations about where our families came from, bonding over our nationalities. They invited me to attend the IAC Mishelanu Conference, which is a conference about Israel for college students, in Washington D.C. with the Hillel at Baruch. Earlier today, I visited the Hillel Club again and met even more people, exchanging numbers with some. I learned even more about the club and that there are many more clubs aligned with Hillel, including WINGS and YOFI. I attended “Twenty Minute Mondays”, where I, along with many other club members, watched a tribute video about the tragedies of 9/11. We spoke about 9/11, and the club leader spoke about a Jewish student who passed away. Afterwards, we stood for a moment of silence and joined in prayer. It was a meaningful event to attend and I’m glad I participated in this club event.

A club meeting experience


I attended Chinese Christian Fellowship (CCF)’s club meeting. I had never heard of it before. After they introduced, I realized it is a christian club. I am not a christian but I had been in a christian school for a several years. Therefore, I knew a little bit about God.
During the presentation of introducing the club, they said the responsibility of this club is to spread out god's love to everyone. I could see that they are not forcing us to believe there is god in the world. They were just sharing some experience with us. During the presentation, they shared many experience about being a student in Baruch college. we also talked about where is the best place to have lunch, what benefits we can get by using our student ID card. Those are all personal experience. As a freshman, we are not familiar with the school and the surroundings. The only way to get these information is from seniors. I feel like it is not only a club, but a family. They are trying to develop relationships with others. The reason that I chose this photo to upload is the photo shows 'we are family'. overall, I have learned a lot and got some excellent experience on that meeting.

The Baruch Traders Club

Last week I went to the general information meeting for the traders club at Baruch College. Since before the semester, I wanted to join the club for its learning experience inside a stock trading computer lab and its real life application after college. The meeting was an eye-opening experience; I walked in and saw a handful of students dressed in full suits and overheard people talking about their internships over the summer, I already felt like I was behind. It was clear that I was probably one of a handful of freshman. I met a few juniors and seniors and spent the whole meeting writing as much down as possible to make sure I didn’t miss any information. Over the course of the two hours I learned how to use the trading software, Rotman Interactive Trader, and how it will be used in future trading meetings and events. Luckily I can use it on my home computer and practice for the next meeting. I met with an old member of the club and he told us about what it takes to succeed in this club. He explained how he joined the club with absolutely no background experience but with working at home he developed the skills to join the club at the MIT competition where they finished ahead of countless prestigious colleges last year. I plan on following in his footsteps, especially on a coding background. Coding is an important part of stocks but learning it would not just benefit me for the club but for jobs in the future. Overall the experience matched my expectations. I knew I wasn’t an expert on trading and that I had a lot to learn but meeting junior and seniors in the same position let me know that I wasn’t alone and that starting early is a great step to being ahead of the pack.

THE MET

Washington Crossing the Delaware.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw many paintings out of which this painting stood out to me. Washington Crossing the Delaware was painted in 1851 by Emanuel Leutze. This massive painting takes up one whole wall and is one of the many main attractions at the Met. The oil strokes on the canvas show that the artist was very talented. I also thought that the waves were handled beautifully. Seeing this painting, I understood why it is one of the most visited works in the Met. I remember my friend telling me that it was placed in the Smithsonian institution in Washington DC before coming to the Met. The room where it is placed was full of people admiring the piece. I have been to the MET a couple times before but for some reason I had always skipped this painting. Overall, I had a great experience as I went there with a friend(who is also at Baruch and was visiting the Met for the first time). I was almost mesmerized by the size of the painting and will probably visit it again.