Author: g.kerstein

Last Thursday I attended my first academic enrichment workshop. I went to the tech fair in Baruch. The tech fair was mostly very boring, although I went with many of my friends. Having people there that I knew made the fair tolerable (for a short amount of time). The fair was pretty much just a panel discussion of four tech companies. I did not stay the entire time, and when I was there I was only listening for about ten minutes. Although, for the most part, I did not gain much from the fair, I was listening to the panel when they focused on one core idea. An idea they focused on was that you have to be persistent. They said that you will most likely fail to get to where you want to be at first, but that the people who are where they want to be, in terms of a job or business, failed at least once prior to reaching their goal. They closed with stressing that you should not become discouraged by failure, and actually you should become more determined if you’ve failed. Overall the fair was pretty unnecessary and a waste of my time.

Soccer is the best

You kick the black and white ball

Soccer is awesome

Gabriel Kerstein

 

Today I visited a famous NYC museum known as the Tenement Museum. This museum happens to be conveniently located around the corner from my apartment, on Orchard Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The building itself doesn’t really stand out, and will not immediately catch anyone’s eye, although it is kind of interesting (as far as museums go). I have personally walked right by the museum countless number of times, without giving it a look for even a second. It is an unassuming five story building right near the Williamsburg Bridge. The museum is actually pretty significant to all New Yorkers and tourists, and has added importance to me personally due to the fact that it strongly ties into modern Jewry. The museum mainly focuses on immigrants that came to New York from all over the world in search of a better life. The museum includes exhibits explaining how Chinese immigrants, Puerto Rican immigrants, and Jewish immigrants came to New York in hopes of rebuilding their lives here. The five story building crammed numerous numbers of stories about seven thousand immigrant, working class families (half of whom were Jewish) from different backgrounds. The tour involves visiting actual apartments from when the immigrants inhabited them, as well as in depth insight into the rich history of the Lower East Side. It stresses the fact that the Lower East Side was an ideal destination for immigrants due to its already growing diversity at the time. Now that I have begun my journey at Baruch, which has an incredibly diverse student body itself, it seems fitting to be living in an area with such a diverse population. I highly recommend this museum to anyone who is interested in learning more about this great city, and how diversity is one of its most interesting, and important aspects.