For my career enrichment assignment, I went to one of Starr’s workshops(Networking 101). I’ve been receiving instructions and guidance on networking from my peers in the clubs I’m in, but it never hurts to supplement my knowledge of it. While the presenter gave a pretty standard presentation about networking, one of the things I learned from this workshop was business card etiquette. He also gave plenty of bad examples of networking, some came from his own experiences, which I really appreciated because I always want to learn through specific situations and examples. Towards the end of the workshop, we had an opportunity to network with others in the workshop. It was very informal and although it did show us the core of the networking experience, I was hoping for there to be an emphasis on professional networking, so I would’ve liked a mock networking session in the professional sense. Here are some pictures that I took, sorry for the bad quality, just waiting on that TAP money to get a new phone :((

Today we had our last FYS class. We started off with monologue presentations and Diane(Diana’s?) blew me away. I liked how we used class time to finish up the survey. After Bernice gave her parting statement and FYS class officially ended, Gabriela showed up with donuts and munchkins and spent some time connecting with the few of us who hadn’t left yet. I share her sentiment that FYS classes were cut too short to allow us to connect as deeply as we should have with one another, but I also appreciate how I can sleep in on Tuesdays from now on. Overall I felt that while FYS didn’t really make a significant impact on my transition into Baruch, it definitely gave me a sense of community that I didn’t know I would appreciate this much.

This week we had one of more important FYS sessions. With a speaker from the Starr Career Development Center, I got to learn more about the many ways of progressing on my career path with the help of Starr resources. One of the most important things I learned from that session was the Symplicity app and how to use it as a Baruch student. I’ve applied to 2 internships so far through Symplicity so I really appreciate what I learned from this session.

Today we had our monologue presentations and I loved hearing what everyone had to share and knowing more about them: where they came from and what they’re going through right now. It was also the first FYS class that was focused on our work and it all coincided with midterm season so that’s neat. A few more FYS classes to go and one more enrichment workshop assignment and it’ll be a wrap so I’m looking forward to that.

I like how we’re getting a switch of pace and heading into the phase of monologue presentations. It has been interesting so far and I am looking forward to hearing monologues from more of my classmates. Having not had FYS for a couple of weeks, I appreciated the chance to catch up with my classmates while Bernice and Gabriela did mid-semester check-ins on everyone. The munchkins were really tasty as well(thanks Gabby!), I should know because I ate the most, surprisingly almost nobody wanted free munchkins.

For my second enrichment workshop which focuses on student life, I want to share what club activities I have been participating in. I am in both VSA(Vietnamese Student Association) and Ascend, but I will be focusing on Ascend for this assignment. I am a mentee in Ascend’s LLP(Legacy Leadership Program) which is a professional development and mentorship program. We are assigned mentors which consist of juniors and seniors with considerable experience in the professional world, and through the course of 10 weeks we participate in weekly workshops which focus on skill development, leadership enrichment, and business etiquette. Weekly throughout these 10 weeks, we are obligated to present current events based on our respective industries and develop our Excel skills by completing Excel assignments as it is a crucial skill in the business world. By the end of this program, we are expected to have developed competent public speaking skills as well as know how to handle resumes, cover letters, interviews, case studies and stock pitches. It is a very intensive program and absorbing so much information in such a short period while handling the added workload can be overwhelming at times, but it is also starting me on the right path for my career and providing me with a high standard that I can hold myself to which I am very grateful for.

The monologue exercise at the start of the class warmed us up. Bernice and Gabriela covered a lot more topics than usual today which included discourse communities and intercultural competence. The discussion about the latter that happened in class was very memorable for me, I really liked hearing about my classmates’ opinions. They were very detailed and extensive in their responses and I learned how to better articulate my views about the topic in the future from them.

Hi guys! My name is Bryan Hoo and I’m 18 years old. As some of you may remember, I shared how I lived abroad in Malaysia for about ten years during class introductions. I’ve only recently returned to New York this summer, and I thought the lifestyle changes I went through would be worth sharing. In Malaysia, I lived with my extended family where I was well-taken and considered to be sheltered by my relatives. Although I’ve always worked for my income, flying back to New York to live with only my father, who spends most of his day working, forced me to become even more independent and responsible. All of a sudden I had to wash my own clothes, plan and shop for my own groceries, learn how to cook for myself and navigate my own way through the city. Overall, I was very glad for the change because knowing that I can take care of myself and survive on my own as an adult gave me a sense of accomplishment. In addition to that, I was exposed to a multitude of resources that I did not have in Malaysia, the most significant one being financial markets. Since finance is treated with a greater deal of importance in America, especially in New York, I was flooded with information online about trading and investing. Since I was interested in becoming rich like most people, I took advantage of that and educated myself(and still do) to become financially literate and have a better understanding of the markets as a whole. I highly recommend every one of you to start researching and learning how to invest, since we’re so young that we have the magic power of compound interest at its best(index funds and reading books about investing is the best way to start, I also found Youtube channels that shared financial knowledge to be extremely helpful, most notably Graham Stephan and Nate O’ Brien), and how to better manage your own finances in general. Coming to Baruch has definitely added to the long list of changes that I’ve had to adapt to. I cannot stress enough how important time management is and how beneficial it can be if you know how to use it. For example, I work 4 to 5 days a week at a restaurant while keeping up with exercise, and without scheduling exactly when to work on my assignments and projects, I wouldn’t be able to stay on top of things and would fall behind. At the same time, I think my schedule, as busy as it is, is definitely beneficial to me because it forces me to be productive and do the best I can for myself.

In conclusion, I think it’s really fulfilling to be lifestyle-oriented and I hope that I can somehow inspire any one of you with my story.

Day 2 of FYS started by providing us with a fun group activity to find out more about the resources Baruch has to offer for different kinds of situations. This also gave us the opportunity to make conversation and get to know our classmates better. Gabby made sure that we knew exactly where to find those resources as well as gave us advice on what we should do with them based on her experience. As a freshman, I appreciated the valuable information. For the second half of the class, Bernice elaborated on the idea of values and ethics in regards to academic integrity(one thing that Baruch stresses) and personal integrity. I also had the opportunity to listen to my classmates’ opinions on specific situations that were given us to interpret in terms of integrity that allowed me to expand my perspective and prompted me to think.

For my first Enrichment Program assignment, I decided to head to The Met on Fifth Avenue. At such an early point in the first semester of the year, clubs are not holding as many events and I am not familiar enough with the school to approach career workshops, so the museum seemed the easiest route to complete my first assignment.

Having never been to a museum before, the experience was really educational and eye-opening to me.  I managed to see for the first time how accurately certain historical elements have been portrayed in mainstream media. In regards to art, from the mythological figures and religious art of the ancient eras to the Impressionism of the 19th-century, I noticed the evolution in what artists chose to depict and it enabled me to peek into the society and culture of their time through a historical lens . I also gained admiration for the distinctive styles of art used in different times; I walked from one gallery to the next, contrasting the different forms of art, such as the Greek vase paintings to the European oil paintings. Apart from what was depicted in the art itself, the descriptions of each piece of art allowed me to better understand the context of the respective time periods they were crafted in, which made me appreciate the art and the history behind it more. Besides general works of art, however, I was also greeted with displays of  artifacts in every gallery I entered. Again, it was surreal to observe how intricately most of these artifacts were crafted with beautifully engraved details, from the Greek/Roman sculptures and bone carvings, to the coffins of the Egyptian Pharaohs, and just like the works of art, it was amazing to compare the different styles incorporated into the craftsmanship of these artifacts.  I’m grateful that FYS pushed me to have this experience.