A topic that we discussed in class was integrity. Integrity can mean a lot to everyone. To me integrity is the morals, values, beliefs and ethics(credibility) of a person. Integrity is honesty, respect, and commitment to your self. It is who your character is. The consistency of beliefs on what you think is right or wrong. C.S Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing. Even when no one is watching.” I’d like to think that I always do the right thing, however I don’t think that’s true for anyone. We have all came to a situation or conflict in our life when we should have done more to help, but didn’t. However, the little things we do in everyday life count too. Whether it is helping someone with a struggle or falling  and picking them up or saying something when you see something wrong happening. Integrity is staying honest on a test, and not allowing others to cheat from you. Integrity is important at home, school and the workplace. Integrity is important at home because I think without integrity at home there is no structure. We all have our own ways of doing things or a way our families do things and we all know how important those values can be. Two character traits important in my family values are honesty and respect and with out them things wouldn’t flow as smoothly. Integrity is important in school because of fairness. It wouldn’t be right if someone who didn’t put as much work and effort as you got a higher grade. Lastly, integrity is important in the workplace because without it you wouldn’t be able to maintain a job. No one wants someone who is untrustworthy or unreliable to be or run in their business. All in all, integrity plays a major role in our lives and society because without it the world would be in chaos and things wouldn’t have the right flow.

For my last enrichment workshop I had to do something for career. I chose to do a STARR career development center workshop. The workshop I did was called mastering the job interview. It was very helpful as it taught us many tips to perfecting or mastering a job interview. It taught us how to get a background on the corporation/organization before-hand. It also taught how to practice answering potential interview questions, how to prepare a list of questions for the employer, and how to research contact information for the company. The workshop gave great insight on how to be your best self by dressing for success, using specific examples, and really taking time to think. It’s also very important to keep it only around two minutes, to mention professional things only and highlight why you should be hired at the end of the interview. One of my favorite tips that they repeated many times during the workshop was to go with the flow of the interview and keep it conversational. I feel like I am the type of person who tends to get very nervous in situations like these and I start to rant or really get nervous. However, if you keep it conversational between the interviewee there is no reason to be nervous. A brand new source of information for me was them teaching us how to compose a pitch. To compose a pitch you have to make sure you say what the first and second most important things to know about you is, give at least two to three selling points that support your statement, give them a reason why they should be interested in you, say what you can bring to the table, and anticipate any objections and be prepared to neutralize those statements. All in all, the tips the STARR center gave us were very helpful and useful and I can most definitely say I will be using them. 

Today’s freshman Seminar class was interesting because it allowed us to learn about all the benefits that Baruch offers students. Someone came to speak about the STARR center at Baruch and all the workshops and online resources that can help us a guide in our college career and our future. The STARR center provides connections to workshops, information sessions, career fairs, internships, jobs, mentoring and more. If you’re lost on your career path or not sure what you want to major in they can help you with that. Even if it comes to needing  professional business attire, learning how to handshake, speak to people and more. All in all, I think learning about all the resources in the STARR center was very useful because I think I could definitely take advantage of one of their tools. It’s been difficult managing and staying on track academically lately so I think attending one of their workshops would help me better prepare.

This past week has been a really bumpy and struggling time. There is a lot going on in my life right now personally and it’s really hard to talk to anyone about it so I just keep it to myself. I know that’s not good to do but I also know that I’m strong and I am  gonna get through it. I’ve been trying to keep myself busy and productive as possible so  that helps because it keeps me distracted and helps me get things done. I’ve been going to the gym because it helps me emotionally and physically feel better. It allows me to get rid of the stress and anxiety but allows me to focus on myself at the same time. Yesterday I took a personal day after work to just have fun with some family but now I need to get back to the mindset of school and focusing on the monologues that we have to redo.

For my 2nd enrichment workshop I participated in a community service project. The community service project I participated in was the breast cancer awareness walk for this special month. The walk I went to was in flushing meadows Corona park. I respected this service very much because it honored and celebrated breast cancer survivors. It helped to educate people about the importance of early detection and prevention. The breast cancer awareness walk was a great cause because it helped raise money to find research to save peoples lives and different support programs.  At the walk they sold different t-shirts, bracelets, hats and more. It was a nice experience because  you really get to see the community get together. There were NYPD police officers at the event and other people from different youth programs. A beautiful component of this event was that you could purchase a pink flag at the walk and dedicate it to someone you love, someone in the process of fighting the disease, or yourself if you were a survivor. I personally don’t know anyone going through this difficult experience but I believe if I were in their shoes I would want the same support.  Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer in Women.  This event helped me more in overall life experience because it makes me take a step back from my own life. Sometimes we are so caught up in our own lives that we forget that there are people out there experiencing and going through so much more pain. Yeah sure, sometimes we feel like we are our really low points in life but we are all still living, growing and learning.  On a positive note looking more into breast cancer awareness, things are improving.  Survival rates have increased and the number of deaths to the disease is declining. This is because of early detection, new approaches to treatment plans, and a better understanding of the disease. This is a perfect example on how awareness makes a difference and we should all continue to make a difference to make the world a little better. 

We haven’t had FYS class in a while. The days off have felt good but at the same time now I have to get back on my pace and grind. I have to remind myself to make sure to stay focused and on track in my school work. When you have a thousand things happening in your life, it is hard to make sure you get things done and don’t get distracted. In class we have still been continuing the monologues. Getting up in front of a whole room of people doesn’t get easy until you really practice it so I guess it’s good life experience. We’ll see how things go next week.

Class was a  good way to get us more in the groove of things. We started to practice our monologues and it seems a little nerve wrecking. It gives us practice for when we start practicing our 2-3 minute monologues in front of the class. This past week has been pretty overwhelming because of my calculus and classical music exams but it is our first couple exams we take in those classes so I try not to stress it too much. It also teaches me that I need to be more prepared at least two weeks before an exam. I’m going to start dedicating a couple hours a day to each subject.

The week went by pretty fast and smoothly. I’m learning how to get around more easily and efficiently so that is a positive note. None of my classes are stressing me out except math a little because of the derivatives and rules but I think the more problems I do the more simpler it’ll become to do.  All in all, school is going good. In class we got to here two speakers talk about some great opportunities at Baruch. It was on the honor programs and studying abroad. Not sure if I would participate but I think they are great parts of the school that make students want to participate more.

For the first enrichment workshop I did academic. For academic I visited the metropolitan museum. The metropolitan museum was very gorgeous and the architecture was exquisite. I would definitely picture myself going back to the metropolitan museum because there was just so much ground to cover. They have so many different exhibitions. Some of the exhibitions that I saw were Ancient Greek and the Ancient Egyptian pieces of art, I also saw the Apollo exhibition. My personal favorites were the sculptures and the jewelry from the ancient Greeks. One piece I saw was large fragmentary colossal marble head. This marble head was from the Hellenistic period in Greece. It was one of the oldest known sculptures and it was made of marble and it was over life-scale in size.  It represented either a young god or Alexander the great. The gold jewelry was another personal favorite because I love gold and knowing how ancient the pieces were made it even more beautiful and valuable.  A famous piece I’d never thought I see in person was the Bouquet of flowers by Claude Monet. It is a gorgeous oil canvas of Sunflowers, my favorite type of flower. It was even a favorite of Van Gogh. All in all, it was a great experience visiting the met and I would love t o visit again to explore more. I think that it has helped me in my transition from high school to college because I think it has given me more independence to really explore the city without being supervised. I know I’m only going to make more experiences in the city and go on more fun adventures. The more I explore the city, the more comfortable I become with the setting and it’s people. From the beauty to the creative colors of New York city I can’t wait to gain more insight.