Does anybody even really know what they want to do for the rest of their lives? Let alone how to start? Personally, I’m a dreamer. I have so many things that I want to accomplish and for some odd reason finance is at the heart of that? I’m sure at some point that’ll change whether it be 3 months from now to 3 years. Especially being at a CUNY school, it was hard for me to fathom the resources to work at great institutions that will value my identity and the things that I value. SO, since Baruch has oriented me, they’ve been marketing THE HELL out of the STARR center and I’m sure like 90% of first year seminar students end up there for their career related enrichments anyway so I went. I walked in completely clueless, per usual, but definitely held it together. I went by myself, and so I didn’t really ask questions although I wish I did because writing this would be much easier, but it was fairly busy so I didn’t want to intrude. I looked at the walls filled with pamphlets and how to’s, and even the bulletin board outside which I didn’t know would have job postings and internship opportunities for credit and even money. I was most intrigued, as a prospective Zicklin student, the business-y pamphlets. There are fellowships and internships for students like me at amazing institutions like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs which I had no idea about. It fits because this is New York, but still. I never thought that CUNY schools would have that much presence because the education is so inexpensive. I always thought that investment banks were checking for “prestigious” students, not lil old us, ya know? It actually comforted me because I was actually scared that because I’m getting a CUNY education is have to work a million times harder to get seen by these places.

For my last event to attend, it had to be student life related. To be completely honest, I looked forward to this category of events the least because to me CUNY schools are not going to be that fun being in NYC. NYC is only really fun of you’re over the legal drinking age. Any who, I was in a scram because per usual, I waited until last minute to complete the assignment. Had to do it Thursday because Friday I had no classes and had to go to work. One of the last events happening at Baruch prior to this assignment, and all of the other assignments deadlines was a luncheon held by a Christian group at Baruch, I forget the name. A sweet girl named Tony practically ran me over at the escalators telling me to go, thankfully and she probably doesn’t even know she saved me from a literal fail. I waited on the line for nearly 20 minutes after the event was supposed to start, and made small chit chat in line while I waited because I was by myself. Apparently, nearly any person I conversed with was a junior or senior and first of all, their skin care routines must be bomb because I thought we were all freshman and secondly, they were mad approachable. I made it very clear while checking in that I had no clue what I was doing and the girls were really sweet about it. They were really directional and made sure to keep the line moving despite the fact that I was lost. I got the chance to make a care package for the homeless, which I had completely forgotten about in my own first year college going through life madness. This is the time to give! In each care package, every student got the opportunity to write their very own note to the person who received it which I thought was cute. We all crave a human interaction and I think it’s important to give that to people who feel forgotten about. I went into the actual event and listened to a speaker, who helped humble me and gave me encouraging words to finish the semester as strong as I could. I listened to a praise song and even played human Bingo, a kid from my FYS class one the free metro card which was super dope. Unfortunately I had class and had to scram, and literally almost forgot to take a picture! The people I asked to take photos were super understanding once I explained what they were for because everyone just LOVES the requirements for FYS!!

and that’s all folks, see ya next time.

FYS  

Deana Bing  

Emplid: 23649286    

Enrichment #1: Museum of Broken Glass 

For the past few weeks I’d been eyeing this one museum on Astor Place, a few blocks away from where I work. On the outside windows are hundreds of names of just the few people that have died in police related incidents. As a person who advocates for the wellbeing of the black community, and the humanization of black men, I couldn’t just walk past it. In fact, I had gone back and forth for days, because the opening date kept being moved around!  

I entered and met John, a coordinator of the museum. He was very informative on the government policies that allow police aggression. We spoke briefly on the Police Secrecy Act, the Solitary Confinement Act and a petition to legalize marijuana, all of which visitors can sign and send to Albany to get involved.  

The museum itself is only a pop-up, but there is a lot to notice even though it’s small and seemingly bare. The exhibits were cubbies, and several of them were of more names of people who’ve been killed by the police. Each tag had a name, place of death, date of death, and a comment on the person killed. One tagged that disheartened me was of an eight-year-old boy who’d been killed by an off-duty cop, his father. 

Another exhibit that I found interesting was one about fare evasion. There were over 5,000 fare evasion arrests in 2018, and 90% of the people arrested were black or Latino. Being from New York, it’s ironic to see police being at stations because there are so many more dangerous crimes that happen every day.  

Ultimately, I find it refreshing to have a museum that caters to police brutality, because it isn’t talked about enough. Black families have found themselves having “the talk,” with their sons about how people will target them, similarly to “the talk” our ancestors had about white extremists. Black females are also being harassed by the police, but it is mostly black males who face this kind of racial discrimination. The first step at correcting the problem is by addressing it, and this museum does just that.  

Emplid: 23649286 

In class, we talked about many so many things. The bulk of the class was about study-abroad, which is interesting in and of itself. I had no idea that Baruch offered that many countries to study abroad to and it definitely opened my eyes to another opportunity at Baruch. Baruch isn’t a state school, and it doesn’t always seem as big as it is, so learning that it offers that many countries put its greatness into perspective. It was also helpful to me that credits were mentioned. Much of the class of 2023 are business majors or intend to go to Zicklin which means we don’t have as much wiggle room for liberal credits. Mentioning that was important to me because I’m considering the travel abroad program, I need to get a plan in order as soon as I can. We also talked about the honors program which I’m not that interested in, but it was good information to know just in case.