Hello everyone,

This week at class we did more prep for the monologues that we’ll be presenting in the upcoming weeks. We also discussed the registration process for next semester. We received advice such as which classes are highly recommended or suggested so that we are on a good track for graduation. I found this to be helpful because this will be the first time I’ll be making my own schedule. The only worries I have is accidentally signing up for a class that won’t count for credits because I already satisfied the requirement or not liking my classes. Therefore, I will likely meet with an adviser to ask any questions.

Steven

Aman Dharani: 23795587

I decided to tackle the academic workshop this time, and I chose to go to the Museum of Mathematics on 26th Street. The thing I hate the most in the world is Math, but the museum was also the closest thing to school and ended up being pretty interesting. At first, the museum really does have a childish vibe to it but it evens out as you go on. Many things caught my eye the second I walked in and bought my ticket, such as the tricycle in the center of the very small museum which had square wheels and ran on a triangular track. The museum took very simple concepts of math such as the aforementioned shapes and made them interesting and childish activities. Another interesting thing at the museum was an exhibit called the “String Product”, which is a ginormous polygraph (pictured below with my head) that lights up and meets at the product of any two numbers you can fathom within its spectrum. It was an eye-grabbing and unique piece that showcased the wide limitations of math. All in all, the Museum of Mathematics is not as repelling as it sounds. It is actually a great concept and piece that lets you grasp the idea of something you hate and makes it cool and fun. I definitely recommend going here and letting your inner child (or nerd) out.

Alexander Papas-23975354

For my second Enrichment /=Workshop I went to a Baruch women’s volleyball game! My friends and I took a bus to Jersey City, New Jersey to watch this epic match. Our girls played Wilkes University! This match was so exciting! We arrived early and got great seats. Baruch breezed through the competition, it was if we were watching toddlers play olympians.

Being here and watching these amazing athletes was somewhat nostalgic for me. I had played volleyball for two years. Those two years were some of the best high school memories I have to date. I remember training like if it were yesterday. I devoted so much of my time to volleyball my parents questioned if it even was healthy to be practicing that long. I would show up early and leave an hour later. My coaches gave me one-on-one attention because I cared so much about my team, improving, and ultimately winning. I excelled immensely and moved to varsity setter my sophomore year of high school. Also, my teammates voted me team captain, all while being a sophomore. I would’ve loved to see where I could’ve gone with my athletic career, but my mother was struggling in our family business so I had to quit to help her.

Despite these melancholic, nostalgic thoughts. I was entranced to be watching a volleyball game again. I have not seen a game since the last time I played. It was glorious. It was great to see the team that I support win. The crowd was small, but we were mighty. We supported our Bearcats to victory. After the game my friends and I hopped on another bus to go back into the city.

This experience was great! I enjoyed the sportsmanship, the game, the friends, the excitement, the nostalgia, and the New Jersey experience.

Boris Chan- 23925203

I am in the E-Sports Association which I joined since I like playing games. The people there are very interesting and cool and its fun talking to people I share an interest with. They have a variety of games that we can play such as Minecraft, Super Smash Brothers, and League of Legends along with many other games. You also don’t have to play competitive, even casual players can join their activities like me. I have also been to some of their events, including the league of legends workshop and the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Tourney.

Sadly, in the Smash Tournament I lost the first round and was placed in the losers bracket where I lost the second round of that.  However afterwards I stayed in order to watch the others and play a few other rounds which I won most of(Wish I did that well in the tournament, but oh well). I also played a game of League of Legends in between some of my free matches which I lost after two players left early in the game. I watched the finals between Reilly and Justin Joseph, which Reilly won. There was also lotteries from time to time but I didn’t win those either sadly.

I also went to the League of Legends Workshop which helped learn how to play the game better. I t had really helpful tips and I hope to play the game more since I had taken a long break. Incidentally, my username is Shirogami Kuro if anyone wants to send a friend request. I recently won a game and was able to get a new rune page for my champions. The E-sports is not only fun but also helps me get better at these games and I will continue to join them in their activities,

For my second enrichment post, I attended a Resume and Interview Information Session with Alpha Kappa psi a while back. I was required to bring a resume prior to the event which was kind of difficult for me as it was my second time making one and I wasn’t really sure what was necessary to include and what wasn’t. I also never really had an interview before as most of the stuff I did before didn’t require one or they just accepted me right away. I was able to talk with many older people who had gone through the experience of applying for jobs, interviews etc and it was great to receive advice from first hand experience. They even offered to send me templates to help fix my resume. They told me what were important aspects to keep in it and what were things to discard. They also told me what are things that recruiters look for so I incorporated all those elements into my new resume. They also gave me tips on interviews.I  even scheduled a practice interview with one of them with my updated resume as well. They helped correct my resume online as well which was really helpful and apparently they said I didn’t do too bad on my first interview which made me really happy. I also met a graduate or two who were there and they told me their experiences and real life tips on how to succeed with a good resume. Even though you can apply to 100s of jobs only some will even reply, so now I know I can’t be too picky with what I get.

today in class we went over culture and what it means to us. different groups spoke out and gave their view which was interesting. i really enjoy the way we start class by discussing our weekend. even tho i have never shared nor do a lot of people share, it gives me a nice feeling and makes me feel very welcome in the class.

Today we had to write a short monologue about ourselves in preparation for our future ones. i found this kind of hard to be honest because i don’t know how what an interesting fact about me is. i managed to write something though. i did enjoy listening to other people go up because all of them had something interesting to say, i also got to learn their names.i havent really made any friends yet, through fault of my own, i sort of just close up when someone new speaks to me. But i’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the monologues, along with the future ones that are longer.

today in class we went over how to register for classes and what classes we should sign up for. only today did i realize how behind i am, i havent put much thought into what classes  i want to take which i know sounds bad but i feel stressed with other school related things. however i hope to get an appointment with an advisor asap to discuss where i should be at. i also still have to catch up on other assignments so this week is looking very stressful.

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. 

This last long weekend I went to Chicago with my family and we ended up going to the field museum. They had a lot of cool exhibits there. Their most famed exhibit is the largest dinosaur discovered to date.  They named him Maximo which I guess means maximum in Spanish, its 122 feet long and stands 28 feet tall. The long necked vegan dinosaur lived over 100 million years ago in what is now called Patagonia, Argentina.  They had a 3D movie thing that gave you a good idea of what these creatures looked like which was really cool. My other favorite exhibit was the ancient Egypt section, they had a 3 story replica of a type of ancient tomb called a Mastaba. It had two chamber rooms from a burial site from somewhere I can’t remember but it was really cool. The burial chamber of the tomb dated back to 2400 BC and still houses one of the largest mummy collections in the United States. it holds 23 human mummies and 30 something animal mummies. The exhibition also recreated an ancient marketplace that they reconstructed from market scenes that were drawn on tomb walls. Overall it was a pretty cool experience and I am glad I went, here’s a picture of me in front of Maximo the dinosaur