Past Honors Alumnx Events

On Tuesday, November 16th, 2021, Honors hosted our first virtual Alumnx panel, where our diverse cohort of panelists discussed a plethora of topics, ranging from professional tips to personal advice.

On Tuesday, April 13th, 2022, Honors hosted a Medical School Conversations event where we invited Dr. Aaron Lam (Macaulay-Baruch ’14) to speak with both honors and non-honors Baruch students about being a pre-med student at Baruch as well as applying for medical school and life as a third-year orthopedics resident.

Dr. Aaron Lam is a native New Yorker who grew up in Flushing, NY. He graduated from Macaulay Honors College at Baruch College in 2014 and took a gap year before completing his medical training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2019. During his time in undergrad, he had the opportunity to go to Panama as part of the Medical Global Brigades in 2012 and ultimately served as the co-president for the Medical and Public Health Brigades in 2013. During the summer of 2012, he was a recipient of the Summer Undergraduate Stem Cell Research Program Grant working with neural stem cells in Stony Brook University. During his gap year, he was invited back as an adjunct lecturer with the Natural Science Department, teaching biology and physics. Currently he is completing his orthopaedic surgery residency training at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.

In April 2022, some of our incredible alumnx returned to share their experiences as Honors Scholars. They answered questions for prospective students and their families and discussed their many achievements since graduating. Alumni Panel from left to right: (Macaulay Scholars: Katherine Dorovitsine ‘20, Ahmed Farooq ‘19, Chiandredi (CJ) Johnson ‘21, Sherry Chan ‘21, and Baruch Scholar: Shehab Chowdhury ‘13.

Katherine is an analyst on the Prime Services Consulting team in the Global Markets Division at Goldman Sachs, where she advises hedge fund clients on best practices for operating their businesses. Prior to joining the firm full time, she interned in the Global Markets Division for two summers. Katherine joined Goldman Sachs in July of 2020, after graduating from Baruch with her BBA in Finance and minors in International Business and New York City Studies. On campus, she was involved in the Financial Leadership Program and the Financial Women’s Association, and held leadership positions in the Starr Career Development Center, the Residence Hall, and in an honors First Year Seminar.

Ahmed graduated from Baruch in 2019 with a degree in accounting. While at Baruch he interned as an SAT tutor in Denmark, at a law firm (Duane Morris), and an accounting firm (PWC). On campus, he was the president of the Pre-Law Society and Macaulay Ambassadors. He was the recipient of the Susan A Locke award, which is given annually to students who provide self-less service to the honors program, Baruch and the broader community. It recognizes students who are enthusiastically engaged in the learning process. Ahmed will be graduating from Columbia Law this May.

Chiandredi (CJ) is currently a student in Baruch’s Master in Taxation program. For undergrad, she was an accounting major with a minor in NYC Studies and was awarded Salutatorian for the Class of 2021. She has served as an Honors Program Ambassador, Honors Program Peer Mentor, and an intern at PwC. Additionally; CJ is a participant of Baruch’s Women of Color Leadership program. She is a frequent writer for the program’s newsletter, sharing tips on an array of topics such as financial freedom and hair care. Also, she was the Co-President of Pre-Law Society, and currently works as a Student Assistant in the Office of Student Life. Upon graduating, she will be joining PWC’s Real Estate Tax Group. Furthermore, she has volunteered with Services for the Underserved, and the NYC Animal Care Center. In her free time, she plays on a NY Women’s Rugby Team.

Sherry is an Associate Product Specialist at MasterCard in the Launch Rotational program. She graduated from Baruch College in May 2021 with a BBA in Marketing and a double minor in Graphic Design and New York City studies in the Macaulay Honors program. She has extensive experience in product management in the tech industry and marketing/ad sales in the media/entertainment industry. She interned at Warner Media and NBC Universal, where she worked in ads sales, media planning, campaign management, and strategic planning. In addition, she interned at both MasterCard and Spectrum Reach working on product development and innovation. Fun fact about Sherry is she studied abroad in Singapore in Spring 2020 and has traveled around Thailand and Malaysia.

Shehab is a Senior Advisor at the NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity where he funds, manages, and evaluates the next generation of anti-poverty programs in New York City, specifically at the intersections of asset building, college access, workforce development, and parent-family supports. His work also involves developing and designing new programs and digital tools to foster collaborative innovation among city agencies and create effective services for New Yorkers. Shehab was previously a storyteller at UNICEF USA, a Participatory Budgeting facilitator, a 2020 NLC NYC fellow and is currently working on a docu-poetics initiative on Immigration, Identity, and Belonging in America. Shehab is a graduate of Baruch College, City University of New York and also received a Master’s of Public Affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. You can find him eating an upside down Sicilian slice of pizza while ruminating on Rumi and writing verses in the streets of Brooklyn.

On May 4th, we welcomes back of our Honors Class of 2020 to congratulate them on their accomplishments. We heard as an incredible speech from the 2020 Valedictorian Annemarie Gajdos and honored student award recipients. We send thanks to Janet Rossback, Director of Alumni Relations & Volunteer Engagement, for welcoming our scholars into the alumni community. Check out some highlights below and view this folder for additional photos.

On Tuesday, November 8th, 2022, Baruch’s Honors Program celebrated its inaugural National First Generation Day event. We enjoyed learning about what it means to be a first generation student, as well as the advantages and tribulations this label comes with. We are proud to celebrate the 57th anniversary of the signing of the 1965 Higher Education Act, yesterday November 8th. This act has helped millions of first-generation students persist to degree completion.

In honor of First Generation Day, Baruch welcomed three first generation Alumni students to speak about their experiences. Moderators included Runako Luke & Junior Zumba. 

Baruch welcomed:

We encourage all our students, faculty and alumni to continue celebrating the success of first-generation college students, faculty, staff, and alumni in any and every way possible. Our goal is to encourage our communities to better understand the systemic barriers plaguing higher education and the supports necessary for this important and resilient population to continue thriving.

Addressing first-generation success has intergenerational impact, as successful college completion is a significant predictor of education, workforce and life success for the families of graduates. Today, 1 in 3 undergraduates – nearly 5M students – identify as first-generation. 33% of higher ed students for 2021 are first in their family to attend college (source: U.S Dept. of Education).

For more information, please visit the following Ticker article to see how Baruch is currently ranked as the #1 university across the United States for first-generation students.