Category: Uncategorized

I have enjoyed working on the community service project this year. I believe we came up with a great organization and I can’t wait to actually participate and help out next spring. Throughout the year I developed some useful skills that I’ll use in the future. The most interesting and useful classes I took this semester was definitely communications because it helped me develop speech skills and now I feel more comfortable giving speeches than I was when the semester started. Also, I learned a lot about 3-D printing and virtual reality which was also a great experience which I may not have again. One of the centers I’ve utilized greatly this semester was the library. I would go there during the long 4 hour breaks or before I had a soccer game and do my work. It is a peaceful environment where I can get all my work done. I also enjoyed playing soccer this year. The experience as long as the kids on the team were great and it’s sad that I won’t play with another season. As much as I enjoyed some classes and  experiences at Baruch I very much disliked my overall stay and atmosphere at Baruch. Part of the reason was the school itself and part was just my preferences. Baruch is very much a commuter school and you can barely call the two buildings a “campus”. I have always wanted a real campus but that’s just a personal preference. The largest reason why I did not like my time at Baruch, is because I found the school very unprofessional. It all started off when we were given Dell computers after we were promised MacBook Air’s. The problem wasn’t so much that I didn’t get the computer but more so that we weren’t notified about this until the moment we got them. The school had over 6 months to notify us and then afterwards, and only because the students complained, they tried to make up for it with some pathetic apology. We are the Honors students, supposedly “the brightest” bunch of students and from the first week we got a good look at how Baruch treated us. Also, I was promised priority scheduling as a Honors students. The school knew that I was an athlete and they had the schedule of when I had games and they continued to schedule a math class where I would have to either miss half my games or half my classes. This wasn’t really the problem because I understand if they didn’t know my schedule but then when I went to fix they told me that it was impossible to fix and that I would have to figure it out. So now I am, as a freshman student who was told to go and expand my horizons, stuck to decided whether to miss half my soccer games or half my math lectures. The best part of the whole situation was that when I pursued the issue and brought the issue to the Dean they were able to find a solution to the problem, even though it also wasn’t ideal. Another issue I had was with financial aid. I was promised a certain amount of money at the beginning of the semester and I went to meet with the office workers just to make sure how and when I would get the money because with the previous issues that I went through I knew something was bound to go wrong. So after two months went by and I didn’t receive the money I went back to the office. Apparently the money had mysteriously “disappeared”. They told me they didn’t know what happened to it and they would look into it. Now a few weeks later, after I signed up for the direct deposit, I see the money in my account. However, it is under “Campus Housing” and I never actually received it which means that I have to go back to the office a third time to figure it out. Finally, me and the rest of the honors students, were finessed in the Maker Hub. Even though it was a great experience, many of our group were promised 3-D printing models and either didn’t ever receive the model or they were late. My group didn’t even know that we were not getting our model until the day we had to present. Once again there was no notifications which was the largest problem. During my time at Baruch, I found a lot of the staff and workers very unprofessional and rude. I don’t know exactly where I will end up for the next three years, but I can confidently say that it will definitely not be Baruch College.

When you first hear about the requirements for the Baruch Scholar Honors Program it seems like a lot. However, once you take a step back you realize that it’s really what we should be doing anyways. I think that everyone, not just Baruch Scholars, should be helping out and doing community service and not just so it looks good on paper. I think its everyone’s civil duty to give back and help make the community better. Going off this idea, joining clubs helps make this possible. A lot of clubs get you involved and helping the community in and around Baruch. We were picked to be in Baruch Scholars because we are the best and brightest of Baruch minus the MacBooks. This means that we are supposed to be the role models to everyone and lead the way. We have these requirements but realistically they should be done without asking. I also think that we should help out our friends when they need it whether it be tutoring them or lending a textbook or PDF. Of course, our first job without having to be said is be outstanding students and just try and settle in because it is a big school and an enormous city. Once we are settled in we can then help others do the same because I believe we were put in this program to lead others and be outstanding role models.

My youth years consisted of going to school and playing soccer after. I would either play in my backyard with my dad or go to practice with my club team. It was pretty routine and I liked it. I lived out on Long Island in a town called Coram. I liked the friendly neighborhood and the diverse district. I started my high school career in Longwood and it was definitely different than Junior High. After a while though, I got used to it and I enjoyed it. I had my group of friends and I was playing soccer for the school. I was looking forward to sophomore year and playing on the varisty team. However, I never got to experience that. My parents pulled the rug out from under my feet before I even started doing my summer assignments for the fall.

That summer my parents bought a tiny house, which we ended up tearing down and rebuilding, in Smithtown, a town 30 minutes west of my old house. I told my parents that I refused to move but in the end I didn’t have much say in the decision. At first I didn’t accept the change and was miserable at my new school. However, slowly I saw that this move wasn’t so bad. I was offered one of the best soccer programs on the island as well as one of the best academic programs. I was becoming alot more social than in my old school and I was meeting a lot more people. I even met an amazing girl which I’m still with to this day.

Change can be hard at first but if you’re brave enough to accept it can often be good. You should always explore your options because there is a lot out there that you don’t know about. This is exactly what I expect to do at Baruch and in the city. I want to excel in my studies but at the same time I want to maintain a social life, explore the city and take advantage of all it has to offer as well as keeping up with soccer of course.