Hello,

I am Isamar Gonzalez  and I’m currently a Junior majoring in Statistic & Quantitative Modeling, while I minor in Business Journalism.  I haven’t taken any Journalism courses before, however I am looking forward to this class because of it great benefits  in improving my writing skills and the advantages it brings in my upcoming professional life.

Also, I am currently studying for my first Actuarial examination which required long  hours of studying and dedication. In addition, I am in the process of obtaining a Research  internship, which allow me to  analyze statistical data, along with improving my ability to my ability to explain complex information in a very precise, understandable manner.

After graduation, I’m hoping to launch a job within my field. I say hoping because of the amount of competition among recent college student.  And while working I would love to continue my education by attending grad school.

Furthermore, I been in New York almost all my life, however I would like to experience working in other parts of the world. I love water sport & traveling, but unfortunately  Baruch have taken most of my time.

Professionally, I don’t know where I will be in the future, but I do know where I want to be. Therefore, as of now, all I can do is focus, and work hard & effectively. I am taking strides in making  my imagination reality.

Hello, my name is Choong Ming Ye; I also go by Jeffrey. I’m currently a senior who is majoring in business journalism. Originally, I transferred from Hunter college during my sophomore year with the intention of majoring in the finance field – specifically accounting – just like everybody else, but I quickly discovered it wasn’t for me.

This left me in a dilemma because I transferred to Baruch knowing full well that finance related majors was its forte. Inevitably I had to declare a major, so I took a gander at its liberal arts major just for the sake of it. After perusing my options and weighing in my own personality on the introverted-extroverted scale, I decided to venture into journalism because I loved reading; I figured that writing would go hand in hand with reading. Although I love reading, it takes a little more effort for me to write. I registered for this class in the hopes that it would provide enough momentum for me to get started.

I attended the High School of Environmental Studies and it has had an impact on my considerations for the future . Nonetheless, I always had an interest in all things outdoor – the less urban, the better. When that is not an option, I always find ways to try and incorporate it into life in the city. Whenever the weather permits, I will often bike from where I live in Queens all the way to Baruch, instead of taking the train. My primary goal is to develop a strong foundation in the business aspect of the news, so that I may eventually write for a trade publication, where my interests lie: the environment and its miscellaneous.

My name is Johannes Sebastian Pacheco, I was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1992.  My family and I moved to the United States of America when I was 3 years old. Since then my life has been shaped by a mix of Ecuadorian and American culture. This led to me learn how to speak, write, and understand English, Spanish, and Sign Language. English I came to adopt through my interaction in the United States such as TV, people, and school. Spanish was already an integral part of my life from before my arrival.  Sign Language I instinctively learned from communicating with my deaf father.

My childhood till I turned fifteen, consisted of  spending my time between different environments. During the school year, I would spend my time with my parents and friends  in New York. I learned that in this venue it was custom for all to be fast paced and serious. During my vacation time, mostly summer and winter break, I would contribute my time in Michigan with my uncle, aunt, and cousins. I discovered that ambiance was quite different than that of New York. The people were very friendly and never in a rush.

After the age of fifteen, I dedicated all my time to staying in New York.  During the school year I would attend  Baccalaureate School for Global Education which ranged from 7th to 12th grade. During my off time, I began to look for extra curricular activities to entertain myself. In my search I accidently I stumble across the Queens Falcons. At this organization, I was able to play full contact football. Through this experience not only did I learn how to tackle, catch, and run but I also gained valuable skills. Such as how to work within a team structure, and how to lead/motivate others.

Upon graduating high school, I was accepted into CUNY Baruch College. I am currently a junior expecting to graduate in 2014 . My major is Finance and my minor is Journalism. I have taken a couple of business courses such as Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Accounting, Managerial Accounting , Business, and Finance. All of these classes have been introductory classes which have taught me the basics of each subject. I have also taken 2 journalism courses: perspective on the news and Business writing. I was offered an opportunity to take part of Baruch’s Dollar and Sense. Unfortunately, I was not able to accept this offer due to a schedule conflict.

After graduating from Baruch College, I intend to start up my own business. At this point in time I am not quite sure what exactly the business will be, for I have too many potential ideas. Perhaps I will have to start multiple businesses if I do not resolve this conflict. However, I am certain that I will be able to use the knowledge and skills I acquired from Baruch to run it efficiently.  I would also like to move to California because it is a mellow environment with a lot of opportunities. Although it could never compare to New York, I feel as it is the place where my professional life should begin.

My name is Rachel Geissler.  I’m 22 years old and have lived in Staten Island my entire life.   I have one younger brother, named Sean.  He’s 19 years old.  We both still live at home with our father.  The house that we live in is the house where my father was born and raised.  My parents are divorced.

I attended the College of Staten Island High School for International Studies as a member of the inaugural class, starting in Fall 2005.  As a member of the inaugural class, I was very much involved in many “firsts” for the school and helping establish traditions alongside my classmates.  During my four years at CSHSIS, I studied Mandarin Chinese.  I hosted exchange students from both Bahrain and Berlin.  In my junior year I went on a school trip to Paris, London and Madrid.  I participated in the school’s journalism program, working as both the business manager and copy editor for the school’s newspaper, The International Insider.  As a part of the journalism program, we worked in conjunction with The Asia Society, having opportunities to attend special events and report on them for the school’s paper.  For the first three years I was also a member of the school’s Model United Nations team and had the opportunity to attend conferences at the actual United Nations and in Washington, DC.  I also played on the school’s soccer team for the first three years.

I started at Baruch College in the Fall 2009 semester as a finance major and communications minor.  During the Spring 2012 semester I decided to switch my major to corporate communications and my minor to business writing.  I have taken several business classes at Baruch, including microeconomics, two levels of accounting, two levels of marketing, two levels of management, intro to business and business law.  In terms of journalism courses, I have taken business communications and copy editing.  This semester is my last and I am taking this course alongside another journalism course that focuses on covering economics.

Last semester, I interned with Hifive Agency.  Hifive Agency is a small public relations company that was founded about a year and a half ago.  While interning there, I managed one of our clients’ Facebook and Twitter accounts, scheduling daily posts for them.  I also assisted the agency’s president in putting together media lists, writing pitches and any other research tasks she assigned me.  This semester I am interning with Key Food Stores Co-op, Inc.  I just started this past Monday and will be interning in their marketing department.  For the past 4 1/2 years, I have been working as a physical therapy aide at Staten Island Orthopedics & Sports Medicine.  I assist the physical therapists by calling patients in, preparing hot and cold packs as needed and demonstrating exercises for the patients as directed by the therapist while keeping track of the patients’ progress in their charts.

My name is Rafael Albertini, I am currently a junior majoring in finance.  Prior to attending Baruch I obtained an associate’s degree in business administration from Nassau Community College.  I made the decision to minor in business writing with the goal of improving my writing and understanding of the business world, therefore I am taking this course.

This semester I am only taking two courses, due to the fact that Baruch will not allow me to take any business courses until my math requirements are fulfilled.  Majority of the courses I took at Nassau transferred to Baruch, therefore I don’t have many courses to take other than math and the core business courses.  I feel like my two semesters here have been somewhat of a waste, by only being able to take two or three courses each semester.  I contemplated transferring to a different school to finish faster, but decided having Baruch on my resume, would suit me better upon graduation rather than SUNY Old Westbury.

Currently I am employed by AT&T Wireless, I was recently promoted to an assistant manager.  I have been with the company going on three years.  I decided to obtain my bachelor’s degree to widen my employment options for the future, because in our current times you need a bachelor’s degree to be a manager at certain McDonalds.  With that being said I will be going for my master’s degree.

Outside of school and work I don’t really have much time for anything else, but I am sure to make time for sports.  I am a huge Knicks fan, and not because we got Melo. I have been riding with the Knicks since I’ve been able to understand the game.  With my father being a Bulls fan and me being a Knicks fan my household had its own little rivalry, it was great.  The fact that my father worked for Madison Square Garden made things very interesting.  He would bring home Knicks paraphernalia and take my brother and I to games, all while loving Michael Jordan and the Bulls.

Not only am I a big sports fan, but I love cars, I guess I am a what people would call a stereotypical guy.  My cars of choice are BMWs, having owned a couple I know first hand that they are great cars, and really fun to drive.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a spoiled rich kid, but  I have nothing against rich kids I would’ve loved to be one.

College degrees have created so many positive paths for people, but so many people I know have graduated college and can’t find work in their respective fields.  With Baruch’s reputation, I hope to gain a degree that will land me a job in the business world, and not  just a piece of paper to look nice on a wall.

Hi, I am Sophia Williams.

I am an upper senior here at Baruch.  I am double-majoring in Corporate Communications and Business Journalism.  I have partially taken this class last semester, but had to drop out due to a family emergency.  Last semester I have also taken Journalism 2500, which focuses on all aspects of the news.

I am an aspiring singer.  My number one kind of music to sing is R&B. During this semester as I begin working, I plan on getting back in the recording studio and get my music out in the public.  My ultimate goal is to sign a major record contract and continue growing and building as an artist.

I am also a passionate social justice activist and during this summer I spent majority of my summer working on the Campaign to Bring Mumia Abu-Jamal Home.  Mumia is a journalist from Philadelphia and a political prisoner who has been wrongfully incarcerated for 31 years for killing a white Philadelphia police officer.  He has spent 29 years on Death Row and now serves a life without parole sentence in general prison.  I am continuing work on this Campaign and hope that I can peak the interests of others who would like to be a part of the biggest social movement since the Civil Rights Movement.

Other issues that I work around are: ending mass incarceration, stop & frisk policies, police brutality and abuse, human rights, immigration reform, school closings, college tuition hikes, financial aid decrease, etc.

I am a very passionate individual on many things!!  For example, I am  a passionate in developing a deeper understanding of the music industry and how I can better develop the industry to be more viable and prosperous.  My other passions include, reading in order to develop my writing, understanding, and discussions.

This is my fifth year at Baruch and I am quite proud to say that as, I have been able to get more involved in the Baruch community and develop a professional relationship with a professor that has changed my understanding and outlook of life.  Also, I have made the Spring 2013 Deans List and that has been my biggest academic accomplishment in Baruch. In the first couple years, I have never had an easy run academically speaking being a Baruch student; but in my last few years, especially with not graduating in exactly four years, I have been able to grow in exponential ways personally and professionally.

I am a regular member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapter at Baruch.  As a devoted Christian, attending to the regular club meetings have been beneficial to my faith.

As it stands, I’m looking forward to graduating next spring and taking all my experiences and knowledge with me into the continuation of my life, with hopes of transforming the world and making it a better place for myself and everyone.

I am grateful to have shared who I am with everyone. I sincerely hope you all enjoyed reading it, as much as I enjoyed writing it.

All the best on this inciteful class and the new fall semester!

–Best, Sophia

Hi there.

Let me begin with the requirements. I am an accounting major student, lower senior, and I have never taken a Journalism class. Last semester when figuring out what classes I needed to register for in order to graduate, I found out that I needed extra liberal arts classes. I either had to take four 3 credit classes, or 2 three credit and 1 four credit. This class was probably the only four credit elective that I found in Baruch College. I thought about it for a couple of weeks and finally decided that I was ready to put myself through the challenge. I signed up for the course. So far, I love how this course intertwines business with liberal arts.

The easiest thing for me to write about would be my summer. This was probably my busiest summer yet. I had an internship and took a summer class the entire summer.  The internship was with the Arts and Cultural department of the City Parks Foundation. I was the operations intern for SummerStage. SummerStage sets up free events in the parks around the five boroughs. The biggest stage, the one that most people know about, is at Central Park, but SummerStage also has events in other parks around the boroughs. Mostly, these are parks in neighborhoods where people can’t afford to go to a ticketed live concert. The goal of this non-profit is to bring together communities through the help of New York City parks.

I entered the internship initially thinking that I’d just be cooped up in an office putting together Payment  Vouchers for the Operations Director, but that wasn’t exactly what was in store for me. I was able to partake in all the processes and hard work it takes to put together a music festival. I was able to reach out to local members of different communities. I was able to grow as a worker as well as an individual. Not only that, I was also given a chance to view these amazing concerts. Seeing all the elements being put together and knowing and being a part of so many details that go into the process was great.  Even though the main stressors of the organization calm down after the summer, there are still things to be done and battles to be won. I stayed to do some work for the fall season as well, and so I’m looking forward to see what else City Parks Foundation will bring my way. I also hope to be a blessing for the people that I work for and with.

Now that this college semester has started, I can write a little bit about my opinions of the classes. And the first that comes to mind is how refreshing this semester will be. I’m so used to taking all Zicklin courses, and now I’m only taking one with three liberal arts courses. It’s something that I have to get used to again because of how different the courses are set up. It really is an eye-opener when you’ve been in the business mindset for the past two or three semester. So many limitations of thinking. This will be fun. I’m excited to really start the semester.

Hello!  My name is Nina Thomas, I am a junior here at Baruch College as well as Corporate Communications major.  I hope to minor in Business writing as well as Graphic Design.

This is my first “real” journalism class but I’ve taken journalism classes in high school as well.  I’ve only taken intro Management at Baruch College,but back in high school I was able to take Marketing, Accounting and lastly a class called Virtual Enterprise.

Back in high school I was the “business” girl.  I was part of the Business Club, competed in “business” competitions and intended to be a business major.

I’m at an odd cross roads in my life right now because I came into Baruch thinking I would be some kind of business major.  I always wanted to follow a very direct path.  Get a degree, get a 9-5 job, make enough money to pay my bills.  But I found my passion lies in communication which is Weissman.  How unfortunate is that?  I wish my passion could be finance!  But I am who I am, no sense in changing that.  I love to communicate.  I’m even a COM1010 tutor at the SACC center.  I never thought I would enjoy a part time job so much.   I don’t know what my life will look like 5 years from now and that scares me because I love being the person with a “plan”.

What I do know is that I love writing, reading and communicating and I want to develop these skills as much as I can.  Even though I do feel very weak in my writing skills compared to my public speaking ability.  I sometimes wish everything I ever needed to say could just be said out loud but I have also found a certain kind of beauty in writing.  It’s incredibly easy for me to be transparent when my words are written down.

I’ve found my passion here at Baruch within InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  Have you heard of us before?  If not, you should check us out.  It’s funny because back in high school I never wanted to be a part of the “Christian Fellowship”.  The very idea of it had a negative connotation in my mind.  But then again, I am not the same person I was in High School.  I’m very grateful for that.

I’m actually both the “Large Group” coordinator and the “Price of Life” Coordinator with InterVarsity.  Large Group is our weekly gathering aimed towards the Baruch Community and Price of Life is a campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking.  Large group tries to address important issues that impact Baruch students, a few include: immigration, love, identity, and even self worth.  It all feels very intimidating to be essentially “planning” this, but I trust that God will guide me in everything that I do.  Somehow I’ve found myself doing a whole lot of event planning.

But yeah, this is a mini introduction to me.  I hope that it wasn’t too boring!

My name is Timmy Wu and I transferred from Brooklyn College 2 years ago. I am hoping to be accepted into the Business Writing journalism major next semester. After failing to get into the Zicklin school of business, I found a different interest in the school of Weissman. Although this is the first journalism class that I have ever taken, I’ve always enjoyed writing. I’ve taken many business courses in high school and the economic courses here at Baruch. I feel like this class will help bring two interest that I have together and allow me to succeed in a class that I’ll enjoy. I’m not really sure what the future has in store for me and that does makes me a little nervous but I know I have a lot of support in friends and family. My dream is to have my own business one day where I can be my own boss. I don’t know what kind of business yet but that whole concept of being my own boss and owning something big such as a business seems to put a smile on my face.

I’m really into sports and can’t wait for the football and basketball season to start. It’s gonna be hard to watch the NFL since I’m a jets fan and come on, let’s face it. We’re going to suck this year. But the game of football is entertaining enough that I can enjoy it even if my team is losing. As for the NBA, I’m pretty disappointed that the Knicks haven’t made any big moves this summer but they’re still my number one team. Since I am from Brooklyn, I also do cheer for the Brooklyn Nets but it’s going to take me a little longer to like the new players added to the team this year since I hated them when they were on the Celtics.

The other major part of my life is strong faith to Jesus. I’ve been involved with my church in Brooklyn, The First Evangelical Free Church for almost 12 years! Ever since I was 10, fooling around in Sunday school and thinking that children’s songs and hand movements they made us do was so stupid. Today I help lead kids in Sunday school to sing those songs and perform those hand motions. I think my involvement in the church has really helped me mature into a leader with many skills that I’ll need for the future. My faith has also helped me in learning how to live a Christian life in a family where money is the most important and a world where instant gratification is constantly number one. I’ve made many friends at this church who I consider family.

My name is Alan I was a former U.S. Marine specifically I was a grunt the ones who do the initial fighting I have been deployed to Afghanistan for 7 months in 2009. Today I go to Baruch and my major is Statistics and Quantitative Modeling with a minor is Business Writing, I have no prior journalism experience but I consider myself a news junkie. I am a lower senior with 2 more semesters left.  I work for the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications downtown. I work at 311 which was created by Mayor Bloomberg back in 2003. I am very interested and passionate about global affairs specifically emerging markets, regional conflicts, and newly established Start-ups. In the future I would like to pursue a career in either a technology related area or would like to write financial related articles exposing corruption, fraud, and deceptive practices used frequently by the Financial Industry. I have taken several business classes at Baruch and know how to use the Baruch Database very well. The use of Factivia will be very beneficial to this class and I have plenty of experience using it. I like to follow news sources outside this country to get a better understanding and get a deeper knowledge of the outside world. My favorite business sources for information is sites like The Economist, The Financial Times and Reuters.