meghanjapplebaum

     The community service project has facilitated success for me in many aspects of my life, not just for the First Year Seminar class. My team’s project deals with helping out at the Yeshiva of Flatbush High School in any way we can, including helping students with homework, class assignments, and volunteering for the YACHAD organization that is associated with the Yeshiva. We hope to stand as role models to the students and we hope to inspire the students to work hard and recognize their community responsibilities. The Baruch Scholars stand as members of different communities who give back, both locally and at our school community.

     After exploring the different programs presented at YACHAD, my understanding of community service has evolved and I have developed a deeper appreciation for giving back to my local community, and my community in the Scholars program at Baruch. Learning about what it means to help out in any way you can and to pay it forward has helped me develop this new understanding of its importance.

     This project has also given me the opportunity to refer to the staff and faculty at Baruch for assistance and Guidance. Utilizing the expertise of my student body and professors will help me in the future to have a successful college career. It is always important to know when to ask for help, and to know you have people to go to when you do realize this. I have already used the school’s resources in its research help center, its SACC free tutoring, and its center for help in writings. Baruch college has given me the tools I need to succeed.

     In three years, I hope to be graduating Baruch College, looking back at a successful college career, excited to embark on the next stages of my education. Before then, I plan on getting more and more involved in the community aspect of Baruch’s school life and clubs, and my personal community back home. I am eager to see what the next three years will bring, and I am thankful for the opportunities I have been presented with to accomplish my goals.

To me, serving my community is an extremely important responsibility each person undertakes in his own way. Some choose to be hands-on in their approach and help local organizations in ventures such as fundraising, soup kitchen help, cleaning up their local environments and schools, and more. Others give back to their community in ways of donations and monetary contributions. I feel the responsibility as an honors student to give back to my community and to be the best role model I can be to represent the institution and the rewards brought from hard work and dedication. As a Baruch Scholar’s student, I have been awarded for with a tuition free scholarship and access to many things delegated and offered only to Baruch’s honors student body. The culture of the community service the Honors Program promotes parallels my individual approach in many ways. I always try my best to keep up with all of my work due at school, while simultaneously doing my part for my community at home. I like to help out at my local organizations and school by tutoring students and helping at fundraising and awareness events. I also support the local community events such as cancer research foundation events along with others. At Baruch, my community away from home, I choose to support my fellow student body in the same way I do at home. Specifically, I enjoy listening to guest speakers who inform and open discussions for debates on important elected topics within and outside of the Baruch community. Baruch offers many opportunities to get more involved in its community, and I’d like to continue to become more involved in many different aspects of the community within coming semesters. As I enter into each succeeding year of college, I plan on developing more and more of an involvement in giving back to the Baruch community. The culture of service the Honors Program promotes will hopefully be just the beginning of a long list of my engagements in giving back to my Baruch community, my community away from home.

My years in high school helped shaped who I am. But some of what I did not get to learn in high school I learned during my year abroad in Israel. Living independently in a foreign country comes with challenges. My life as I knew it was flipped on its head soon after my plane landed at Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Simple things were suddenly great difficulties. Paying at the register of a supermarket was a major ordeal. Questions such as “Paper or plastic?” and “Do you have any smaller bills?” caused me to break a sweat as I processed what was being said and answered in broken Hebrew. The streets were unfamiliar. My favorite foods were nowhere to be found. High school taught me about the outside world from a classroom. But my gap year gave me the opportunity to see things firsthand. The things I struggled with at first soon became second nature. I learned to enjoy new foods, improved my spoken Hebrew, and became comfortable taking buses and cabs. I saw how different cultures and religions can coexist and somehow make it work, for the most part. I witnessed both conflict and tolerance. Life in Israel is a complicated affair. I look forward to the many new experiences waiting for me at Baruch, both inside and outside the classroom. I am prepared to meet challenges, and look forward to the rewards of success. I am excited for the transition into this next stage of my life.

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