Sebastian Blady

For my group, the community service project and Baruch’s vast array of resources were mutually exclusive things. Baruch offers many tools to its students, but none of them were necessary to complete our particular project.

However, Baruch’s staff is always of the utmost help. The Star Career Development Center is a priceless tool unique to Baruch. Most of the professors teaching at Baruch are also at the ready to help anyone in need. I recently came upon a hard time. Both my LC coordinators, my peer mentor, and my guidance councilor reached out to help me. I am very thankful to be in a school where such care and attention is given to its students by the faculty.

Unfortunately, I have not yet joined a club. For my first semester as a college student, I did not want extracurricular activities to detract from my academic focus. Making the transition from a High School lifestyle to a College lifestyle is a big enough experience; I did not want to further complicate it unnecessarily. However, in the coming semesters I do plan on looking into some extracurriculars in order to expand my resources. Two organizations I am interested in are Alpha Epsilon Pi and AIESEC.

AEPi is a social organization that connects Jewish men across the country. I actually know a couple of kids from my high school that are in this fraternity – they tried to get me to rush but I was adamant in not joining any clubs this semester. AEPi runs trips to Israel, promotes Jewish charities, and holds ties with organizations ranging from Hillel to March of the Living. As a Jewish man I feel like this would be a great experience for me, as well as being able to meet many great people.

I would actually like to see if I could do AIESEC and Study Abroad consecutively. AIESEC is an international, student-run, nonprofit group that sponsors internships abroad. This would help me acquire many skills (leadership, communication, management, etc.), and would look outstanding on a resume.

As a Baruch Scholar, I receive my college tuition fully paid as well as other perks such as study grants and first dibs on classes. I am very lucky to have been granted this opportunity, and thus feel an obligation to give back to my community. This obligation is reinforced in my Freshman Seminar course, as, unlike regular Baruch students, we are required to perform a certain amount of community service hours per year. Because my community has given to me, I feel it is perfectly apt that I give back to my community. I have many friends who go to schools both more and less prestigious than Baruch, and they struggle to pay their tuition. If not for my own fortune then at least for their hardship, I hope to help contribute to my community. For my community service project, my group has decided on helping the New York Blood Center. Blood is an invaluable resource, and I have a lot of respect for anyone who donates. I want to help promote this cause, and make the ones who contribute to it more comfortable.  Once my first semester is over, and I am better acclimated to college responsibilities, I wish to get more involved in my school’s activities and fundraisers.

A yeshiva is a school in which one learns the Jewish laws and customs as well as the Hebrew language. Attending a yeshiva from Pre-K till eighth grade was a pivotal aspect of my life. It meant a lot to me to learn so much about my religion; it is a huge part of my culture. It imbued me with distinct morals and ideals. I was a superb student throughout my yeshiva career, and it inspired me to remain one throughout high school. My good study habits got me into Baruch’s honor society.  This has perpetuated very high expectations in me for myself.

I am slightly concerned, thought, about acclimating myself to the workload of college. In high school, I never had to work too hard to get my grades. In college, however, this is a lot of reading and you are responsible to remember all due dates yourself. In high school, we were coddled and the teachers were on top of us. I hope to do my best to pull off a 3.3 GPA. I expect it to be much easier once we are able to choose out own classes and schedule.