Monthly Archives: November 2010

Working on this Community Project had made me realize that there are so many resources to use that the only problem is condensing down all the research. While Wikipedia is just about everyone’s favorite (and easiest!) source to use amongst classmates, the various meetings we’ve had in Freshman Seminar have taught me that there are so many options. Mr. Medina, for one, offered plenty of assistance throughout the semester and I am definitely relieved that he will be assisting me for many more semesters to come. He has also encouraged me to be more serious about this Project, as I realized that I have a lot to be grateful for and this this volunteering experience is a great way to say thanks to the community at the large.

The library resources, for one, have definitely been a godsend. The meeting we previously had with Professor Franceous was certainly beneficial as he helped introduce to me the various databases we can use for just about anything, as well as personal assistance. It was a good thing he mentioned idealist.org because that site mainly helped my group discover Doc to Dock, Inc., a very interesting volunteer service that helps pack and ship medicinal supplies to many countries in Africa and Haiti.

While doing this project required some time and effort, we had Maria to help us keep track of the dates. Without her, my group and I would probably be stuck working on the project on Sunday night. However, she has been an awesome peer mentor because she kept tabs on us, and ultimately, we were all able to come up with brilliant presentations.

On the whole, doing this project has helped me realize a lot about myself. Although I can’t say that I became a different person (that would be kinda dramatic!), I have become more grateful of what I have and I also learned that I have a responsibility to give back to the community and keep saying thanks for the rewards I have earned.

I am glad Freshman Seminar didn’t turn out to be a waste of time (as I originally thought), but actually a very enriching class that have impacted all of us in one way or another.

I believe my role as a Baruch Scholar in the Honors Program is to utilize the most of my efforts and maximize my success. Although this is on a more personal level, I also believe that my abilities as a student can help out Baruch in a number of ways. We are here to serve the community, and I am quite glad that the project that we are doing for Freshman Seminar is involved with community service. This demonstrates that we’re not just in the Honors Program for our brains and intellect, but we’re also part of it to help others. While I don’t believe that the Honors Program is wholly for personal gain, it is definitely an advantage to us in getting to places that we may be striving to reach. However, there is also the community as a whole to account for and our services should always be available to them. After all, the Honors Program has made so many accommodations for us; the least we can do is give something back as a thank-you.

The culture that seems to surround Baruch is that of a closely connected community of students who help each other and others outside the community itself. We become better people by giving back to the community, and I believe this plays a major role in our college lives. Academics is certainly important and we should certainly not neglect that aspect, but that should not be our only objective as students and I am quite sure that the Honors Program emphasizes this. In the end, our role as students should be that of academic excellence as well as a strong dedication to helping out the community.