William Jiang

From first setting up our group members, figuring out our Community Service Projects, to actually volunteering in a program, I have learned how to effectively take advantages of the resources Baruch has to offer to gain an upper edge. Dariya, our peer advisor, provided me with lots of advices and ideas I could use to find an organization. However, while our group compiled all our ideas together, none actually satisfied everyone’s tastes or fit their schedule. What started as a desperate search on the web for random organizations (e.g. mentorship, bicycling, walking, etc.) turned fortuitous as Mr. Medina introduced to us to a librarian who was familiar with the wide array of databases that offer legitimate organizations. Moreover, it is from this finding that my group and I decided that soup kitchens would be our major focus for our community service project.

There was also the Volunteering Fair where I was able to speak with individuals representing organizations to learn more about their activities and objectives. Apart from having small talks with the representatives, there were also upperclassmen attending the fair who recommended me the Father’s Heart Ministries, a not-for-profit charitable organization headquartered in lower Manhattan that serve the poor and the needy. It was here that our group finally agreed to devote our time to this organization.

Since I have already volunteered in this project, I grasped the importance of giving back to our community. As Baruch Scholars, we are fortunate enough to receive stipends for our education, while other less fortunate people could not afford their education, or even their basic living expenses. Although my job consisted of carrying boxes to and fro the church, I met and talked to those in need and learned their struggles first-hand.

Through this experience, I have learned the important aspect of reaching out to others for help and advices. While, at heart, I seldom rely on others, it was through this search that I began to understand the usefulness and effectiveness of using external resources, such as the school library, for projects, and hopefully, future assignments. In the next 3 years, not only will I to use these resources for my researches, but I will continue to volunteer and give back to my community.