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Today I attended a workshop at the Starr Career Development Center in VC 2-190. The workshop I decided to go to was called Small Talk: It’s a BIG Deal! Part Two. In this workshop we first discussed about what is the definition of small talk. Many kids raised their hands to answer the question and they were all partially correct. Finally the guy said that small talk is generally an informal conversation among 2 people or a group of people. After we talked about what small talk, we discussed body language. Again the guy asked us if we knew what exactly is body language and a few kids raised their hands to answer his question. Body language is any sign given off by our bodies that has meaning to another person. Body language can be positive or negative depending on what kind of signal. For example we talked about crossed arms. Crossed arms is a negative body language and usually means “I’m thinking and don’t want to be disturbed. Stay away!” During the workshop we also talked about what open arms mean to another person. Open arms is the opposite of closed arms and means “I’m receptive and available for contact.” Another thing we discussed was that people should always remember to make eye contact when making small talk because eye contact sends the signal “I’m listening – keep talking!” As time progressed we came across how to remember people’s names. There are many different ways to remember a person’s name, but everybody is different and he or she may find it easier to remember a name in a certain way than another person. A couple of ways we explored were rhyming first names with other things (Example: Curt the Flirt), combining first names with sounds that are similar to action words or objects (Example: Phillip, as in fill up my gas tank), picking the same initial as a personal interest (Example: Bob the Builder), or choosing a feature and associate it with the name (Example: Julie’s big sparking eyes make you think of Jewel Julie). When a person wants to keep a conversation going he or she should try to use techniques to talk about hot topics. Some of these techniques are free information, iceberg statements, common interests, hot buttons, instructions, or key words. When a person wants to move onto a new topic, use key words. Trying to create small talk among others in a group can be hard once and a while. When approaching a group ensure that one always observes the energy of the group. One wants to be able to match their energy or be slightly higher. If one does not observe the energy, trying to start a conversation can be disastrous and create a bad first impression. Overall I thought this workshop was going to be really dumb and boring, but instead I found it to be very helpful and informative. These topics we talked about will definitely be beneficial to me when I try to create small talk with someone whether it is at a party or a bar because who knows I can probably meet someone who is a CEO or really high up in a successful company.

Hi, I’m Michael Shin. I was born in Manhattan and raised in Queens. I grew up in Flushing, New York. I went to Elementary School in P.S. 32. For Junior High School, I moved to Little Neck and I attended M.S. 67. Then for High School, I actually took the specialized high school test and was supposed to go Bronx Science. Besides Bronx Science, I would’ve went to Benjamin Cardozo High School in Bayside if I didn’t want to go to school too far away. Before I could’ve made my decision to go to either of these schools, I moved to Great Neck which is in Long Island. In the end, I attended Great Neck South High School. All my close friends went to Bronx Science, so I was mad at first about not being able to stay in school with my close friends but I got used to Great Neck. Anyway, I’ll start of by saying that I did not do very well in high school. I was the “rebel” of Great Neck. Ironically, Great Neck’s team name was “The Rebels”. Anyway, taking tests and doing assignments weren’t problems for me in high school. The fact that I hated the school because I wasn’t in the same school as my close friends drove me to cut class and stay away from Great Neck as much as possible. Unfortunately, I realized too late that I should have just made the best out of what I had in Great Neck. Sooner or later, I started to involve myself to the other people in Great Neck. I didn’t just stick around with people that I knew before I moved to Great Neck. I just never really wanted to go to class but I had to because my grade point average was slowly decreasing. Other than that, I actually miss Great Neck a lot and I still keep in contact with all of my close friends to this day.

Honestly, Baruch was not my first choice. It was one of my last choices; Baruch was just a safety for me. I wanted to go to a state university like Stony Brook or Binghamton. I didn’t decide on a major while I was applying and I still don’t know which major I want to pursue. So I still feel like whatever school I went to, I could do what I want in the future. I wanted to go to Stony Brook because my cousin goes there. Also, my close friends mostly went to Stony Brook or Binghamton. My actions in Great Neck backfired on me and got me rejected to most of the schools I would have went to if I was accepted. I still want to transfer. This is not only because my close friends aren’t in Baruch but because I feel as if nothing happens in Baruch. Although, I should not be worrying about being with my friends and having fun all the time, I would want to have fun and be with my friends while being in school.

My role in life as of right now is a student. That is why I must try to make the best out of what I get in Baruch College and manage to get the grades I want to transfer to the school I really want to go to. I want to keep the mentality that I have to do well in school no matter what happens. My parents are working to make money so that I could stay in college and maintain a good grade. I want to live up to their expectations. My parents are my life. They raised me and took care of me and I want them to be happy and give them what they want in return for what they did for me. I want to make enough money in the future so that they could stop working when they grow older but still have me to support them. My mentality about my family, parents especially, has always stayed the same and will never change. I also want to keep a good image for my younger sister. She’s currently a junior in high school. She does better than me academically and I’m proud of her but at the same time, I feel like my actions can influence her in the future.

I identify myself as someone who just wants to have fun. When I have school work or any other kind of work, whether it’s physical work or paper work, I try to finish as soon as possible so that I have time to do what I want to do. Unluckily, my best skill is procrastination. I wait to finish everything at the last minute even if I know it is important. Because of this, I often forget to do some of my work. It’s a bad habit that I have to get rid of but everyone is amazing at procrastination. Other than that, I like going out with my close friends and just having fun. Honestly, the only reason I dislike Baruch so much is because it’s not what I expected. I came here thinking, “my close friends are still gonna be around me and I have a lot of friends from high school that are going to Baruch. We can go out, party together and chill everyday.” That’s not happening at all. I currently dorm in the city and nothing happens there either. My routine during the weekdays aren’t changing. It’s the same thing over and over again. I go to school, go to my dorm, study when I want to, and sleep. During the weekend, I’m so bored that I usually go back to Great Neck to meet my friends that are commuting. It’s really not what I expected. I expected my dorm life to be the typical dorm life like Stony Brook, Binghamton, Albany, etc. On top of that, I have a room mate that can’t speak English. This frustrates me a lot and it makes me want to stay away from my dorm. When he is in the room, I pretend he isn’t there and I do my own thing. When I first moved to the dorm, I was expecting parties left and right but there are none. My life in the dorm is my laptop and me. I see my friends who attend Binghamton and Stony Brook through Facebook. They’re having the time of their lives. I always ranted about how I hated Great Neck and I’d rather go back to Great Neck than be at my dorm.

My biggest fear in life is being alone. I hate being alone and because my family and close friends mean everything to me, if I lost them, I don’t know what I’d do. One time I felt ashamed and that’s when I didn’t get into the school I wanted to get into. It upset my parents and ever though we all do stupid things to upset them sometimes, I hate when I see that I upset them. I’m not saying Baruch is a bad school, I’m just saying it’s just not a place where I saw myself but I had no other choice. I definitely did not want to go to a community college. One time I felt really proud was when I got my SAT score back. I got a 2070. I don’t care if anyone got a higher SAT score than me in the block but I was really proud of my score. I studied my butt off for it and I actually felt like I earned the score. My SAT score proves to me that I can do well in school and what I put my effort into.

My motto in life is “whatever doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger”. That quote just says a lot to me because it’s true. It isn’t meant in a physical way, it could be for any situation. For me right now, the quote is just a motivational quote to get by. For example, Baruch is not where I want to be but not being in Stony Brook or Binghamton isn’t destroying my life. I just have to make the best out of what I can here. I’m just going to stay here for a little bit, try to maintain or receive good grades so that I can transfer out. At the same time, Baruch is slowly getting better for me. I don’t know if I’m getting used to it but I’m starting to feel comfortable with people in the school. I found out that a couple of people in my classes live in the dorm. I have friends that I’m beginning to get close with in Baruch. The work is slowly getting harder but I can manage to get by. I’m starting to actually study in the dorm or do my work. I still go out a lot but everyone has to sacrifice a couple things.

This is my blog post. I’m posting a little late because I was very sick the whole weekend that the assignment was due.

Okay so I guess I’m gonna be typing this as it comes to my head because I didn’t type it the first time and I’m late…again. Well my name is Luis Morales, I have a middle name but uhh I’d rather not have people know it. I’ve always liked my last name I don’t know why but it I think it’s really cool. It’s not that I don’t like my name it’s just that I feel like I could have a cooler name, I always wanted a name that people could make up nicknames for the best one that comes out of mine is Loui, which is pretty wack, I don’t know, I guess it doesn’t really matter, if my parents thought it was good I should too. So obviously I’m a freshman here at Baruch, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog. If some people couldn’t tell, I’m 100% Mexican, born and raised in Brooklyn, located in the greatest city in the world NEW YORK. I’m the second of  three kids, I have an older sister and a little brother, they’re pretty cool although they sometimes get annoying and get me mad but I’m glad I have them otherwise it would get pretty lonely and boring at home. My sister has always helped me with my homework and stuff because she’s only one year older than me and all the things that I am learning she already learned just one year ago so she still remembers most things. My little brother is three years younger than me but he’s cool because he doesn’t act like an idiot or a little kid (most of the time) and we talk about guy stuff together, like cars, shoes, sports, games, and of course… girls. =D  We also play baseball, football, and basketball together so I always have something to do with him. My mom and dad are pretty cool also, I love them all.

I don’t know a perfect way to describe myself, but I guess saying that I am pretty well rounded is a good way to do it, if it doesn’t make me sound cliché or wack.

In high school I wasn’t as social as I would have liked mostly because I thought I was the shit and for like a year and a half and I thought everybody else had to earn my friendship, which set me back in the social scene and although I didn’t completely accomplish becoming super popular I think that I came as close as I could to catching up after being set back a couple of years. Since I’m talking about school I guess I should talk about college, I wanted to go to school in Miami because the weather and the girls match: they’re both hot!!! Another reason that I wanted to go is because I wanted to experience college life to the fullest and that meant dorming and partying, which is hard to do if you go to school in the city. The school in Miami I wanted to go to was way too expensive even with their $11,000 scholarship and Baruch wasn’t my second choice it actually didn’t even make top five, but the way I see it, things happen for a reason and now that I’m here it seems really cool and I guess I should make the best out of it and study hard but also have fun, before I become a “real adult.”

There’s a lot of things that I regret doing and not doing in the last four years of my life, I know it sounds like something everybody says but I guess everybody has regrets and sometimes it’s not like we didn’t do something because we chose not to do it or did something else instead, sometimes we just couldn’t do it, either because we were physically incapable of doing it, or we put ourselves in a position were we couldn’t do what we wanted to, or simply because we were too pussy to do it. I don’t know, I guess these are the reasons why I didn’t do some (a lot of) things. I don’t remember if it was a movie that I heard this in, but I’m pretty sure it was a movie, and although I’ve heard it in a lot of other shows and movies also, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen the movie that I remember this scene from it would be nice to see the movie (or show) again but I guess it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that I remember that quote which is my inspiration for doing a lot of things that I would be too scared to do, but when I say it in my head I get enough courage to do it. If you think about it, it isn’t really like a big quote or whatever but you can always plug it into any context or situation that you find yourself in and in need of inspiration; the two simple words that drive me are “What If?” I know it seems simple but they’re inspirational words, It’s like this: you can’t go your entire life wondering “what if?”, you have to take risks even if you end up failing at least you know that you tried to do it, whatever “it” may be, and that way you won’t end up dying with too many regrets, because everyone dies with regrets but the more risks you take in life the less regrets you’ll have. Yea so that’s my motto and I hope to put it in practice soon because life will suck if I don’t.

Damn, I wrote a lot, and no bullshit either, I’m the fucking man. As far as the picture goes, I can’t really think of a good one to put up, I don’t wanna put up some dumbass pic, so I guess if I can’t find one i won’t.

Hello my name is Kris, and I’m an alcoholic …just kidding. (kinda)

I wasn’t supposed to be attending Baruch College. I received a rejection letter in the mail around early March along with two others from different colleges, all saying the same thing,  “Thank you for applying, unfortunately we will not be able to enroll you in our college, Good luck in the future”. That was fine with me, because I didn’t really want to attend anyway. However, that Friday, it just so happened that my band was the finishing act in the Baruch talent show. When I arrived there that night I was amazed at how awesome the venue that held the show was. It was the biggest stage I’ve ever performed on, and at that point I was upset that I wouldn’t be able to continue to perform on it in the future. A couple of weeks after the show, I received a voicemail from the admissions office, saying to disregard my rejection and that Baruch would gladly offer me admission into their institute. I guess my band rocked harder than we thought.
Side note: Right before performing I attempted to have the crowd chant: “Baruch, Baruch, Baruch is on fire!!” It became awkwardly after I said that, and so we just started our set afterwards, but I really think it can become a Baruch chant, because it’s catchy, and pretty clever in my opinion.

I was walking with my friend recently, and we passed an African-American gentleman. We stopped near him, and he proceeded to call me a “White racist cracker”. I was startled and very offended because I had made no type of comment or eye contact in order to trigger his attack. I replied and let him know that I had a very diverse family that included races of African-American, Latino and Asian, and that I was far from racist. I also added that his statement was completely contradictory, considering his own ethnicity. He asked me their names and as a reply I asked him his name… He said “none of your business”, and so I told him likewise and to keep moving. This story is significant to how I identify myself, partly through my family, which is very diverse and accepting to any type of person. This is also highlight the strange type of people you sometimes come across living in the city.

As a songwriter, I keep myself very busy, and I’m not so sure what I would be doing with my free time if I didn’t play music, so I’m happy that I do. It’s hard for me to take school seriously because it doesn’t really contribute to what I want to do in the future, which is to be a well-known songwriter in the music industry. Maybe a rockstar. That’d be pretty awesome.

I went to a fairly small high school, with about 60 kids in my graduating class. It really helped in establishing close-knit relationships, and made those four years a lot more bearable. I wasn’t a fan of Baruch at first because I didn’t think this was possible in a commuter school, but recently I’ve found that it’s not true at all. I guess it helps that when I meet people for the first time, I like to initially assume that each one is awesome. If everybody thought similarly, the world would be a lot happier. I am very spontaneous, and tend to push people to be the same way, change their lives for the better. One of my biggest fears is being just another person in the world, going to work, living to make money. I am determined to do so much more. I want to travel the world, and influence people. I don’t want to get caught up in routine society.

My name is Sheridan Taylor and I am a freshman here at Baruch. I am from Westchester County, New York. I attended my four years of high school at Peekskill High School. I played Softball, Volleyball and Basketball and helped to lead my girls’ basketball team to their first state championship. I am a very active person between school and sports. Besides sports I like to hang with friends and family, shopping and doing anything that catches my eye. I can say that I enjoyed my high school career, but looking forward for college to change my perspective.
The college life is the best thing ever. Who would ever want to pass up the opportunity to go away from home? I took this chance the first time that it was open to me. College is a lot of hard work, but it’s going to be worth the time in the long run. Partying is one the other great factors of going to school. These parties aren’t your average parties from high school, there are so much more to them. The college experience is so much better than my high school experience. I enjoyed high school, but I enjoy the fact that I’m going to a school in New York. Coming from a town with 23,000 people (believe me its smaller than expected) to a school with more than a million people is something that I never expected.
My fist year has already changed me and it barely started. I had to change my studying habits and my timeliness. In high school, I didn’t study as much as I should have and it sometimes showed in the work and the tests that I had to turn in. I had to make sure that I gave myself enough time to complete the homework assignments that are given to me. I learned to manage my time or I wouldn’t be able to make it through the week. I didn’t have much problem when it came to time management in high school because I played three varsity sports and was active in several clubs.
Basketball has put me in a stand still. I never met something, so demanding before like this before. I’ve always enjoyed the sport and will continue to play it through the four years of college. College basketball differs from high school that there’s weight training. I expected it, but didn’t think it would be as intense as it is. I don’t mind working out its just the amount of time that I have committed into working out and making sure that I was on top of my game has taken a slight toll on me.
I miss do have some things that I miss from home. The home cooked meals, the driving, my sisters and a small amount of friends that I had. The cooking food every night or ordering some fast food isn’t a healthy lifestyle that I should have. Like who wants to be part of the ‘freshman 15’ because I know that I don’t especially being an athlete. My sisters were my rocks. We had our arguments, but we had more laughs than that. They are some of the few people that keep me sane. Ugh, taking public transportation every day is the worst part of the commute to school. I wished that I had my car and drove to the campus, parked, went to class and practice and then drive home. But of course, I have to rely on the subway for my commute to school and back. The $104 that I pay for a monthly Metro card can be spent else were for better money. I’ve bought three metro cards since moving into the city and I can rent an apartment for all of the money that get to New York City transportation.

I identify myself as someone who is unique. I may be shy and awkward at first, but one will soon learn that I am a pretty confident, sociable, & friendly person. I am trustworthy, honest, and non-judgmental as well.  I am hardworking, determined and motivated, which are the qualities that drive me to work harder and succeed.

Who am I to others? Well, to others, I am a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a college student, at tutor, a role model, a mentor, a friend, a confident and reliable person. I am someone who can gives out advice and be a listener.

I have no single important person in my life. Every one of my family and friends are the most important people in my life. I am unable to choose just one important person in my life. They have supported all my goals and have been there for me through my rough times. They motivate me and inspire me to be my best as well as encourage me to try new things and not fear the unknown.

What I like the best is being around people I like and enjoying my time with them. I believe that time is precious so therefore we must spend time with the people we love. It is nice to have people to share your life with. I realize that these people may not be in my life forever, therefore I must spend as much as quality time with them as I can.

What I like the least is not being able to live my life to the fullest. I don’t like sticking to a schedule and I prefer not knowing what’s going to happen. I hate having to wake up every day at a certain time just to get to school and from there taking the classes I have for that day. I wish I can just take a year of and just do me. I want to be able to travel the world and see the things I want to see. I want a whole different life experience that most people aren’t luck enough to have. Life is always more exciting when you don’t know what is in store for you.

Constantine Petropouleas   10/17/2011

FRO 1000

Freshmen Seminar

Monologue

At first glance when you see me, what do you think? Tall, good looking, smart, goofy. To be honest, I don’t really care what you think. What matters is what I think of myself. Who am I?

I’m a young man that is just beginning his life. I have dreams higher than the clouds. And using Baruch as my resource, I will achieve them. Many say I’m mature for my age, I don’t agree. I think I’m determined to stand out. But that just scratches the surface of who I really am.

When you really get to know me you’ll realize I love cars. From how they work to how they drive and of course how they look entices me. I grew up working in my cousin’s garage so I know my way around a car. I hope that soon enough I will be able to buy the cars of my dreams. To me cars are like art, and I wish to build a vast collection of them throughout my life.

Obviously, since I like cars so much I love driving. But people don’t understand why. For me driving is almost like flying. I feel free. Being able to drop gears and hear the engine roar as I accelerate through the lane, I feel…euphoric.

Going a little further into my mind, you see that I am not only about cars. My close friends and family are truly the most important thing in my life. I strongly believe in the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child”. And with that in mind I think that we don’t stop growing, and it is the people we allow to be around us that raise us through our life. There is nothing I enjoy more than being with my loved ones and having a good time. I think to myself everything I’ve done with all these people, the good, the bad, whatever it is, and I can’t do anything but smile. I am truly happy with my life.

With all this, I believe this is why I am enjoying my time at Baruch so much. I’ve met so many new people, people like me in many ways and also different at the same time. There is a sense of diversity that just blends everything in so well here that you feel comfortable. I am a business accounting major with hopes of becoming a lawyer. I know that Baruch was the best school for me and I know that it’ll open many, many doors for my life. I just have to make the most of it.

My name is Leenore Mesica. I am currently 18 years old and a freshman at Baruch College. So far I can’t complain about school. My classes have all been going pretty well and my teachers all seem nice. The only issue I had encountered was with my anthropology teacher. However since speaking to her boss we have been able to come up with a better plan and she has definitely changed for the better.

Going to school in the city was definitely the best decision I have made. I come from Marlboro, New Jersey and if you don’t know already it’s a relatively small town. Living here you basically know every body, need to drive everywhere, and your social life consist of hanging out in someone’s basement. New York City allows me to expand. I basically have everything I need here. Another reason why I choose to go to school in the city would definitely be my family.

My family is the most important thing in my life. No matter what I know that my brother, sisters, and parents will always be there for me. Since both of my parents work I am really close to my siblings. I am the oldest out of four kids so my responsibilities have always been to take care of them. I try my best to always let them know that I am there for them whether they need help or advice about something. Since the city is only an hour away from Marlboro it gives me the opportunity to come home frequently, which I love.

In my life I play the role of a full time student, part time employee at Pita Grill, caring sister, and a good daughter. I like to identify myself as someone who is friendly, responsible, and someone who cares. I love to go out and have fun with my friends. When I’m alone I enjoy listening to music and just relaxing. I absolutely hate and am afraid of cats. I learned since starting college that my time management is really good I just hope to keep up with it as the years continue.

My motto life definitely came from a time in my life that I felt ashamed. One year when I was a junior in high school my parents left me home alone for the weekend. They made me promise not to have anyone over. They trusted me but unfortunately I let them down. When they left I ended up throwing a huge party. Soon enough the cops arrived to my house and ended up calling my parents. When they came home the next day their face looked so disappointed. I felt bad that I let my parents down the way that I did. No longer did they trust me; and that felt terrible. From that point on my motto in life became, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” After that day I tried so hard to regain my parents trust. Eventually they started to believe me and now everything is back to normal. This whole situation definitely taught me to never take my parents trust for granted.

There have also been many times in my life when I have felt proud. When I was in eighth grade I became president of my middle school. Now just like most other people I hate public speaking and of course I had to give a speech. In the end I won the election. It made me proud that I was able to accomplish the task. Being president taught me so many good qualities that I still use today. I learned time management, how to be organized, and how to be a great leader.

All the events in my life I believe were there for a reason. Each one of them has taught me a lesson and I hope to continue learning. In the end I will definitely take all the opportunities that Baruch gives me and hope that it helps become all I can in the future.

My name is Rajendra. It means “king of the gods,” which is pretty interesting to know. I am 19 years old, and I am turning 20 in November. I was born in the Bronx borough of New York and lived there until 1998. What I remember most about the Bronx is that they were a lot of buildings everywhere, and around Christmas time, it had always had massive amounts of snow, much more than Jersey. My family and I moved to Jersey City, NJ in 1999, which is where we still reside at. I guess I am sort of a shy person. I have always had a small group of friends. I was never really the popular kid in school. I am also a calm person; I am not the type of person who would ever be loud and annoying. My friends from high school always tell me that they have never seen me angry or upset. For the most part; I am a hard working student. I study enough so that I never struggle in school. And I am neat and organized, which my friends in high school thought was weird. I do not like having my stuff in a sloppy and confusing mess.

My parents came from a South American country called Guyana. They are not strict at all; they don’t punish me like how other parents would punish their children. For example, I have never been sent to my room for anything bad I may have done. I thought that was something one would only see on a TV family sitcom. They have always pushed me to do the best that I can in school. I can say that I have not let them down. I have one older sister who goes to a college right in Jersey. We are both commuters. They are the most important people in my life right now.

My biggest fear is sleeping in complete darkness at night, so I have to have some light coming through the window. I enjoy summers; that is what I like the most. I don’t like to work, so summer time allows me to not do anything but relax all the time. And I hate winters just for fact that I have to wear a lot of clothing to keep warm. I like to watch a lot of movies, even some classics like Chinatown and Blade Runner, and going as far back as Citizen Kane. My favorite films in recent years have been Fight Club, Inception, and the The Dark Knight. I don’t watch television a lot, but some of my favorite shows are The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Office, and Saturday Night Live. I record these programs on my DVR all the time. I played a lot of video games growing up. My first system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), followed by Playstation, and then Playstation 2. Now, I have an Xbox 360 which I have not used at all since starting at Baruch. The titles I played the most are the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series. Before, I usually didn’t read a lot, but as of late I have.

I very much disliked my high school experience. It was a really boring, dirty, crumbling building. It was not like an average high school. In my first year there, it was considered to be a safe, respectable school. By the end of my senior year, I remember potential freshmen visiting saying how they feared going there. During those four years from freshman to senior year, the school became known for having a lot of fights and riots. One riot started because of a loaf of bread thrown at some girl in the cafeteria. That loaf of bread would be followed chairs, garbage cans, bottles, book bags, tables, anything that could be picked up and thrown. It spread from the cafeteria throughout the whole building, and I remembered that it required a response from the whole city police department. That was a defining moment for my high school.

I got really good grades throughout my high school career. Mostly As and Bs. I started to slack off towards the end. I got my first and only C ever in AP Calculus, which was a class I should have never taken in the first place. I participated in a lot of clubs. My high school was also the type of school in which the best 20 or 30 students not only acquired the best grades, but occupied practically all of the clubs available. I was one of those students. I was part of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), a club named Young Men & Women of Excellence (YMWE), the Academy of Finance, Peer tutor, Student Council, and some other stuff. I signed up to all of these clubs just to make my resume look good, as did all of other students.

In my senior year, I was an intern at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. It was a fun experience at first. I felt like a professional because I wore business attire all of the time instead of school uniform. I worked there every day from Monday to Friday throughout the afternoons. In the first few months, I did a lot of work which I have no idea how to explain. Most of the work there is unexplainable and repetitive. As time progressed, I started doing less as they moved me around. In the last couple of months, I was reading a lot of Yahoo and Google articles just to kill time. I walked a lot up and down through the building visiting my other intern friends. I took plenty of breaks. What was weird about my department was that they always had cake every single week for someone’s birthday or some other event. Some weeks, they had 2 or 3 cakes. I believe I had about close to a hundred slices of cake throughout the whole year, which could be a world record.

The business magnet at my high school was pretty cool. Besides the internship at Merrill Lynch, my business magnet class visited other companies such as AXA Equitable and Goldman Sachs. The Goldman Sachs tower was amazing in the inside as well as the outside. Everything was shiny and new; it made me feel like I was in some futuristic movie. I was totally disappointed when I got rejected from them when I applied for an internship to their company. They didn’t even call me for an interview after I sent my resume. Well, my magnet did many other things beside visiting companies. We had many workshops, from how to make a resume to how to have a successful job or intern interview. I already have had three interviews so far, two for Pershing LLC and one with Merrill Lynch.  In another workshop, we were visited by a team of BNP Paribas employees, who taught us how to finance. I noticed that a lot of people that I met from all of these companies were not all business graduates. A lot of them, not all,  had came from other fields, including the medical field, law, political science, psychology, and so on. They were those like many other people who changed their minds and decided to go into business. It’s exactly like what we had discussed in our last freshman seminar meeting.

Now, I am a freshman at Baruch College. I came here because I wanted to go into business, most likely accounting. Since senior year in high school, I came to the conclusion that I should try to become a CPA, or Certified Public Accountant. So, I plan to be here for a fifth year, pursuing a master’s degree, if I get accepted into that program. I did not think about going anywhere else, Baruch was my first choice. The other colleges and universities that I got accepted to included New Jersey City University, Rutgers University- Newark Campus, St. John’s University, Pace University, and Seton Hall University. I didn’t receive much scholarship grants, but I ruled out all of these schools immediately after being accepted to Baruch. It sort of sucks though that I am paying out-of-state tuition since I am living in Jersey City.

Overall, I am having a good time here at Baruch College. I have no complaints. The courses, while they are no fun, don’t require much work in my opinion, except in psychology which requires a lot of studying. I am here to get the best I can out of education, which is what I am doing. So that’s all I have to say. The picture below is from my Facebook profile.

My friends Sophia and Sasana Han and I dressed up for a Sprit day at our High-School.

I chose this picture to put on my blog, because this is a part of me that doesn’t come out very often. For a better part of my life i was raised to be this perfect son, perfect composure, smart, obedient, and I would be reprimanded if I did other wise. I was kept from a lot of things and constantly judged and modeled by my family, so when my parents divorced I was physically and mentally set free. I’ve always been withdrawn and reserved but always longed to be someone who had the courage, personality and charm to be who I am, and not give a shit about what others think of me.

Hi! My name is Ricardo Rivadeneira. At first glace you probably wont care too much about me, I’m a bit reserved and not really the life of the party, but I can assure you! I’m pretty dam interesting. So pay attention.  I was born in Ecuador and legally came here when I was around 4 years old. I never absorbed too much of the Hispanic culture so I’m pretty Americanized in almost every sense, which, I guess is how I identify myself. I mean I don’t identify myself as any specific thing or with any specific quality but more of an array of different aspects that come together to form Ricardo.

I assume plenty of roles in my everyday life: I am a son, a brother, a lover, a peacemaker, ex-gymnast, a future lawyer, and at one point in life a home-wrecker. These roles don’t exactly make up whom I am but they paint a very decent picture.  I feel that I have changed so much through out my life that it’s pretty difficult to get a super clear picture of who I am.

I went through a lot of phases in life, In a small recap of my high-school career I probably went through a few different social scenarios, I mean I don’t want to make it seem like I believe in labeling or anything but for the sake of argument: I think I went from dressing and acting like a “want to be” rapper to like a hardcore rocker, emo dude. I guess really took the whole teen searching for an identity thing very seriously and it all leads to the person standing in front of you.

The person standing in front of you also already managed to make a total fool out of himself during his first few weeks of college. The revolving door entrance, to the vertical campus, you know the one in front of the library, yea they spin pretty darn fast for some reason whenever I have to go through them. So, within the first week of being at Baruch college I someone how manage to get my book bag strap stuck in the revolving doors, backing up like 20 people and embarrassing myself. I had to push the doors back, so I could get my strap loose and then continue on forwards, I just ran jetted out, never looked back. Other than that, classes are going great and I’ve met really awesome people who I hope to remain friends with.

Coming to Baruch College was a decision that I made because of financial reasons and of course because Baruch is a really good College but one of the factors that also led me to choosing Baruch College is my overall happiness. I wanted to stay close to the people that I loved and cared about, they make me very happy each and every day and are apart of who I am and who I want to be. My mother and sister are the best part of my life and the only people in the world that I would give up anything for.

Who I want to be isn’t very difficult to understand, like the rest of me. Right now I am very focused and determined in continuing a business career at Baruch College and eventually taking that career into law, and thus becoming a corporate lawyer.