Awesome combination of animation, animals, and important life lessons

I recently watched Zootopia at the last Friday Films and really enjoyed it!  I had never seen the movie before and it was so much better than I was expecting.  I appreciated that it covered so many important topics under the premise of a kids’ movie about an animal world.  So many kids’ movies are very black and white, with one person being the terrible awful villain, and another person being the super great protagonist.  Real people (and in this movie, animals) are so much more complex than that.  It was interesting to see the progression of Officer Hopps and Nick working to find out who was behind the predators’ return to “savagery.”  I also loved the message the movie promoted that anybody can become anything.  Both Officer Hopps and Nick faced prejudice because of their species, but she was able to become a successful police officer and he was able to show the world that not all foxes are liars and cheats.  They both worked hard to solve the case and save Zootopia, and they were duly rewarded, regardless of the stereotypes about their species.

A Unique History Lesson on NASA

When we learn about NASA and the Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union in history classes, we all hear about Apollo 11’s moon landing and John Glenn’s orbit of Earth, but what about all of the planning and preparation that went into these historic events?  Last Friday I watched Hidden Figures and was blown away by the story of three women who, despite rampant racism and sexism, helped propel Americans into space.  I’m a huge history buff, so I was really excited to see this movie, and I was not disappointed.  I have a newfound and immense respect for Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan.  All three of them faced so many barriers at NASA due to their race and gender, yet all three of them were able to make significant contributions that were necessary to the success of John Glenn’s mission.  One of the arcs that really stuck with me was John Glenn’s respect and admiration for the work they did, especially Katherine Johnson.  When he first arrived at Langley, he made sure to go to the “colored” section and introduce himself to the women, even though none of the NASA administrators wanted him to.  During a meeting with Glenn and high officials in NASA and the Navy, Katherine Johnson calculated the exact landing coordinates based on certain factors, which impressed Glenn so much so that when the day of the mission came, he called Langley and asked for Johnson to personally verify the coordinates that the new IBM computer had found.  If you put in the work and persevere despite setbacks, like these strong women did, someone will take notice and give you the recognition you deserve.

Rose House Raptors

On Saturday, I attended the Raptors at Rose event.  Normally I attend events during the week, but I saw an opportunity to learn about animals and I couldn’t resist.  The student representatives from the Cornell Raptor Program were incredibly knowledgeable and I came away with a much better understanding of what birds of prey are like.  First we heard a lot about the program and its founding; I think it’s great that we have a program dedicated to such interesting birds.  If they can’t go out into the wild anyways due to injury, at least scientists have the opportunity to study and learn about these birds while they live out their days in a program that cares for them.  Three groups of raptors were shown – hawks, falcons, and owls, and before each group, one of the students talked about the group as a whole and some defining characteristics.  Then each handler talked extensively about the species they brought out and that specific bird’s history and traits.  I learned some really surprising facts – for example, owls are thought of to be wise, but they technically have a much smaller brain than other raptors.  Their eyes are so big that they take up too much room in their skull to have room for a relatively large brain.  Some of the birds can be found in the Ithaca area, so I enjoyed learning about how they fit into the local ecosystem.

An Open Discussion with Ryan Lombardi

A little over a week ago, I attended the Rose Cafe with Ryan Lombardi, which was a great opportunity to hear his plans for student life as well as share our opinions as students.  He was really open, friendly, and interested in hearing about our experiences.  Much of the discussion was centered around common issues at Cornell, especially the stress level and competition for clubs, internships, jobs, etc.  Pretty much everyone here is incredibly stressed out, but it was reassuring hearing from other students across the university that they, too, were facing big prelims, looming deadlines, and other nerve wracking things.  College now is much different than it was even 20 years ago, as students are under more pressure to succeed, but VP Lombardi brought up an interesting point about education: it used to be seen as something that would better the society as a whole and create a more informed populace, but it has come to be seen as an individual thing, something for each person to better themselves with little care for society’s betterment.  I think this is really important to consider as we continue our college journey, and hopefully we can think more about all improving together than constantly pitting ourselves against each other.

Let’s Talk Politics

Professor Altschuler’s talk last week was incredibly informative and helpful, much more so than I could have expected.  He is clearly so knowledgeable on all things politics; I was amazed that he knew so much about so many races in so many different areas of the country.  I am informed to a reasonable but not complete amount on political happenings, and I appreciated the crash course on what’s at stake and what races to watch.  This gives me a much better idea of what I need to look into more and where to start rather than just diving in and not being sure of what to look for.

What I appreciated most about his talk is that he remained mostly if not completely nonpartisan.  So many speakers and events I’ve attended here have been quick to interject their political beliefs and let that color the entire speech, but Professor Altschuler did a great job of presenting the facts and letting us make our opinions for ourselves.  Both Republicans and Democrats have strengths and weaknesses, and areas in which they can win or lose in this election; he highlighted all of this and left the vote and decisions up to us.

How to succeed in the workplace

I attended last week’s Rose Cafe with Mary Opperman and I learned about the little things employees do that annoy their boss.  During my internship last summer, I was really lucky and had some amazing bosses, but not every job will be like that.  I really liked that she spoke to a bunch of different supervisors and compiled a list of the things employees do that annoy them the most.  Some of the things Mary mentioned, like when employees miss deadlines, I expected, but I was surprised to hear that a common thing supervisors dealt with was employees passing the blame to others.  Sometimes it is actually someone else’s fault, and she discussed how to deal with a situation like that, but most importantly you have to own up to mistakes you make.  It’s the same with making excuses; sometimes there are valid reasons something went wrong, but you have to be willing to take responsibility and learn from those mistakes.  Mary also talked about work relationships from the opposite point of view – what do supervisors do that annoys employees?  As I look for jobs this summer and down the road to future full-time jobs I want, these are important things to keep in mind during the interview – does this feel like someone I would want to work for?  Would I fit into this company’s culture and operating style?  Mary gave me a lot of great things to think about moving forward and I learned a lot!

Hiking Around Fall Creek Gorge

Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to take a study break and explore one of Ithaca’s many gorges with other Rose Scholars.  Right off the bat, I was incredibly surprised at how close Fall Creek Gorge is to us on West – literally a 5-10 minute walk!  Being out in nature really helped me de-stress, and I enjoyed talking with my friends while appreciating the beauty around us.  We stopped at several places along the way and Todd Bittner shared some really interesting information about both the formation of the gorges and the gorges’ place in Cornell history.  I love learning about history so I especially enjoyed that part of it, and I learned a bunch of cool new facts.  For example, many of the trails around the gorges near Cornell were put in place originally because they connected student and faculty housing, which was mainly down in what is today Collegetown and downtown Ithaca, with campus, since most if not all people walked to and from work or classes.  Additionally, I learned about Ezra’s Tunnel and the important function it served during Ezra Cornell’s time.  I really liked that he shared a variety of information pertaining to the gorges – geography, history, and some gorge safety as well – so I felt that I had learned a lot about such a beautiful and integral part of our campus.  I will definitely be hiking more around the gorges and utilizing the trails around Ithaca!!

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Christa Downey’s talk at the Rose Cafe.  She had a lot of great advice but the key point that resonated with me was the importance of teamwork.  She talked a lot about how to make a team work, both on the job and in school.  So many of us have struggled working in teams, often because we find ourselves engrossed in the project and stuck with students who aren’t as interested or willing to put in the work.  Christa emphasized that we shouldn’t accept that and we shouldn’t be taking all of the work on ourselves, because that’s not a healthy team dynamic either.  Rather, communication is extremely important and we need to make sure we’re all on the same page with our teammates.

Besides the typical thought of teamwork as some students working together on a class project, Christa also focused on the importance of your own personal team for career and life planning.  Everyone should have a support team/network of different people to reach out to for different things.  Maybe one friend is really good at solving friend conflicts, while another can help you work through that week’s challenging accounting problem set.  Both are valuable friends and you should strive to be the same for someone else.  If we all build strong networks and friendships, we can all feed off of each other and work together to be successful in anything we do.  Christa challenged us to grow our networks during our time here at Cornell, both with students and faculty.

In my mind, the moral of her talk was without the teamwork, the dream – professional or personal – can’t work.

A new introduction to the field of law

I attended last week’s Rose Cafe, where Judge Scott Miller talked about what he learned from his time as a defense attorney and the various unique experiences he had.  As a business major from a family with no real law experience or occupation, I didn’t know much going in and I didn’t know what to expect.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the other side of legal procedures.

When discussing the courtroom and legal setting, TV shows, movies, etc. tend to focus on the prosecution and paint the defendant as “bad” and already guilty despite the legal system’s promotion of “innocent until proven guilty”.  While that statement is true technically, dramatizations on TV tend to suggest the opposite.  Not much is shown from the defendant’s side in a literal manner of what it’s actually like.

Judge Miller’s talk was very interesting because he presented the other side.  Many of the people he defended really were innocent, and it was up to him to prove that to the jury.  For those that he knew were guilty, it was still his responsibility to fight for them and convince the jury that there was even a sliver of doubt of his/her guilt.  I really enjoyed hearing the other side of the legal story and getting a look at what the defendant’s side of the court is like.