This evening I attended the Rose Cafe event featuring Julia Felippe, a professor in the vet school. Professor Felippe provided a background of her life and education in Brazil before relocating to the U.S. to pursue research in clinical science. She spoke about her love for horses that she acquired from the age of five, and she later explained how she performs surgeries on them. Professor Felippe’s talk was informative and interesting, and it was certainly inspiring as well.

Something I personally struggle with here at Cornell is the intense culture around professionalism. Since the very beginning of the semester, I’ve been attending career fairs, going through recruitment processes for pre-professional clubs, and have been constantly networking, interviewing, and writing applications. Not to say that these things are bad; in fact, I feel like I’m gaining a lot of practice in these areas! They do make it easy to compare myself to others, however, and I have felt a lot of pressure to figure out what I want to pursue for my career. Professor Felippe put my thoughts at ease a little as she advised us not to narrow our career options too much, explaining how career paths are totally unpredictable for the vast majority of people. She touched on the value of social networks and acquiring mentors, not only for professional purposes but for personal ones, as well.

Meeting Professor Felippe and learning about her culture and academic specialties was a special experience. I’m glad to have attended the talk and I appreciate the advice she gave us.