This event encompassed talking about what we have done during our academic breaks and what we plan to do in the future, not only at Cornell, but beyond. I have a goal of going to medical school and becoming a physician. I really enjoyed hearing other peoples dreams and goals and how they plan to attain that goal. I also enjoyed listening to previous experiences of other rose scholars, it made the event feel like a networking session. We all at Cornell are doing what we enjoy and love. Knowing that I am studying biology and someone else is studying law,  veterinary medicine, hotel administration , engineering, music is quite amazing to me. We are all here for different reasons but we are and always will be students of Cornell University.

This was my favorite event in terms of meeting other rose scholars. This semester I took a class called the Intergroup Dialogue Project, the the glass was very similar to what we did in this event. In both programs we worked to learn about ourselves and each other through group discussion and debate. Two of my classmates from IDP were actually participating in the mini seminar with me. I think that the combination of taking IDP and being a rose scholar has given me the opportunity to make a whole new group of friends. I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the amazing people that I’ve met as a result of the two programs and all of the new perspectives on learning and life that I got the chance to witness/explore.

During this event we talked about our summers and what we planned to do this year.

The truth was that I wanted to learn about myself. I wanted to explore different things to find out what I like. I wanted to learn about different cultures to find out what makes them unique. Most of all, I wanted to find out about the different ways technology impacts the campus.

I loved learning about other people’s views and what they wanted to accomplish in their time here. I found this experience to be very worthwhile.

This event was very different from the other Rose Scholars event I attended this semester. I appreciate how the Rose Scholars administrators are willing to listen to student feedback to create Rose Scholars Events. It was an interesting insight into how events are picked to try to fit a variety of categories for people of different interests. It also makes me excited for future Rose Scholars events, as the areas we talked about during the seminar sounded very interesting to me, especially the career development ones. Many of my classes don’t focus much on career development and practical work-force skills, so I appreciate that events in the house can offer opportunities for me to develop these important skills. It was exciting to be included in the process of developing new events and to have a say in the process.

During the mini-seminar with Jeff Godowski, I learned more about the sort of events that people are interested in participating in as a part of Rose House. I found this to be really interesting because I have never really thought about how they choose which events to hold; I simply just thought that the GRF’s would each choose something that they are passionate about and hold an event that involves that.

As this seminar went on, it came to no surprise to me that most people were interested in attending events that were focused on career-development or intellectual inquiry. This could be for a number of reasons, but I think this is largely because people come to Cornell to learn and pursue their interests so it makes sense that most people want to attend intellectually interesting events. I am a transfer student, and I don’t believe that my previous institution had nearly as many opportunities for career development or academic inquiry a Cornell does, and now that I am here I want to make the most out of every opportunity I can, because I am grateful to even have these opportunities. So few people can say they were able to come to a world-renowned institution where they can learn from amazing professors or take advantage of opportunities for career development, and so while I am here I plan to make the most of it.

I was really interested in the headshots event a few weeks ago because I don’t have a LinkedIn picture, however due to something, I couldn’t make it. When we were discussing what types of Rose House events we would like to see, a big thing that came up was career development and having other opportunities to further your career, like getting the headshot that I need to get. It was a bit shocking how career driven everyone was, from pre-med to computer science majors. Everyone seemed to share the pressures of wanting to be in a more secure place about their careers.

There were four categories and the one that most people gravitated towards was intellectualism/academic focused. While I can completely relate to feeling like I’m in a constant catch-up and grind mode, I think I would prefer more relaxing House events centered around learning how to take care of ourselves. Another category was health and well being and considering that you won’t remember the prelim grade that seems so important right now in a few months/years, but that you will be left with your body and your mind, I think it is super important that people also take the time to take care of themselves and breathe for a second.

During the mini-seminar with Jeff Godowski, I was able to get a better perspective of the people I go to class with, eat with, and live with. I really enjoyed interacting with my peers and getting to know them better. I realized that we have a lot in common; for example, the community service related events and school-related events we go to relate to our future aspirations and careers in some way. I also found it interesting that many of us had common hobbies and interests, such as health and wellness, community, intellectual inquiry, etc. all of which are intertwined into our lives one way or another. We all prioritize things differently, some of us prioritize health and wellness over community, or intellectual inquiry over community, but regardless, we were able to see how and why we all choose that category, which I was intrigued to listen to. It was a great experience to come together with my peers and understand that we all have common interests and have had unique experiences.

When I joined the Rose Scholars this past Thursday, I was able to participate in an interactive experience that allowed me to reassess my priorities, in a sense. We were asked what kind of activities we participate in, and almost everyone’s answers involved some form of academic inquiry or career step. What was your learning experience? Working in a hospital, a technology conference, an internship, a business shadowing experience, etc. This says a lot for the state of mind of the Cornell student. There is obviously nothing wrong with wanting to further your career or learn more about the facets of your major, but I found it interesting how almost no one (myself included) mentioned an experience that wavered from something that could be mentioned in a job interview, or be a step in a five year plan.
As Cornell students, we all seem to prioritize our future selves over our present selves. When we were split up into groups to look at what kinds of learning we were most invested in, almost everyone went to “academic inquiry.” A few students including myself looked at health and wellness, but the overwhelming majority wanted to look towards that future, that goal. This is by no means a critique of that attitude, just an observation. I wonder what kind of responses this activity would receive in a different university, maybe one more focused on art? Or maybe a high school? Either way it was a really interesting event and helped me learn a lot about myself and how I prioritize learning.

This past Thursday, I was fortunate enough to attend with Jeff Godowski to give our opinions on how to improve the West Campus Living Community. We got to share what we like about Cornell and how to incorporate these things into West Campus, such as Health and Wellness, Intellectual Inquiry, Cultural Learning, and other topics. I appreciate that Jeff allowed us to share each of our opinions and valued them equally. As a group, I think we organized our thoughts well for each topic and how we can use these categories to leave an impact on the West Campus community. I was part of a similar group in high school in which we met on a monthly basis to discuss how we can improve our school. It was a valuable and rewarding experience. Similarly, this Rose Scholar event felt rewarding to leave an impact on our living community. I’m very excited to see what events and community engagement comes out of these meetings.