09/16 – Fellow Interview: Mike Fontaine & Scott Miller

Today I attended the fellow interview of Professor Mike Fontaine and Judge Scott Miller. Professor Fontaine has been at Cornell for 17 years, he started as a Professor in the classic department, specializing on Greek and Latin languages, and he later became the Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education. Professor Fontaine’s story really stuck with me because he explained his struggles over the years of first attempting to become a tenured professor, especially after being hired at such a young age. Then, the difficulties and responsibilities, attributed with taking over as Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education at such short notice and stepping in to fill that role. All in all, it was a very exhilarating process for Professor Fontaine, and this really stuck with me because as I enter my adult life, I will be faced with things thrown my way all the time, and I applaud Professor Fontaine for handling his life events so gracefully. Judge Miller serves as one of three county court judge for Tompkins County. Judge Miller deals primarily with felony criminal cases and family court custody cases. It was very touching to hear about how personal the family court custody cases are. There can be screaming and fighting involved, and Judge Miller plays a very crucial and personal role in this process. Judge Miller explained how doing his job virtually has been very stressful because it is difficult to perform such a personal role without actually getting to see the person you are conversing with. This made me realize the extent of impact that COVID-19 has had on the entire world, and while society is acting accordingly on how to combat it, there are some aspects that truly suffered as a result. This experience taught Judge Miller to learn to become more patient, as I feel we can all resonate with today during COVID-19. I admire the resiliency of Professor Fontaine and Judge Miller through these unprecedented times, and it only empowers me to fight harder as I enter my adult life.

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