Laura Rodriguez de Simons’ gave an important lecture on her social work last week. She let people know about the private support that The Advocacy Center offers for victims of domestic violence. It’s incredibly important that people know how to get help when they need it in any context, especially one as personal and impactful as abuse.

Besides informing us about The Advocacy Center, Laura also explained the types of obligations that staff at Cornell have when faced with information about abuse. For example, for the most part, professors and GRFs are required to report knowledge of abuse to the school, but there are a few people including herself who have no such obligation. Not only is it important to know to get help, but it is just as important to know who to ask for help. If one wants his or her situation to be private, then it is vital to know who does and does not have to report to the school. This type of information can get to the school easier than one might imagine. Just last week I heard about a professor at a different school who had to tell her college about a situation involving one of her students because that student’s friend informed her about it. People must know all of their options, so they can make the best and most educated decisions for themselves.

Well, it looks like spending an evening with GRF Laura Rodriguez de Simons ended up being my final Rose Scholar event of the semester. Unfortunately, I was not able to stay for the whole talk due to a seminar I had to attend. Nevertheless, I was able to get a good grasp of what Laura wanted to communicate in the time frame that she had. I have stated in the past that I take a lot of things for granted. I always try to reflect on how truly blessed I am to be at Cornell. One of the things that I usually overlook is that one thing we can all use every once in a while: help. As Cornell students, we are constantly bombarded with flyers, emails, and messages that relay available resources for those who are struggling in their personal lives.

As someone who is interested in pursuing a career in clinical psychology, I admire Laura for her dedication to serving others via The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County. She also has a global perspective on social work, as she has lived and worked in Ethiopia and Central America. How does one turn their passion into a career? Well, I personally must first know what my passion is. Although I love psychology, can I truly call it my passion? Recently, I have had a special desire for working in the entertainment industry. Perhaps, it is time to actually look into it and not just dream about it. Social work is not the only way one can serve others. Stop thinking about your passion: just do it 😉

     My friend has been in social justice youth groups, and is interested in social reform work. I don’t necessarily have the same interest, but do value such a career. I would like to be socially-involved, however, I don’t know if I have the energy to have both a satisfying and impactful job. My friend feels the same. 
     Laura Rodriguez de Simons, our speaker, talked about reconciling passion with a healthy personal lifestyle. I asked, “Do you think there is a place for the less passionate in social justice work?”, and she said, noting that she was an idealist, that she believes everyone has some investment in sociocentric issues. I pried a bit, and so it’s probably clear that I’m of a somewhat different mindset. I think most people, I won’t say all, have emotional investment in certain issues, but not all’s interests meet the threshold of activism. So how do you achieve the investment to prompt proactive and purposeful change? And can you? The answer I usually hear is education and or some variation of “you just do it”, but I wonder if passion is always “found” or if sometimes it must be developed more “painstakingly”.

Last week Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe with guest speaker Laura Rodriguez de Simons. Laura’s talk was about her work at the Ithaca Advocacy center. The advocacy center provides free support services for anyone who has been a victim of any type of abuse. She started off her talk by first describing how she got involved in advocacy programs and also described her first couple of jobs in Africa and South America. From then on, she began to describe what her job entails and her own personal thoughts and opinions on the work that she does. I never realized that advocacy programs helped so many people not only here in Ithaca, but in Africa, South America, and the rest of the world. It must be extremely difficult for people who have been abused, whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically, to open up to others and talk about it. It must also be difficult for those who work at the advocacy center to hear about all the traumatic events that these people went through and to see what effects those events have on them.

While most of her talk did focus on the importance of having an advocacy center, the take away message I got was to do whatever you are passionate about. Just from her talk, I could tell that Laura truly cares about helping all of her patients and loves being able to be there for them in their time of need. I find it inspiring to see people who are extremely passionate about the work they do and it motivates me to follow my passions as well.

Last Wednesday I went to the Rose Cafe and heard Laura Rodriguez de Simons speak about her career path and her work in advocacy. Laura Rodriguez de Simons currently works in the Advocacy center right here in Ithaca which provides free psychological support services. However she also described how she has done advocacy work in other parts of the world such as African and South America. Her work in Ithaca was admirable and it was interesting to hear about but I cannot imagine how strong someone must be to be in this line of work. I’m sure it must be incredibly difficult and an emotional struggle to help people who have gone through addiction or sexual abuse while remaining professional.

Although the speaker’s work was incredibly interesting, I really liked the part of her talk when she spoke about finding something that you’re truly passionate about and pursuing it. This is advice that I feel like is always thrown my way, but it’s difficult to actually do. I always feel like I should be safe and earn a degree in a field that I know will set me up well to live comfortably in the future. Oftentimes the things that people are most passionate are fields where it is difficult to make a living. The speaker described how she studied business, got her MBA and was working in the real estate industry in New York City. But after doing this for about a year she decided to pursue something that she was actually passionate about, which was social justice and advocacy. Going from an incredibly lucrative industry like real estate in New York City to working in social justice is a huge switch, and I truly commend Laura Rodriguez de Simons for taking that leap and pursuing her passions.

This past week I attended the Rose Café given by Mrs. Laura Rodriguez de Simons and came away both impressed and inspired by the story of her work in advocacy. Listening to the first part of her talk, in which she went over some of her personal history in the field, it really struck me how demanding the work that she does is. Not only does she interact with many people who have had physically and emotionally traumatizing events happen to them, but also she must always maintain a level of professional detachment from those people. Balancing helping out clients and preserving a separate personal life sounds to me like an incredibly difficult task, and I believe I have newfound appreciation for all people in that line of work. Mrs. Rodriguez de Simons also told us of how she had worked in several countries including some in Africa and South America, which I found to be also impressive because of how she must have had to adapt her methods of advocacy to all those different cultures.

Mrs. Rodriguez de Simons concluded the talk with some advice about finding the right career path based on her experience and what she wished she would have known. Although it is often said to “follow you passion,” it is not always that you find a person who really did just that and Mrs. Rodriguez de Simons was a perfect example. Having studied business in college and gone to work in a real estate company, she was in a great position out of college. While she told us that she did enjoy the job, she knew it wasn’t something that inspired her. As a result, after only a year working in the real estate business, she left to pursue advocacy and has been there ever since. Given all of that, however, she recognized that there were people out there that had different passions and she emphasized that no matter what that passion or dream may be, that you will be happiest if you pursue that. A great reminder that she also gave us as well was that no matter what you ultimately pursue, there is almost always a way to put that skill or field to use in serving the community if you desire and I felt like that was a very reassuring and positive note to end on.

Although I also live in Founders, I didn’t realize that the speaker at this Rose Cafe was one of our building’s GRFs, whose door I pass by every morning (shame on me), until I saw her when I walked in. I had been interested in the advertised topic of the Cafe, something that I had recently been thinking a lot about (what to do with my future). However, it was also nice to hear everything else that GRF Laura had to say, especially about her work at the Advocacy Center.

I began my freshman year considering myself as a math major, and then I changed my mind two or three more times before I ended up officially declaring myself a stat major. Throughout the past two years, however, I’ve thought a lot about what I actually want to do. Although I feel that I’ve found what that is in statistics recently (I actually enjoy it), I thought it’d be nice to hear a variation of what I went through from another person’s perspective. It was nice to hear GRF Laura recommend doing something you have or can develop a passion for, something that I didn’t seem to live by until recently although it might be obvious.

Last week at the Rose Café Laura Rodriguez de Simons discussed her role in the advocacy center and some of the things that the center does to help people who are in need of support. Immediately during the talk I thought of the baseball player R.A. Dickey. When R.A. was very young, he was sexually assaulted by his babysitter. He grew up with this experience always with him, but he channeled his pain into sports. In particular baseball. Throughout his high school and college career, Dickey was considered to be one of best prospects in the country. He was even selected to pitch on Team USA for the Olympics. After the Olympics, Dickey was drafted in the first round of the MLB draft and signed a large signing bonus. But then a problem arose. When looking at a picture of Dickey from the cover of the Baseball America, the Rangers noticed that Dickey’s arm was bent at a abnormal angle. When doctors took a look at x-rays, they found that he was born without a UCL in his arm (a ligament that basically holds the arm together). The doctors said that he shouldn’t be able to open a doorknob without pain. Dickey described this feeling as being “damaged goods”. As a result, the Rangers significantly reduced his signing bonus. Coupled with his struggles off the field, Dickey struggled on the field as well. At one point, after cheating on his wife, Dickey contemplated suicide. After receiving help through counseling along with a new faith in god and support from his family, Dickey was able to turn things around on and off the field. Dickey became a knuckleball pitcher and eventually won the Cy Young Award (highest honor for a pitcher) while he was with my hometown METS. R.A. Dickey is an example of how people who have had very harmful experiences with the right support can turn things around and make their situations better. Laura Rodriguez de Simons’ work helps to turn things around.

I really appreciated Laura coming to speak to us. I always enjoy hearing about people’s career paths, because more often than not they contain surprises that lead the person to a place that they never would have predicted. As a college student who isn’t entirely sure of what she wants to do, this is very reassuring to hear, and it was certainly true in Laura’s case. Not only does her field of work differ drastically from her first job or what she studied as an undergraduate, she also transitioned from topic to topic around the world within the field of advocacy. Her path was very interesting and I admire how she developed such a fascinating career dedicated to serving others.

One of my favorite points that Laura made was that although not everyone is necessarily suited for advocacy or social work, there are many other ways to improve the world that are just as valuable. She seemed to think that knowing yourself and identifying your own strengths and passions were the most important things that can help you find a career that suits you. I appreciated this perspective, because it acknowledges the importance of supporting roles in the field of social work and advocacy, rather than just focusing on those who interact directly with others to offer help.

GRF Laura’s talk about her work as an advocate in various places around the world made me reflect on my own experiences doing similar work, albeit in a much less impressive manor.  I was fortunate enough to go to a high school with some great programs–one of them was that instead of descending into senioritis, we were given the option to spend the last trimester of our senior year working full-time in a service capacity.  For me, this ended up being an internship at a small non-profit 501(c)(3) organization on the Lower East Side.  Most of my time there was spend just generally assisting the case managers with their clients, many of whom had problems ranging from pending eviction to trouble securing their welfare.  I appreciated Laura’s talk not only because it reminded me of my own brief experience in the field, but because it gave me more perspective on the tireless work that case managers/advocates do for their clients on a day-in/day-out basis.  It really does take a lot of heart to put in the work for those who need it most.

Survivors of domestic and sexual violence, abuse, and assault often lack the proper resources to seek out help from someone who can provide complete confidentiality to them. In fact most survivors are more likely to go to their loved ones for help and solace before going to a professional. This is a very natural response because humans tend to go to the people who they are closest to in their hard times rather than complete strangers. The only problem with this response is that their loved ones can relive their pain for a few moments but cannot get them the proper treatment or guarantee complete confidentiality. Sooner or later, that confidant will reach out to another person they trust in order to seek out help for their loved one. In order o combat the effects of sexual assault and violence, one must seek out help from the right resources.

Laura Rodriguez de Simons, Client Services Director for The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, gave an insightful talk on how she got involved with providing services to survivors of sexual assault and abuse and how she turned her passion into her career. Laura explained that she wanted to work for nonprofits, but after she got her MBA she decided to work for a real estate company for a few months. Often students don’t realize that they can work in a field that is not related to their college degree, and Laura explained how even though she doesn’t work in a business, she still uses her MBA to manage people around her. She strikes a good balance between her passion and education which I feel is very important to do if you want to be successful in the field you’re working in and make a big difference. Laura emphasized how patient confidentiality is vital to protecting victims of assaults, so that they get the necessary mental and physical treatment to recover. I can only imagine that if a friend ever confided in me with a serious problem like rape, abuse, or domestic violence, my first instinct would be to seek out the proper resources for him/her to get help. I would assure him/her that I would respect their privacy, but would also have to direct him/her to a professional like Laura who is capable of dealing with such survivors. I don’t want to risk my friend’s well being by protecting their issue, I want them to get the proper help that they need as soon as possible.

For my Rose cafe, I attended Laura’s talk on how to pursue passions as a career. First off, I’d like to commend Laura for working in such a difficult field where you are liable to take on a lot emotional baggage everyday.

Laura’s path was first gaining a world class education. Then after working in a corporate setting for one year, she moved to her current field of social work.

She offered a view that working in her field didn’t mean she had to sacrifice an exciting career. She talked a lot about all the places she has traveled through her work and all the initiatives she has been a part of.

Another thing she discussed is how education has contributed to her success now. I think this is an important point for anyone attending a university. It might seem like you are destined for a very straight path to some large company or maybe a smaller startup. However, you want to be directly helping people in need. Right now you have the opportunity to gain skills that would greatly benefit those in need. The more educated you become the more valuable every hour you spend helping becomes.

That was the overarching theme that you can leverage your education to help fulfill your passions.

Last week I attended a talk by Laura Rodriguez de Simons, who is a counselor who has committed her career to social work. The ideas and lessons I took away from the talk were entirely unexpected and I am really grateful that I attended. The talk encompassed a wide array of topics from Laura’s educational background, to her career path, to social issues, to privacy in sexual assault protocol within the university, to how to build a career in non-profit social work.

The discussion about whether a career in non-profit social work was very educational. Some of the key things that Laura emphasized was that anyone who wants to go into non-profit or advocacy needs to care a lot about serving others, because at the end of the day, it is a career that tests your selflessness. A lot of us students want to better the planet some way or the other, but Laura made it a good point that advocacy may not be right for everyone, and that people need to find their own medium.

Another idea that Laura emphasized was that if you want to go into non-profit, you have to avoid the logical, straightforward, sensible, and secure route, and follow your passion. You may not be financial secure, but if it truly your passion, you will thrive. Laura was actually following a very practical and secure path before she joined the non-profit industry. She got an MBA from a premiere university and was a very successful project manager in commercial real estate before she realized that was not where her passion lies.

Finally, she stated that it was very important to pursue things you care about and are curious about during your undergraduate years.

Last week’s Rose Cafe featured Laura Rodriguez de Simons, who works at the advocacy center here in Ithaca. I didn’t know that we had an advocacy center prior to this talk, so it was really nice to hear about all of its wonderful, free services (24-hour hotline, shelter, legal advocacy, crisis intervention, and more). Laura also talked about her interesting path to her current career in social advocacy. She studied economics as an undergrad and later got her MBA. She then worked at a real estate firm in New York City for one or two years before realizing that she wasn’t following her passion.

Laura told us that we should strive to pursue careers that we are truly passionate about, not careers that are simply “safe” and traditional. She also advised us to work/intern for free in order to get experience in the nonprofit sector. Personally, I didn’t necessarily agree with that piece of advice; most of the time, it’s simply not feasible for students to devote time and energy into a job without financial support. Nevertheless, if people can afford to do so, they should certainly go for it – the experience would be really valuable.

Whenever I go to the restroom, I always manage to see the sign and contact information for the advocacy center. I have never really thought much about it, but Wednesday’s Rose cafe gave me a better understanding of what the Advocacy Center is all about.

Laura Rodriguez de Simons, a worker at the Advocacy Center described her work as helping people in the Tompkins County area by offering them free psychological and mental support. I was surprised to learn that even in a more rural area like Tompkins county, an organization like hers is constantly busy. I thought that this shows that no matter where one lives there will be people in need. As a student at Cornell, one can easily disregard all the suffering that occurs behind the scenes, even though he/she may not intend it. We usually leave this dark side up to places like the Advocacy center to deal with.

After the talk, I realize that that if we want to help a community, there is always room for more volunteers. Even in the countryside where one would not expect social problems, they actually do exist. While this might sound depressing, it is good to remember that there is always oppertunity to help others. No matter what career path one chooses or where they live, he she/ can always contribute his/her skill to a place like the advocacy center.

The speaker talked about the emotional subject of social justice in mainly sexual abuse, domestic violence with human services that are offered right here in Ithaca. Laura Rodriguez De Simons works for an advocacy center that deals with these issues and provides some form of social justice. She talked about her path in pursuing her interests that ultimately led into this line of work. She was initially interested in learning how poverty arises as she pursued her degree in economics. After gaining some experience in the field with non-profit organizations, she was able to decide that she wanted to go into advocacy work in relation to poverty as a factor to sexual violence. It is these non-profit organizations that are able to provide the services without financial help. Laura gave the major advice of volunteering in advocacy non-profit organizations to see if the person is actually interested in the work. Especially, with sexual abuse work it is important to see if you can handle the work and be dedicated to it. The organizations love volunteers since they are dedicated to the cause. She suggested that students even work for hot line with domestic violence issues. Laura mentioned that she got a MBA due to its practical use and she uses it everyday when managing a team of 10 advocates as she does in the shelter in Tompkins County for sexual violence advocacy. We also got into an interesting discussion about the opiate problem in Ithaca and it was sad to hear how many clients of the advocacy center are struggling with opiate addiction and shows how big the opiate addiction issue is in Ithaca and Tomkins County.

The talk given at the Rose Café by Laura Rodriguez de Simons explained her work with the Tompkins Country Advocacy Center and the people in this area. She told us about who she works with on a daily basis. But on top of that, she showed us how your passion for something can become a job.
During her talk, Rodriguez told us about some of the difficult aspects of her job. One of the parts I found very interesting was how she said it was often difficult for the people she works with to separate outside life from her job. Being a social worker, you are working with specific people trying to help them in any way possible. Throughout this, you will learn all about them and their lives. Because of this, a connection may start to form in a way that you are truly concerned for the people you are working with. This can make it difficult to leave work behind when you leave the door because you are instead seeing the people and their issues, instead of it not just being another client.
Laura’s passion for helping others was clear. I think it is truly inspiring that she was able to turn her passion for helping others into her job. She did mention that it was difficult because of the fact that there isn’t necessarily a large salary waiting for social workers. But she was a clear example of how you can love what you do every day and be happy. I really enjoyed her talk and learning more about social working and also Tompkins County.

Laura Rodriguez de Simons, the Client Services Director for The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, led a great discussion on her work in advocacy and her unique career path. I found the somewhat indirect nature of her career to be really fascinating. She started out as a project manager at a large real estate corporation, but discovered her true passion was in non-profit and advocacy work. She discussed how she actually enjoyed her experiences in the corporate world, but there is of course a significant difference between enjoyment and passion.

At the same time, she also recognized that with any career, some degree of pragmatism is certainly necessary. This is especially relevant for college students, where taking unpaid jobs and internships for non-profit companies seems infeasible. Perhaps a willingness to do is a true indication of passion, but is it really necessary to sacrifice financial stability to pursue what we are excited about? It is a difficult question that depends on each individual’s beliefs, but one possibility is to engage in non-profit and advocacy work in one’s spare time and then have a more financially fulfilling career as a day job.

Last week I attended the Rose cafe, and heard Laura Rodriguez de Simons lead a discussion about having a career in advocacy. I enjoyed hearing her diverse perspective, as she has done development and advocacy work in Ethiopia, Honduras, and now here in Ithaca. The major theme that I got out of the discussion was that finding a balance between compassion and practicality is important when doing this type of work.

One thing that struck me as interesting and non-intuitive was Laura’s tip that, if  you decide to do advocacy or development work, not to do anything “too sensible”. A mindset of  compassion, not one of efficiency and productivity, needs to take center stage in this type of work. It’s important to see people as people, not projects. Therefore, doing what you feel exactly equipped to do can actually take away from the experience. On the other hand, Laura has been able to use her “sensible” MBA in her current role.

Also on the practical side: in her current role at the advocacy center in Ithaca, Laura’s organization is careful to develop strict boundaries regarding advocates interacting with their clients. Many have heart-wrenching stories, so it can be easy to get too absorbed in their situations in a way that is ultimately unhealthy. Time not on the work clock is clearly personal time. Taking time off is encouraged, and it’s clearly stated that clients can’t contact advocates when they are not working. It must be difficult to strike this balance, but Laura maintained that it is healthier to operate in this fashion. It’s important to be able to take a step back from a situation and not get too emotionally invested.

I really appreciated Laura’s advice, and will certainly keep it in mind as I consider different types of missions work in the future!

Laura Rodriguez de Simons, who currently works at the Tompkins County Advocacy Center, showcased her past work experiences through quality information regarding advocacy and helping people. Before coming to Cornell, she alternated between working in South America and Africa, supporting local people affected by harrowing issues, such as domestic violence. After sharing her story, she offered some pieces of advice. The one that resonated with me the most was to not go down a path you think you’re supposed to or to stick to the status quo. After Laura Rodriguez de Simons earned a degree in economics, she earned an M.B.A. and was then hired to a large company, where she worked for about a year before discovering her passion for advocacy. I personally think that more college students, and even some high school students, need to hear and understand this message because so many people set out to become doctors, lawyers, or corporate employees and then later discover they weren’t actually very passionate about that and would have preferred to work towards a different career goal earlier in school. I think people should always do some soul searching and subject exploration before forming any sort of career goal to really be able to brainstorm ideas and discover passions, especially if someone finds that they’re inclined to go into a field that is not very conventional or expected. College is the time to explore ones interests and I don’t think it’s good for students to only approach college as the means to an end goal of entering a career. I know I personally enjoy exploring different subjects and will joyfully continue to dabble in whatever sounds interesting for the rest of my time at Cornell.

Passion for activism and social work is something that I always thought was so important and I greatly admire the people that have dedicated their lives to helping others. I never thought that it was easy, for me I enjoy helping through volunteer work in nursing homes by being someone that can listen or assist in anything someone may need. Sometimes it can be extremely upsetting. I feel other people’s pain and it is difficult to let that go sometimes. I think many of the stories I hear tend to stick with me. I want to continue to help and serve others in my life because I think it keeps me grounded and it also feels good to know that I did something that will benefit someone else. I thought the advice Laura Simon’s had about making sure you truly love the work of serving others before making a career out of it because it is very tough work was honest and true.

Laura currently works at the activist center helping women, children, and men that have been sexually abused. The amount of individuals that are sexually assaulted on college campuses is hard to estimate because so many cases go unreported. The center is a place where a victim can get help dealing with what happened emotionally or can get help pressing charges if they decide to go that route. I think these services are truly great because speaking to a third party can be beneficial in the healing process.

Laura, also talked about following your passion. She said she wished she listened and embraced her desire to pursue a career of service earlier in her education rather than going the sensible route. I think it is difficult to find what it is we love to do because we think of work as something we need to do before we can do the things we enjoy doing. I really hope that I can find something that I love to do so that I am excited to go into work everyday.

Laura Rodriguez de Simons shared her care and devotion for helping others at the Tompkins County Advocacy Center this last Wednesday. She spoke about how her work, how we can become more involved with advocacy and our own community, and what sort of advise she has regarding our college years. With her broad knowledge and long history in this field from spending time with commercial sex work and exploitation of children in Central America to dealing with gender-based violence in Ethiopia, she brought a lot of awareness regarding domestic violence shelters and the services they provide for however long needed to people who survive sexual violence. Her advice for us: 1. Have a strong sense for serving others 2. Don’t go down the sensible or expected path 2. Pay attention to what you are passionate.

I highly enjoyed Laura Simon’s talk last night on turning activism into a career. It was interesting to hear her experiences with providing services for survivors of sexual and domestic abuse. I found her talk inspirational; it revealed that pursuing a self-satisfying profession is more important than other rewards – such as higher financial returns. She taught me that our college major does not compartmentalize us into specific vocations; rather our college major can serve as a stepping stone for careers we find fulfilling. She had studied economics in undergrad and subsequently obtained an MBA. However, she realized that she can channel her skills to combating societal issues. It is within our power to change our life trajectory as long as we remain determined. I realized that I can do anything with my major – I had always thought that I would work in financial services in the future. However I now know that I could leverage my skills to work for the United Nations or non-profit organizations with missions that closely align with my interests.

Her enthusiasm for serving as Director for the Advocacy Center of Tompkins County was evident. She elaborated on what the Center does; it organizes “Take Back the Night”, an event with the mission of eradicating domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. Laura also explained that 1/3 of their clients are college students, but that many students are afraid to report the incidents. I think it must be extremely fulfilling to work at the Center, to be a source of comfort and to feel that you are making a difference in a victim’s life.

Overall, I had a great time at the talk. At the end of the talk, Professor Blalock said that it could be difficult to balance practicality with passion. I agree, especially if graduates have student loans or financial obligations. However, I do want to eventually work for an organization that is dedicated to improving humanity. There are fewer endeavors in life that are more fulfilling than that.

Today, Laura spoke about her career working at the Advocacy Center for Tompkins county, which is definitely an interesting and unique profession. She first started out talking about all the resources that the Advocacy Center provides to help people with trauma, survivors of abuse and domestic violence, with options in either legal advocacy or just emotional support. The center provides a shelter for domestic violence victims, a 24 hour hotline service, and forensic examinations for sexual assault victims. The center also organizes events to promote awareness regarding these issues, such as Take Back the Night. It makes me feel relieved and optimistic that as a student all these resources are accessible and covered. Laura also talked about her specific job of providing people the guidance to choose what available resources they want to use, and her background in working with local nonprofits and indigenous group leaders, and refugee families in getting them settled with jobs. I really liked this talk because it transformed from information about the advocacy center to a broader talk on choosing careers. Laura for example, originally started out majoring in economics and getting an MBA, but realized her real passion was in social justice issues. Her main advice was to pay attention to what you think about a lot, and for her, she loved service and social movements. Just hearing all that she does sounds exhausting, but for her that work is worth it because it brings her joy. We also discussed how even though many people would like to get involved with social justice that it is not very practical to, given student loans and the low pay. This is the most challenging dilemma, as many of us have to balance between what we really want to do, versus what is considered a practical job. Even if one isn’t as passionate about entering the social justice fields, there are many other ways to get involved, like volunteering for the hotline. I really liked this talk to get that exposure on the Advocacy center and just a general discussion of career opportunities.

Today, we were lucky to have Laura talk about her experiences in public service and how her journey brought her to where she is today! She was talking about her experiences with working in East Africa and Central America, and one advice that she had for students who were interested in social justice was that they should not try “to go the sensible route”. She said that she went to graduate school for Economics and briefly worked at a large corporate real estate firm, and although she had a lot of fun working there, she did not feel “whole” by doing that everyday. And so she suggests that students who feel like they are passionate about a cause that is bigger than themselves shouldn’t try to go for the “safe” careers. But, as Professor Blalock mentioned towards the end of the talk, as much as we’d like to work for free and completely devote ourselves to the public good, there’s also issues of practicality. We still need to pay our bills and feed ourselves, so we could still go towards a “sensible” route and contribute/volunteer through services/skills that we have acquired as a result of our education.

In addition, Laura had given a small speech about going towards a path that you are passionate about. And I completely agree, because I think it’s extremely important to do something that makes you feel like every day is worth living. But an interesting question that one person asked was, “What about the people who are less passionate?” Because sometimes I am so focused on what I am passionate about, it is sometimes so overwhelming that I forget some people are just not really passionate about anything at all. But as Laura mentioned, everyone has something that makes them really happy or really pissed off, whether or not they realize it. And I guess it doesn’t have to start out like a deep, burning passion, but I think it can definitely grow to that point for every single person.

Overall, I’m very glad Laura came to tell us about all the resources that are available to us as Cornell students and residents in Ithaca, because I do hear of a lot of sexual assault that occurs on the campus, so I’m glad that such a support system exists for us. We are very lucky to be here!

Tonight’s Rose Café talk was given by Laura Rodriguez de Simons who works at The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County. The talk was very serious and serious because The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County focus on sexual assault and domestic violence. Through the talk I gained a better understanding of certain problems facing Tompkins County. I was somewhat surprised to learn about the poverty problem in Tompkins County because I mostly live in the bubble of Cornell University were this problem is not apparent.

While the talk was sobering and serious I was inspired by the passion and commitment of Ms. Rodriguez de Simons. Through her description of her work and career progression it was clear that she is very passionate about her work. I was surprised at the path that she took to her current career in social justice. Based on her description of her work, I assumed that she came from a psychology of social work background, but she actually studied economics and received a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) before entering the social justice space. It is interesting that a business background could lead to a career in social justice. Ms. Rodriguez de Simons did say that her business degree was helpful for her job because she needs to manage teams and budgets.

I was also interesting to learn that many of the clients of The Advocacy Center of Tompkins County are addicted to heroin or related to someone who is. This is one example of the negative effects of addiction. I hope that public health officials, government officials, and advocates like Ms. Rodriguez de Simons can find solutions to reduce the current heroin addiction epidemic effecting Tompkins County and many other areas of the country.

I was extremely excited to hear Laura Rodriguez de Simons speak about turning activism into a career. I’ve always felt called to activism. I knew I wanted to help make the world a better place since before I knew that I needed a job someday. Hearing Laura Rodriguez de Simons speak about choosing activism as a career was simultaneously encouraging and discouraging.

I was thrilled to hear the story of a woman who had successfully turned passion into her life’s work. She told us about her work promoting sexual health. She detailed her experiences as an advocate for immigrants. She also told us about her work at the advocacy center.

I already knew that the advocacy center was a great place. This semester I assistant directed Cornell’s production of Vagina Monologues. All proceeds from the production went to the advocacy center. It was amazing to hear about all the great services that the advocacy center provides. They help thousands of members of our community.

It was so wonderful to hear about Laura’s fulfilling experience. It is so rare to hear about people who actually devote their life to social justice.

I was slightly discouraged by Laura’s advice to people who aspire to have a career in social justice. Laura’s advice was to volunteer at a nonprofit for awhile before working for one. This was extremely frustrating to hear.

Imagine it like this. You spend four years getting a degree in accounting. You put yourself into serious debt. You suffer for this degree, but its worth it because this is what you want to do with your life. Then someone suggests to you that you just do everyone’s taxes for free for a year. After all, thats the only way you’ll know if you really like being an accountant.

I don’t think that Laura’s advice was wrong. I understand that nonprofits do not have the means to pay people like businesses do. I recognize that I will probably have to volunteer for a while before I can work at a nonprofit. But that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Sometimes it feels like you have to be rich in order to help people. You have to have the financial security to volunteer for a few years in order to work at a nonprofit. You have to write grant applications for money to fund your summer internships, rather than feeling secure in your financial situation.

I was excited to hear about someone making a career out of social justice. I am filled with more doubt than ever that I will ever be able to.