Last week’s Rose Cafe was very different from the previous Rose Cafe events I have attended. Typically, speakers try to elicit student participation through discussion questions, which, resulted in little response. However, Sam Beck directed his discussion on us students, asking us what plans, if any, we had for the future in terms of careers and other interests. Professor Beck emphasized the importance of the college experience; it’s more than just learning from textbooks and learning information word-for-word. College is about utilizing the multiple resources around you in order to gain as much of a fulfilling experience as possible. Professor Beck talked a lot about the Urban Semester experience offered here at Cornell. He talked about the importance of experimental learning in which we could directly engage with the community and experience our career interests firsthand, an opportunity that is not offered at all schools.

After this talk, I really thought about my own career interests and how I currently pursue and experience them. I realize how much reading and thinking I do, but more so, I realized how much action I lack. For me, as an ILR major, taking an Urban semester could be a great firsthand experience in the field of HR management and operations, which is where I aspire to take my skill set to. This talk was a great breath of air for me to take and realize what I needed to do next.