Sam Beck’s Rose Cafe last Wednesday seemed like more of a sales pitch for the Urban Semester program that the professor runs than a discussion about how to become more engaged on campus. However, it still was a great experience that got me thinking about my time on and off campus.

Beck emphasized the importance of mentorship in achieving one’s academic and career goals. With the sheer size of my classes at Cornell, this seems like a hard thing to find. Professors often seem rather disinterested in even teaching, let alone personally getting to know and guiding a student. Seeing the passion with which Professor Beck talked about teaching and engaging students gave me hope though. Perhaps if I can’t find a mentor in my 100+ person lectures, I will be able to find one in my activities outside of class. Maybe I will even be able to find one through the Rose programming.

I really enjoyed Sam Beck’s style of teaching, which he was able to get across even in the short time we had with him. His individualized attention and advice was really refreshing and intriguing. His interest in improving the heath of underserved communities also directly aligns with what I want to do with my life. I might just have to do Urban Semester to learn more from him and maybe even find myself a mentor.