Author Archives: cc2226

Community Engagement and Service

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Last week, I attended the Rose Cafe with guest Mike Bishop, who discussed community engagement at Cornell and beyond. Mr. Bishop is the director of Engage Cornell, and he discussed his career in service and how his program helps students connect with service opportunities. His experiences were very interesting to listen to, since Mr. Bishop has been involved in many different types of service and demonstrated that there are many forms of giving back to the community. This could involve fundraising, mentoring, and more. Specifically, Mr. Bishop commented on how he is energized by certain types of service, encouraging us to discover the form of service that speaks to us best.

Mr. Bishop also discussed the number of non profit organizations in the Tompkins County area is over 500 organizations, which is much higher than the national average. I thought that this was surprising and did not expect there to be so many organizations. This also demonstrated to me that there are many ways to provide service and connect with the community, and also that there may be many issues in the community that we may not realize. This Rose Cafe reminded me that being at Cornell allows me to pursue many opportunities that I may not have access to at home. I plan to reflect more critically on my previous service experiences in search of the method of community engagement that suits me best.

Beyond Sports

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Coach Silviu Tanasoiu of the Cornell Men’s Tennis team was the guest of this Rose Cafe and discussed some of his experience coaching and the story of one of the former tennis players on the team. As a high school tennis team member, I have had some experience with athletics and knew of the importance of coaches. Coach Tanasoiu’s stories about one particular tennis player really solidified the importance of coaches and how there is more to coaching beyond just sports.

Coach Tanasoiu talked about a former Cornell student on the tennis team, that was from Ecuador. He emphasized how this student struggled to adjust to Cornell, even considering quitting the tennis team to focus more on studies. However, Coach discussed how he had tried his best to advise and guide this student on a path to success, eventually winning the Ivy League for tennis and attending Stanford University for Civil Engineering. Coach Tanasoiu emphasized how hard working this student was and how many opportunities were presented to him due to his hard work and positive attitude. His story and transformation into a new person was extremely inspiring to me, reminding me of the importance of working hard and continuously striving to our goals. I was also reminded of the importance of coaches as mentors and how sports can also be a part of our personal development.

Dangers to the Environment

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At this Rose Cafe, Andy Zepp came to discuss his conservation work in the Finger Lakes Region. This discussion was very interesting, since I did not previously know what type of work went into conservation and what types of local environmental problems that are of concern.

Mr. Zepp described how his land trust works to buy and obtain land to protect it from commercial usage and private usage. Specifically, land is protected from development, which also protects other resources such as water supply. What was particularly interesting the specific actions taken for conservation. They do not necessarily buy land and close it off from any usage as I had previously thought, but instead the land is also preserved for recreational purposes. At first I was surprised, but it also makes sense, since if people are allowed to use the preserved land recreationally, this may raise awareness for conservation issues in the area.

Additional, Mr. Zepp discussed problems with chemical pollutants in lakes and algal blooms. I had some prior knowledge due to an environmental science class in high school, but I did not realize the extent of the problems that algal blooms can cause. For example, Mr. Zepp mentioned that the lakes have to be closed to public usage, which causes further economical impacts. In addition, I was not aware that the problems of salt running into Cayuga Lake could worsen in the future, and would be very problematic for water resources. Overall, I learned that the land conservation and environmental preservation are very complex topics, and that environmental problems could cause many unintended consequences. I hope to be more aware of my environmental impact from now on to help with the conservation efforts in the local area.

A Living Document

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I attended GRF Seema’s Resume Writing Workshop and it was very helpful. I was reminded of how critical a resume is for job and internship applications, and eventually medical school or graduate school applications. The resume is one of the first impressions on the employer or admissions officer, and is extremely important. A surprising fact to me was that sometimes a resume is only looked at for about 10 seconds before a decision is made to continue or reject the applicant.

GRF Seema first discussed the differences between a CV and a resume, which has some important distinctions in the content of each document. She also provided many tips and advice about formatting, such as where to place relevant information and the commonly accepted ways to structure the document. One difficulty about resume writing that I quickly realized is how to make a resume look unique and stand out, without appearing too unorthodox and unprofessional. One important takeaway I had from this event was the idea of a resume as a “living document,” that is always being edited, updated, and improved on. This is applicable to other areas of academics, not only resume writing, which I think is important to keep in mind.

Flying Through a Pilot’s Perspective

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At this Rose Cafe, Mr. Mike Comella, a pilot for Delta Airlines, came to share his experiences about his job as a pilot. I frequently use Delta Airlines to travel and it was very interesting to hear about the work that goes into flights and flying a plane, which offered a new perspective on flying.

Mr. Comella first discussed his training in order to fly a commercial airplane, which requires more training than flying for private parties or personal jets. In addition, he talked about the lifestyle of a pilot and how their schedules are managed for safety reasons. For example, a pilot typically works in three to four day trips, and can only fly a certain number of hours per day to make sure that fatigued pilots are not piloting. This is a result of a newer policy that reduces the number of hours pilots can work to increase safety of passengers. There have been other policies that have been implemented for increased safety as a result of previous accidents. This was reassuring information to hear as a frequent passenger.

Furthermore, the flight process was also explained in more detail. Mr. Comella talked about how the altitude of a plane is adjusted throughout the flight to reduce turbulence, and how there can be shortcuts to reduce travel time as much as possible. Although flights can be uncomfortable experiences at times, it was nice to know that they take passengers’ comfort and time into account. Overall, I learned a lot more the process of flying and more of the nuances behind commercial flights.

Secrets of Maintaining West Campus

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At this Rose Cafe, Mr. Chris VanDruff discussed his job and the process of maintaining West Campus. It provided a lot of insight as to the work that goes into maintenance requests and also how construction projects are carried out.

One interesting topic that stood out to me was the discussion of how the five main West Campus houses were built, with Cook House built first and the other houses built later. Since the management decided to speed up the building process of the remaining four houses on a dwindling budget, many corners were cut in regards to the quality and design of the buildings. For example, Mr. VanDruff mentioned that Bethe House has many electrical problems due to sub par fan switches that were installed throughout the entire building. In contrast, Mr. VanDruff mentioned that the Gothics receive much fewer maintenance requests in comparison, even though they are much older buildings.

Mr. VanDruff also discussed the importance of safety on West Campus, discussing the gates that were installed to block off traffic and the importance of fixing door maintenance requests. It was reassuring to hear that any maintenance requests regarding safety are placed highest on a priority list of requests. Attending this Rose Cafe helped me realize the logistical work and process of maintaining West Campus. It definitely gave me a greater appreciation of the skilled workers that work to address maintenance requests and for the durability of the Gothics buildings.

Time for Chili

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Last weekend, I attended the Chili Cook-Off event at the Ithaca Commons, a popular Ithaca community tradition. The Commons were lined with booths serving a wide variety of chili and other foods. It was quite similar to Apple Fest in terms of the atmosphere and the community gathering, which made the Chili Cook-Off a very enjoyable event as well.

Although I have had chili in the past, trying many different types of chili in the same event helped me realize the wide variety of flavors and types of chili possible. Varying in the level of spiciness, composition of the chili, and the flavors, there were definitely many types of chili available to try from many different vendors. I was able to try 6 different types of chili, each of them were delicious and comparing the different flavors was a fun experience. One of the great aspects of the event was the variety of options available and the eager vendors presenting their chili.

In general, the Chili Cook-Off was a great community gathering in the Commons that I really enjoyed. I generally do not have much time to visit the Commons and this provided a great opportunity to head off campus and also eat a variety of chili that I would not normally be able to have. It was also a great experience to attend a unique Ithaca event that I can experience as a Cornell student.

Judge Miller and the Judicial System

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I had previously attended Judge Miller’s Rose Cafe discussion last semester and found that his stories and experiences were extremely intriguing and thought provoking, bringing up issues such as equality, racism, and moral questions for discussion. In this discussion as well, I was particularly interested in his comments about how to solve greater societal problems and differences in values.

 

Judge Miller explained that the two solutions to many societal problems are universal healthcare and education. Stating that if people are properly educated from a young age, then less people would commit crimes in the future. This would result in lower costs of keeping a large prison system. I felt that this has applications to our own lives as well. Solving problems early on can prevent greater problems in the future and could lead to better opportunities in the future.

 

I think that Judge Miller’s practicality and humble nature are important characteristics that I could learn from and apply to my life. In his position, Judge Miller has presided over a great variety of cases and had experience as a defense attorney. Despite his important role in the judicial system, he remains humble and open minded towards all of the cases he presides over. He embodies many of the virtues of the judicial system, and I hope to be able to apply his open mindedness to my own life as well.