Author Archives: Jennifer Kauffman

The Students of the Round Table – Discussing Graduate School

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I have in the past briefly entertained the thought of going to a graduate school after graduating from Cornell. Although I am currently a junior Information Science major, I have recently developed an interest in marketing and advertising and may want to pursue this in the future. Last week’s event revolving around applying to graduate school helped me to explore this opinion in more depth.

I really appreciated Sara running the event as not only did she talk about the general process of applying to graduate school such as obtaining recommendations early on from professors and bosses at work, but she also shared her personal experiences in changing from one career path to another through graduate school. Additionally, Sara made sure to pay special attention to each student at the event by giving specialized advice or asking certain people by name about their view on a topic being discussed. In my opinion, it made the entire discussion about graduate school feel more personal and relevant to each person as we each shared our experiences and possible goals for life after Cornell. It was also nice having the opportunity to provide new information to Sara about current graduate school applications and discuss it with her in addition to learning from her, as when I was researching a graduate program I was interested in, I noticed that the application required a video-recorded interview, which acts as an alternative to a Skype or in-person interview where unprepared applicants receive a series of questions and are required to video-record their responses. I appreciated that the entire event was more like a casual open discussion than a miniature lecture due to the personal nature of the event’s focus.

Although I am still on the fence regarding graduate school, I highly enjoyed the event and will keep in mind Sara’s advice and experiences while completing the rest of my Bachelors at Cornell and considering my next steps after graduation.

Sport Coaches Aren’t Just Coaches

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Despite being in a sport back in high school and getting along well with my coaches, I never quite realized the full responsibilities of a sport coach outside of practices.

On Wednesday, I listened to Coach Tanasoiu talk at the Rose Cafe about the responsibilities of coaches in addition to coaching in general and give a real-life example with one of the student athletes he got to know quite well. At Cornell, sport coaches act as mentors for their athletes in addition to coaching a sport, recruiting new players, and raising money for equipment and other necessities. Coaches like Tanasoiu make sure that their players are doing well both in their sport and in their academics, and help them when they are having difficulty in either area.

It’s nice to know that in a competitive environment such as Cornell, student athletes are being looked after not just physically, and are encouraged to do their best in all their interests.

Well, I’d Like To Visit The Moon…

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I’ve always had a fascination with space. I loved playing around with my dad’s old telescope when I was younger (although it was broken) and imagining what the moon looked like up close, kinda like Ernie in Sesame Street (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoteMQ6w0SE).

I finally had the opportunity to do so last Friday when I went with the Rose Scholars to visit the Fuertes Observatory. We first listened to a lecture called “The Search for Life Begins at Home” about studying other planets in the same way that we study our own. The lecturer went into detail regarding the “habitable” worlds nearby, which was interesting to listen to as a “habitable” world where humans could possibly live doesn’t necessarily mean that the planet itself is exactly like Earth.

After listening to the lecturer, all of the Rose Scholars went to upstairs to see and learn about the observatory’s telescope. Despite the cloudy weather, it was still clear enough to see the moon. While looking through the telescope, I had to remind myself a few times that I was actually looking at the moon’s surface and not just a photo of it.

It was also interesting to look at the different tools in the observatory and learn about different machinery used in the past for stargazing. I was especially drawn to what looked like the pin-hole camera (a device that uses a small pin-sized hole to expose a small amount of light to a piece of film in order to take a photo) that seemed similar to the one I made in my photo class in high school.

I’m really glad that I had the opportunity to participate in the observatory event not only because I finally got to see the moon up close, but I also learned a lot about space that I didn’t know before.

Step 1 of Applications: Write a Resume

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Last Thursday, I participated in a resume workshop to go over the basic elements of a resume and what information should be put in it. While I already have a resume that I frequently update, it’s nice to go back to the basics every so often.

At the beginning, the participants of the workshop and I briefly discussed the difference between a CV and a resume, as the two documents hold different meanings despite sometimes being used interchangeably on applications for jobs and internships. We also touched on the purpose of resumes, as they can be used to help “sell yourself” to a hiring manager and give them a “snapshot” of who you are as an individual, before breaking down the individual elements of a resume (for example, education or relevant experience).

Part of the workshop included acting like a hiring manager by having every participant trade resumes with another person and the person leading the workshop giving us around 10-30 seconds to read them. It was interesting to see how people market themselves through their skills, classes, internships/jobs, and activities.

Although the workshop was mostly review for me, I still learned new information regarding how to present myself. I also met individually with the workshop leader after the event ended in order to gain more insight regarding how to improve my personal resume. I recommend that for future resume workshops, it would be beneficial to have a member from the Career Center help lead the workshop and provide examples of resumes in specific career fields, such as art versus engineering versus physical/social sciences.

Negatives and Positives of “What Happened to Monday”

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I had the unique opportunity to watch a movie called “What Happened to Monday” with my fellow Rose Scholars, and the movie left me both horrified and fascinated by the events that unfolded.

I went into the movie “blind”, so I did not know much about the movie beyond the basic plot of seven identical sisters playing out their lives as the same person when in the outside world when suddenly one day, one of the sisters disappears. While a warning was given before the movie about it containing scenes with violence, I was unaware of the amount of violence involving blood and death. I usually do not watch movies containing graphic violence, so in this aspect I did not enjoy the film and had to look away from the screen at times during fight scenes.

Despite the amount of violence within the movie, the premise itself is interesting. In the film, over-population has led to the idea of a law involving each family only having one child and any additional children being put to sleep in order for them to “wake up to a better future”. This is why the seven sisters all pretend to be a single person: if not for their acting and coordination where each sister goes outside of their shared apartment on the day matching their name (for example, “Monday” going outside only on Mondays), six of the sisters would have already been taken in by the government and put to sleep. While I will not spoil the ending for anyone interested in viewing the film, it is interesting to note the detail placed on elements such as how the law was advertised to the public as a positive solution to the over-population crisis. The writers of the film made the solution of only having one child seem like a such a logical answer to the situation that it could possibly be considered as a real-life solution should over-population start to become an issue in the real world outside of the movie.

In the case of “What Happened to Monday”, the seven sisters were so afraid of being put to sleep by the government that they formulated their entire lives around being the same person when outside in the “real world”. While I am not sure how often I would re-watch “What Happened to Monday”, I do recommend it to others and ask that they think while watching the film about how people in positions of “power”, such as the government, affect how we operate in our everyday lives in real life.

The More You Know…

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I have lived on West Campus for over a year, my oldest sister lived on West Campus one year during her time at Cornell, and both of my parents went to Cornell, but there is still SO much about Cornell and West Campus that I never knew before.

Last Wednesday, I went to the Rose Cafe event “History and Secrets of West Campus” with House Professor Garrick Blalock and learned about West Campus areas not usually known about or available to the public. This included a behind-the-scenes of West Campus’ underground, where food is transported to West Campus without being seen, and the War Memorial Room, which (as far as I’m aware of) recently has only been available to the public on September 11 in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks.

The event started in Professor Blalock’s room within Rose House, a 3-story apartment that he shares with his family and the Rose House dog, Pepper. While there, he talked about the history behind the West Campus housing system’s development from Ezra Cornell’s desire to not have dorms on campus, to the development of “university halls” (or “u-halls”), to the creation of Houses 1 through 5 (the names the houses were referred to as before being named after faculty members rather than donors). I had never heard most of this history before due to my parents never living in the West Campus Houses, as they were built after they had left, and my oldest sister never having an event like this occur while she was on West.

After a brief look at Professor Blalock’s room, he led the event to the first location: the underground of West Campus. Starting from a doorway nearby Becker’s dining hall, Professor Blalock led me and the other students at the event through the pathways underneath West Campus. We passed by dining halls, food fridges, offices, the doorway that both brings in food and brings out trash, and many more “secret” doors before reaching the elevator to bring us back to Rose Main. It was interesting seeing how planned out West Campus was in certain aspects, such as making sure that no one would get hurt from large food or trash trucks constantly coming onto West. Also, a fun fact that was shared with the group: Professor Blalock’s apartment is right on top of where the elevator to the basement is, so he can always hear when people are down there. It is possible to visit this area without Professor Blalock being there, but there’s no way to call the elevator from the basement (a security measure put in so visiting workers don’t go into the dorms), so visitors need to either exit via the trash/food doors or through the emergency stairwell.

The second, and last, location shown as part of the event was the War Memorial Room. Although there is not much physically in the room (a few different countries’ flags, benches, etc.), it represent much more than this as it was originally a monument to the 264 Cornellians who died in World War I. We sadly did not get to spend as much time in the War Memorial Room as I would have liked (as we spent a lot of time in the underground of West Campus), but it was still interesting to see an importance place that honored Cornellians of the past. There was also a wall dividing the group from I believe is an elevator or stairs leading up to the meeting place of the “secret” society, Quill and Dagger. If you are a senior and have not yet been “tapped” to be in Quill and Dagger, you can see the secret room if you find someone within the society to take you up there. Maybe I’ll see if I can visit there just before I graduate if I don’t get “tapped”?

Overall, the event was very interesting, as I learned “new” history about Cornell that I could share with my family.

Try Again Next Time?

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Last week, Rose House hosted a viewing of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in the dining hall. I highly enjoyed the event, watching with other Rose Scholars and cheering when countries we identified with came into the arena (such as Australia, where I studied abroad last semester). However, although the games themselves identify a time in which people and countries can come together, like myself and my fellow Rose House residents, not everyone was allowed to participate in the excitement.

It is fairly common knowledge that as punishment for Russia’s doping scandal, the country of Russia was not permitted to compete at the Winter Olympics. Instead, members of Russia’s Olympic team instead were identified under “Olympic Athletes from Russia”, and a volunteer carried an Olympic flag rather than a Russian Olympian with Russia’s flag when the athletes walked into the Opening Ceremonies. In addition to these restrictions, not all of the Olympians were permitted to participate in the games, including 47 athletes and coaches whose petition to participate in the Olympics was rejected just hours before the Opening Ceremony began.

Although I can understand the need for regulation, as Russia should be punished for using the doping program, I don’t quite agree with the need to restrict certain athletes from participating, especially since the athletes who petitioned and were denied didn’t seem to be involved in the program. I appreciate that some Russian athletes have been permitted to participate in the Winter Olympics, but if the athletes themselves are not at fault, they should be allowed to participate as well.

While I will continue to enjoy the events of this year’s Winter Olympics with all the athletes involved, I hope that the Russian athletes denied participation will gain the opportunity participate in the next Winter Olympics.

 

nytimes.com/2018/02/08/sports/olympics/cas-russia-doping.html

http://tass.com/sport/989294