During this meeting, we had in depth Conversations with Cornell College of Human Ecology Professor Sean Nicholson and  Rose House fellow Jason Hungerford  who have had impactful involvement with Cornell University and Ithaca.

Professor Nicholson weaved a story of his career trajectory which opened my eyes to new  mindset.  He cautioned against trying to plan everything out.  He encouraged students to find one job that they’ll love- try it for a while and see what develops.  Furthermore, he emphasized not to be afraid to make mistakes, prepare well, but learn from mistakes, take risks but above all, have empathy for your spouse / partner.    This advice is perfect for a student today.  Many Students like to plan, and are starting to feel anxiety about future jobs, career paths and advanced degrees in academia.  Once I heard of his serendipitous career journey, I realized some of the best opportunities are not planned.  I am encouraged about his love of teaching, at the core, he is a Professor because he is excited about teaching college students.  I am encouraged by his journey in taking risks, and being unashamed of setbacks.  He was able to pivot his career and try something different.  Lastly, his connection to Research, Policy, and the impact of his work was informative and important to students considering Research careers.

Jsson has had multiple major roles in the Cancer Resource Center in Ithaca.  Jason took us through a very intricate discussion on Cancer Resource Center advocacy, support groups, and self care.  His work seemed to benefit so many lives and was inspirational.  In addition, he touched upon mental illness and his work in support groups for Mental Illness. He spoke about his groundbreaking work in the LGBTQ community and the huge gains along the way.  Jason’s example encourages one to get involved and volunteer- there are ample opportunities and he highlighted a few along with the benefits to the community. He also is an advocate for self care, taking time off to reset and avoid burnout.

My biggest take away is to get involved, volunteer, and do something you love – hopefully all at the same time.  Worry less about your path and work towards doing something impactful that will benefit others while gleaning excitement every day.

I was interested in the slight difference between the career advice from Jason and Sean. Sean talked about taking jobs one at a time, picking things that seemed fun and just seeing where they go. He mentioned his “biggest failure” was not getting tenure at Penn, but he ended up finding a good home at Cornell. In essence: make your work what you like doing. Jason didn’t say that he disliked his job, but he did say that he found his volunteer work more rewarding and more important to him. To me it seemed like these were opposites and I’ve often wondered which of these paths I should aim to take: make my passion a personal project or a career. One of the reasons I’ve enjoyed Cornell is that I can make some of my side passions into something that I can spend time on academically. For example, this semester I was able to take a course in digital fashion design alongside my major physics and math courses. In college I can do these both, but I’m worried that after I graduate I’ll be forced to choose between these two options.

Listening to Sean Nicholson and Jason Hungerford during this interview was very interesting. There were some really interesting facts that Dr. Nicholson shared in particular that stuck with me. For example, internships were really not a thing in the past but now they possibly determine the trajectory of a student’s career post-graduation and are extremely competitive. In addition, he mentioned how teaching high school is so much more difficult and exhausting than what he does now as a college professor. I found this funny because this logic seems backwards to me. This all really just shows me how much the world and society has changed. Now that internships are a thing and super competitive, I wonder what the thing will be in the future – maybe full-time jobs will be even harder to get? All in all, I really appreciated listening to these great panelists speak and reflect on their lives.

I appreciated the career and life advice that was shared during the Fellow Interview with Professor Nicholson and Jason Hungerford. Both shared stories of their past experiences, and offered advice about our future. I really enjoyed hearing about Professor Nicholson’s path, and the fact that he also didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do. It was inspiring to hear him talk about being a high school teacher for a few years, and how hard of a job it was. He is someone who has been able to follow his passion, and is now doing research and teaching at an academic institution. This resonated with me, as I am trying to decide what I want to do after graduation. Hearing his path gave me a new perspective on figuring out what direction I would like to go in. The work that Jason does with the cancer resource center was also inspiring to hear about. Both of them have had very different paths in their career, but they both are doing something they are passionate about!

Listening to Mr. Hungerford talk about his volunteer work was heartwarming and inspiring. He spoke about how his volunteer work and outside-of-work activities have been more meaningful to him throughout his life than his day job, and I was inspired by his kind demeanor and dedication to helping others in the world around him. He has started an LGBTQ+ advocacy group and currently serves as president of the Cancer Resource Center, which are impressive accomplishments. I also found it wonderful to hear about Professor Nicholson’s career advice. He placed emphasis on the spontaneity in his career and the importance of not needing to plan out everything as an undergrad. I also found it really interesting to hear Professor Nicholson’s comparison between industry and academic work. He shared that while working in industry, you have a more definite impact on a smaller company or region. In contrast, when researching in academia, there is a much smaller probability of having a policy being directly implemented, but if it does, your impact can be amazingly widespread. As I toy with these two paths in my own career, I really appreciated the perspective he shared.

In this week’s Rose Buzz, I could heavily relate to Sean Nicholson’s life story. Sean described how he got a career in teaching because he let life take him places. For example, he got a corporate job at a health company that he did not know anything about which eventually led him to realize that he wanted to be a teacher. Then, he was able to teach at some of the most prestigious schools in the country. In high school, I did something very similar. At the beginning of high school, I thought I had everything figured out. My goal was to become the best cross country runner and then use that in order to gain acceptance into UPenn, the school that my entire family came from. Then, towards the end of the second semester of my freshman year, I got an injury that would never let me race competitively again, and school was exhausting to be perfect at. In sophomore year, I tried to keep to my original plan, but it only led me to be frustrated with PT not helping my injury and my grades not being the best of the best. Starting junior year, I realized that not being perfect in school is okay and that I should do activities and hobbies that I was passionate about (and I could physically do). By taking this path, I somehow still got into Cornell and was able to enjoy life more. Additionally, I love Cornell, and I am grateful that what happened in the past helped me get into there. A long story short, by letting life take you places, you are able to live better than trying to “plan” out your life.

When attending the Fellow Interview, I found something one of the speakers said to be very interesting. When they mentioned how they felt the best thing to do about our future is not necessary to fully plan out our career paths and focusing on getting jobs we enjoy out of school and be flexible, I did not necessarily agree with this. I have mentioned in other Rose Scholar Posts that I am a firm believer in the “work is work, that is why it is called work” philosophy. Therefore, I wonder why they felt this way? Perhaps it is a “grass is always greener on the other side” type of statement, reflecting on their own experiences and imposing their unique circumstances on our diverse future outcomes? Or maybe, they are actually providing universal wisdom from the other side of the university experience from the working world? Either way, I very much appreciated the ability to hear their stories, ideas and advice and am glad I attended the event.

During this talk I was very inspired by both speakers because of their candid answers about how their lives unfolded. I myself want to continue studying and possibly teach, and hearing that you can go about that different ways and possibly start by teaching various subjects and grades opened up my mind about ways to go about this goal. I know that priorities shift and it is important to focus on myself, so those are all things to consider on the path going forward. Overall it was eye-opening to listen to both talk and made me realize I need to continue listening to my body especially now during the pandemic and take things day by day.

Today I attended the latest Rose Buzz episode featuring Jason Hungerford and Sean Nicholson.  I really enjoyed hearing them talk about their lives and careers and give advice, as it’s always great to meet and learn about new people in the Rose House community through Rose Buzz!  I was really fascinated by the interesting work that both the speakers do.  For example, it was really inspiring to hear from Jason Hungerford about his volunteer work with the Cancer Resource Center and with LGBTQ activism in Ithaca.  I found it interesting that he said he gets more satisfaction out of his volunteer work than his paid job, which is something that I can see myself relating to.  I also really loved when he talked about the community in Ithaca and why he chose to move here.  It was moving to hear how much he values how people and the government in Ithaca are accepting of others and fighting for equality, especially for the LGBTQ community.  I agree that it can be easy to forget that the rest of the country isn’t like Ithaca in that way.  I also enjoyed hearing from Professor Sean Nicholson, especially about how he enjoys teaching and his experience with teaching in high schools compared to at a college level.  As always, it’s reassuring to find professors at Cornell that really have a passion for teaching and not just research.  Overall, this was a really interesting Rose Buzz episode!

Last semester, I took the US Health System class taught by Sean Nicholson. During the Rose Buzz interview today, I was able to learn more about his upbringing and where his interest in economics came from. Additionally, he revealed he knew he wanted to study the healthcare system after writing about a similar topic for his dissertation. This was not surprising for me to hear, given his passion for the subject when he was teaching. With more people interested in the US healthcare system, hopefully the system can be improved to benefit more people than right now.

I have gone to many of the Rose Buzz table talks now, but this one was definitely unique. The stories of Dr. Sean Nicholson and Mr. Jason Hungerford were truly inspiring and I appreciated their willingness to share details about their lives and how they got to where they are now. The talk today was much more personal and I found myself inspired by the stories they shared, in part because I could relate strongly to certain parts and seeing how they made the most of it made me want to do the same. Mr. Hungerford’s work with cancer resource centers, mental health advocacy groups, and right advocacy groups had me wondering if there was a way I could become involved in the community this summer while I am in Ithaca. His note on isolation due to covid was incredibly perceptive; I too have noticed that people seem to have become more aware of their mental health, for better or worse. I wonder where this will lead in the future, both individually as we return to in-person living and as a whole regarding societal stigmas.

I was also reminded of how important it was to set small tangible goals so that I am satisfied by progress; I learned about this trick last year in my psych class but I forgot about it until now. As my plans are not going to be achieved any time soon, this will be important for me as I move forward. On the note of the future, Dr. Nicholson’s comments were also relevant to my life right now; I have been set on a specific career for a while, and have not really considered other paths, even though my goal is almost impossible to obtain immediately out of college. Perhaps I will combine all of the ideas from today today and, while I will still pursue this goal, I can pick up a few fun secondary jobs along the way to help me explore my options and cope with the stress of my primary work.