When I talk to people about being a college student, they often ask, “Do you love Cornell?”
I feel that this is a reductive question; Cornell has not been a monolith of an experience for me. There are so many moments where I have felt incredible joy, and yet — as readers of my column may note — many moments I have felt discouraged by campus culture, institutional bureaucracy and world affairs.
My first few semesters here were a time of trial and transition: I distinctly remember my first day of college in 2021, standing in a Barton Hall bustling with my new classmates, feeling insignificant — and slightly terrified — with the fact that I knew not a single person amidst the crowd.
Though not easy at first, finding community here has been integral to my experience. The best part of my senior year has been walking amongst the stunning buildings on campus (and some not so stunning — Uris Hall comes to mind) on the way to class, being able to greet familiar faces of fellow Cornellians who I have worked with on a project, met through a mutual friend or gotten to know through a club, for example. It is euphoric to walk a campus with the built confidence of having made these connections, seeing all the people I have come to know as friends over the past four years, whose diverse passions I have come to understand and appreciate, and whose future trajectories I can only imagine. Often, I think of that first moment in Barton as a comparator and ruminate on how lucky I am to have connected with so many during such a short period.
Growing up in the Southern Tier of New York, just an hour south of Ithaca, I was initially ambivalent about attending college so close to home. However, I grew to appreciate the close proximity to my family and unique experiences my background brought to my time at Cornell. It has been both humbling and enriching to learn from the varying experiences of classmates from various parts of the U.S. and internationally and to see how these lived experiences inform each student’s approach to learning. Through taking a variety of discussion-based courses in different disciplines, these stories have become a part of my lens for viewing subject material and have challenged me to look beyond my own understanding of the world.
I met many unique individuals through the Cornell Daily Sun itself. Beginning my tenure with the newspaper as a news staffer allowed me the unique opportunity to interview many a Cornell professor, student, staff member or community member in Ithaca. I joke that I love journalism because I am inherently nosy, but I have found over the last four years that journalism is a powerful outlet for learning about the perspectives of others and sharing this newfound knowledge with the general public.
That being said, one of the things I will miss most about Cornell is the privilege of access to information. I have not taken for granted the close proximity to field experts that this education has presented me: the ability to access current research in academic journals through the Cornell Library System and the wealth of knowledge available in databases and newspapers alike. In our age of digital misinformation, I recognize how valuable peer-reviewed, evidence-based research is, and how hard to come by it can be.
During my time at Cornell, I have tried to immerse myself as much as possible in the community, to spend my semesters attending talks by faculty and visiting scholars and to learn as much as possible, both inside and outside of the classroom. I spent last summer here working for the Ithaca Times, which allowed me to explore the surrounding city further and interact with more members of the greater Ithaca community than ever before.
I would highly recommend every Cornell student spend at least one summer in Ithaca. During the semester, it is easy to get caught up in the stress of school and the internship search, to lose sight of the natural beauty of Ithaca and the rich history of the University. Too often, it seems that undergrads spend most of their time here in a “Cornell bubble” on the Hill, and whether this is due to time constraints or resistance to engaging with the broader Ithaca community, this fact makes me sad. During “summer in Ithaca,” as my friends and I affectionately call those calm, humid months, I learned to slow down and appreciate the present moment and haven of opportunity that Cornell can be.
Cornell can be incredibly difficult; I certainly have had my fair share of highs and lows. Though I look back with intense nostalgia from my vantage point as a graduating senior, there were plenty of nights spent panicking about assignments, moments where I beat myself up over an awkward conversation with a peer and agonizing thoughts about where I stood intellectually. In these moments, I found space for myself by continuing to put myself out there, to seek out communities and spaces where I felt seen by my peers, felt a sense of belonging.
These spaces may be different for everyone, but as a result of my interactions with many kind and genuine people amidst the chaos of Cornell, I truly believe they are out there. To anyone struggling to feel a sense of belonging, I would encourage readers to try something that may seem impossible or to engage with a new group of people and just see what happens.
“Fake it ’til you make it” is a tired mantra, but it has helped me meet some amazing people in times of self-doubt. After all, these four years are a time to form new experiences and test interests; trial and error is okay. Cornell is a perfect venue for this.
A few weeks ago, for example, I saw an advertisement for an actress for a student film. I had never acted in anything in my entire life, and maybe I was propelled solely by the imminence of my graduation, but I asked myself, “If not now, when?” The experience ended up being incredibly fun, and the student crew and other actors were so kind and encouraging. The opportunity to still meet new people and have positive interactions weeks before graduation filled me with hope about the Cornell experience, and by proxy, about finding my place in the world beyond college.
I leave with significant gratitude for the opportunities Cornell has granted me, coupled with the weight of responsibility to better the world around me. Although I have gone through some of the most difficult moments of my life here, I also can trace much personal, social and academic growth that has carried me through the semesters here. For this, I suppose I do love Cornell, flaws, idiosyncrasies and all.
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Carlin Reyen is a fourth year student in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her fortnightly column Just Carlin’ It Like It Is centers around student life, social issues, Cornell life hacks and the University’s interactions with the broader community. Carlin can be reached at creyen@cornellsun.com.
