In the past couple days several stories have surfaced on the internet about extraordinary Cornellians.
First there is David Hartino ’10, a graduating senior from the College of Engineering. David started his undergraduate engineering degree at the age of 38 after working as a construction worker for almost twenty years. Here’s an excerpt from his mini-interview, the entirety of which is available at the top of the Cornell homepage:
Not everyone is ready to go to college when they get out of high school. I failed out of college before any of my classmates were born. I eventually became a laborer on a construction site, then an electrician. After 20-plus years of blue-collar work, I wished to study somewhere I would be welcomed, not to mention that Cornell is one of the top engineering schools in the country. As a transfer student from Monroe Community College, I visited campus several times through the Jack Kent Cooke Pathway to Success program and felt that I would be welcomed here. I was not mistaken.
Then there’s Kevin Sergeon, an accepted transfer student from Union County College. After graduating high school with a 1.9 GPA, Kevin was told by his counselors that he was not “college material” and that he should pursue a different educational track. He proved them wrong after he excelled in his community college courses and gained acceptance to Cornell. From nj.com:
At Union County College, Sergeon began taking the lowest level developmental math and English courses the college offered because he needed to learn all the basic skills he should have learned in high school, he said. He enrolled in extra courses during summers in order to fulfill future math and science requirements for a bachelor’s degree at a university, if he was accepted, he said.
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Wednesday night, Sergeon also accepted the “Post Day” award, given to students who best exemplify the ideals of scholarship, leadership, and service. Earlier this week, UCC honored him with the “Excellence in Biology” award at another ceremony.
Finally, (via Elie), check out the stories of Jordan Davis and Josh Knight, both of whom are incoming freshmen in the Class of 2014. Jordan is graduating from Dayton Early College Academy, a high school focused on preparing students from low income and minority families for college education. Jordan is a recipient of the Gates Millenium Scholarship and will study ECE in the College of Engineering, and he worked a lot to get where he is today:
[His work] includes a stint on the school’s first mock trial team, which advanced to the Ohio state finals, and a spot on the DECAbotz robotics team that won the top rookie award at the regional competition and earned a trip to nationals. Davis also served internships for two summers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and earned 78 credits from Sinclair Community College.
Josh Knight may have overcome the most adversity of all four of these individuals:
In all the tumult, [his family] lost their house and now barely get by in an apartment in Balch Springs. They have gone without electricity at times. They have no telephone now.
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I asked about doing without things that are so important to other kids – the latest athletic shoes or newest video game. Josh just laughed. “I didn’t have the latest shoes and stuff, but who cares? Who am I trying to impress?”
Then he added, “I’ve got a full scholarship to an Ivy League school. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Very true.
I think the most important thing to take away from all this is that these are only four of 13,000 undergraduates that attend Cornell. So my advice to incoming freshmen: get to know your fellow classmates. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how many different ways people got to where they are now at Cornell.
