Hello Class of 1973!
My name is Rachel Stein and I have been lucky enough to receive the Class of 1973 scholarship!
Although I have lived in several places in the Northeast, including Ithaca for two years when I was about three to five years old, I consider my home to be in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Harrisburg—the state capital. I chose Cornell for a variety of reasons. In high school I imagined that I’d become an engineer or an artist—two drastically different professions. I had been fascinated with both. (In fact I spent a summer in Ithaca working as a research intern with a Cornell doctoral candidate in Biochemical Engineering.)
When my grandfather, the late Professor Emeritus Stuart Stein, saw the conflict I was having he suggested that I look into Urban and Regional Planning as a major that gave flexibility to the study with a focus that I could guide. Loyal to his life’s work and aware of our similarities, my grandfather suggested that I attend Cornell, where he had taught since the early 1960s. This seemed like the perfect balance between the design and rationality of engineering and the creativity that attracted me to art. So, I applied. However, even after receiving my acceptance letter in March 2014, I didn’t anticipate that Cornell would be a realistic possibility for me due to the high cost of attendance. (I come from a family with five children, and three of us are currently in college; so, as you can imagine, the thought of paying for college was more than daunting.)
A week later I received my financial aid package, and I was thrilled to discover that it would be possible for me to attend after all due to the generosity of people like you! Thank you all!
I arrived as a freshman in August 2014. At first I was overwhelmed by the myriad of opportunities that Cornell provided, and this is one thing that makes Cornell unique. The clubs, the food, the people — never had I seen so much at once. I loved it.
As I mentioned, I am studying Urban and Regional Planning—the P of AAP. Usually when people ask me what I want to do for a career, I resort to saying, “I plan to be Mayor of Harrisburg.” This comes from my desire to use my education in planning to make a difference in people’s lives in the context of a city I know well. Seeing the poor state of affairs in Harrisburg, my heart goes out to its residents, wanting to do something to revive it (but isn’t that everyone’s dream?). Surrounded by peers that are as passionate as I am encourages me to believe that this is possible, and the experiences of the faculty show me that it is possible to move from aspirations along these lines into real improvements.
This coming spring, I will be participating in a new program established by Cornell that allows students to study abroad in Nilgiris, India, working with the communities there in different fields, including urban and regional planning. I am excited to learn about what planning looks like in communities that are vastly different from my own, as well as see how a Cornell student can be more than a passive pawn of her global existence. I also plan to study abroad as part of the Cornell in Rome Program the following spring – the Spring of 2017. Opportunities such as these speak to Cornell’s dedication to opening its students to the world that they will be sent into.
On weekends, I make sure to spend time with my grandmother, who earned her PhD at Cornell in the 1970s, taking her out for errands and lunch. She still lives within walking distance of the campus and can no longer drive, so I try to get her out of the house from time to time. I am involved with clubs such as Organization of Urban and Regional Studies and Big Red Bikes. I love walking around downtown Ithaca and exploring gorges with friends as well as getting involved with city planning occurring in this community, including StreetsAlive and attending public meetings at City Hall. But one of my favorite things to do is to sip coffee, take a deep breath, and take time to stop and watch people, students, and parents from my seat in College Town Bagels or the Green Dragon.
The traditions that Cornell holds dear are deepened for me by the long lineage of family that I followed here. Here is the family tree that I think nicely sums up this lineage. (In addition my brother participated in Cornell Summer College in 2012, and my sister participated in the same internship in Biochemistry as I did in 2014.)
Only one of my relatives – Douglas Ginsburg who graduated from the ILR school in 1970 – was an undergraduate at the same time as you. However, perhaps a few of you had my grandfather, Stuart Stein, as a professor.
Thank you all again for remembering the impact that Cornell University had on you and being willing to make that opportunity available to me.