Orientation After Cornell

If you are like me, before you read a column, you often skip to the end to read about the columnist first. What’s different about this Daily Sun columnist? Five years ago, I sat in Bailey Hall for Psych 101 learning about Power Sleep; four years ago, I declared a government major, diving into Causes of War; three years ago, I ate at the Statler’s Terrace restaurant, waiting in the never ending salad line for lunch; two years ago, I began writing a senior thesis, hiding in the 7th floor stacks of Olin Library; one year ago, I graduated and moved to New York City, beginning life after college.

“The city” is now my campus: Third Avenue is the new Tower Road, the street I walk on during my daily commute to work, not to class. Meetings divide my day in lieu of courses; and networking and alumni organizations have replaced the after class clubs with evening cocktails and conversations.

In trading the real world for college, life changed considerably. The transition is much like being a freshman again — we must meet friends, explore ways to get involved and navigate our way around without a map so we do not advertise our newness. But, this time, life after college is not accompanied by an Orientation Week of organized activities like a capella arch sings and barbeques, Welcome Volunteers to greet us, Resident Advisors to guide us towards resources, Club Fest to introduce organizations or tours to help us find the hot spots.

For the first time in our lives, we are really on our own as each of us forges a distinct path. At this exciting and admittedly overwhelming transition in our lives, we are introduced to work by our employer, but who introduces us to life outside of work? Orientation at Cornell helped us to find new friends, ways to relax outside of class and organizations to join. Now, it is our job to create those same opportunities for ourselves.

How do we begin?

In moving to different cities, we have found that our campus friends did not always move with us. The instant community within a five-mile radius no longer exists. Our friends now live in locations too far away to meet for lunch at the Ivy Room. We are seeking to connect with new people who share common interests or backgrounds because our college network has changed. We succeed in finding new Cornellians in our cities and begin to socialize with both our colleagues and our friend’s colleagues at happy hours.

In the free time that we are not working 60-hour weeks, we explore the sights of our cities as tourists, initially turning to guide books to recommend restaurants and social venues before we discover our own places. Suddenly, there are now more options than just frat parties, Ruloff’s and the Nines. Unfortunately, there is not one clear calendar of the many options we can plan our social lives from like we could at Cornell. In retrospect, Denice Cassaro’s emails were a gift — think about how lucky we were to have all the events compiled for us in one place instead of reading Citysearch and blogs on our own.

And how do we get involved after work to create our new lives, replacing the clubs after college? Without a Club Fest to guide us, we are left to navigate haphazardly through the options on our own, starting with the “grown up” versions of the student organizations we joined at Cornell, like Habitat for Humanity. We scan the internet to find nonprofits we can volunteer with to help our cities. Some of us opt to “graduate” into professional networking associations, joining to enhance our careers and create contacts. These remind me of the lectures sponsored by Career Services, except that, at these new events, the speaker and guests mingle afterwards to exchange business cards.

Despite all of these ways to meet new friends, see places and become involved, there is one venue which ties all of them together. It can even travel with you despite the fact that you have graduated — Cornell’s Regional offices and clubs. These are the organizations which sponsored your send off to Cornell in the summer. They celebrate Zinck’s night in October, cheer at Cornell hockey games when they are televised, organize alumni speakers to talk about careers and gather volunteers to donate time for Care Days. A combination of all classes and all colleges, this group is a way to step back in time to Cornell while moving forward. Moreover, there are specialized committees within this greater Cornell alumni community — minority organizations, alumni ambassadors and even a young alumni committee with brunches and happy hours of its own.

This week in New York, I sat at a table telling the Class of 2006 about ways they could get involved in this young alumni committee. It was a strange feeling, one year out, to be sitting on the opposite side of the table. In a way, this event was an Orientation to Cornell in New York, albeit a scaled down version, complete with a Survival Guide to life in The Big Apple. It was a brilliant way to bring together a new class in their new city to connect the Class of 2006 with friends, places and organizations. Hopefully, with this lucky head start, they will move forward with creating the rest of their orientation to New York.

Julia Levy ’05 graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at jml82@cornell.edu. One Year Out appears alternate Fridays.