Unspoken Words to the Cornell Tech Class of 2019

It was 2011 and I was a freshman at Cornell. I vaguely remember receiving an email from my mom, with a link to a news article: Cornell Wins Tech Campus. “Now you can get your Masters from Cornell Tech in NYC!” my mom excitedly wrote. I brushed her off — I was just a freshman after all.

It’s hard to believe, that almost 8 years later, I’m graduating with my MBA from Cornell Tech. I am so grateful for the professors, faculty, staff, and, especially, my classmates who taught me, challenged me, supported me, and made this experience as special as it was. I am beyond thankful for my family and friends who continuously encouraged me and kept me sane over the past 12 months, and really my whole life.

In reflecting on this past year, beginning for us MBAs in ‘gorges’ Ithaca and then officially joining the Cornell Tech community on this beautiful campus on Roosevelt Island, I am overwhelmed by all that we have accomplished and learned.

We’ve learned about designing data products, and the importance of having an objective function (or goal) for anything you do — analyzing data or otherwise. We learned about digital transformation and the visionary leadership needed to make it happen. We learned about innovation, product management, and some of us even created our own startups.

More importantly, we’ve learned that not all technology is good for society, and we are the founders, product managers, engineers, and leaders that will be responsible for not only acknowledging this, but doing something about it.

We’ve worked on many teams — some by choice and some…not by choice. From this, we learned how to work collaboratively with people from different programs and cultures, with different levels of experience and skillsets. This ‘real-world’ experience, in many ways unique to Cornell Tech, will be invaluable throughout our careers.

But even more importantly, we’ve learned, from working on these teams, how to have tough conversations, the importance of feedback, and when to ask for help. We’ve learned the importance of standing up for what we believe in, at times respectfully disagreeing with one another, our professors, or faculty and staff. In many ways, Cornell Tech itself is still a startup, and this diversity of thought and opinion is critical to its continued success.

Over the past 12 months, I’ve taken over 35 classes, more than 60 credits, and traveled to 3 continents (and I know many of my classmates have done the same). Still, there are classes I wish I had taken, readings I wish I had read, events I wish I had attended, and places I wish I could have visited. I’ve come to realize that as much as you do, there’s always going to be more that you wish you had done. I’ve also realized that, fortunately, this experience was just our introduction and induction, to the Cornell Tech community.

I may not have taken Advanced Spreadsheet Modeling, but I know which classmates to call when I need help building a financial model. There will always be more articles to read and events to attend. In fact, I’m confident that our classmates will be the ones writing some of these articles and speaking at these events. Lucky for us, the Cornell community, although proudly centered here in NYC, spans the country and globe. So wherever you find yourself after graduation, in 5 years, or in 10, a fellow Cornellian will always be nearby. But don’t forget to visit Roosevelt Island, where it all began, once in awhile — it’s just a tram, ferry, or F train ride away ;)

I originally wrote this speech as a submission to be the student speaker for the Cornell Tech Recognition Ceremony. Although I was not selected, I enjoyed reflecting on my experience at Cornell Tech, and all that I have learned inside and outside of the classroom.