What is the Cornell Tech Student Experience? Read the Cornell Tech Student Newsletter

In a recent student meeting, Christine Sneva, the senior Director of Enrollment Management and Student Services at Cornell Tech, passed on an interesting piece of advice from the previous year’s class. The advice was that Cornell Tech needed to maintain a culture of risk taking. That seems like an odd request, but I think it hints at something inherent to what the Cornell Tech student experience is. Maybe even more central, it’s a key element fundamental to what the Cornell Tech culture is, right now at least. At the core, it’s the idea of pushing to be inventive. In our mission statement it’s the word “pioneering”. It’s the risk and excitement of venturing past the known edge into unknown territory.

There is a reason why each of us chose a school that is new, unproven and trying to be different. We made a clear distinction of not taking the path of a “safer” less risky school and trading that to be here. We’re students who are ok with bumpy starts and moving parts, who crave challenge, and want to work in partnership with faculty to make things better. To that end, as a student body, we require a way of illustrating what it means to be a student at Cornell Tech. We require a way to highlight the work of our peers, to provide feedback and commentary, and to demonstrate thought leadership. We need a tool that can drive us to push maximums, interact with our community more broadly, and provide a sandbox to take risks.

In this vein we’re designing the Cornell Tech publication to be adaptable and articulate. It is a student run newsletter that represents a student voice and perspective. While this is the first newsletter of this academic year, we are using it to do three things. First we’re using it to solicit feedback and discussion, second to secure the newsletter as an adaptable tool for future classes and third to capture the spirit of Cornell Tech students. Additionally, this newsletter is a second iteration of the student run publication from last year. We want to continue to build on the previous class’ momentum, so that we have a place of community engagement.

Capturing the breadth of the “student experience” in one phrase is impossible. It’s something that requires a much deeper meditation, something that encompasses all of student life. It is our hope that this publication becomes an aid in fostering the culture of risk taking, so that we can showcase the Cornell Tech student experience in all of its many facets.