Environmental Studies

My first full-fledged college course ever was Environmental Studies, back in the fall of 2002. (Freak-out moment: how did that get to be five years ago already??!) The course was taught by a visiting professor, and even as a freshman I could tell that he wasn't used to Simon's Rock discussion-style classes. It was barely controlled chaos, and I loved it.

My first semester was very much "sink or swim". I didn't drown, but it was a near thing. What I ultimately took away from the Environmental Studies course wasn't anything profound about the state of the natural world and human interactions with it; the course just whetted my appetite for more.

By the end of the semester, I realized that the focus of the class had largely been on the environment itself, and that my interest had more to do with the environmental ramifications of political policy and social behavior. I signed up for Introduction to Sociology in my second semester and was enthralled by the idea that social systems could be studied, albeit in a manner quite different from "hard" science or anything I had ever encountered before. That fascination would shape the remainder of my time at Simon's Rock.

In the Beginning...

My great-grandfather, Wilburn Herrick Potter, attended Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine in the early 1900s. My grandparents and parents earned their Bachelor degrees from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; my dad also has his JD from the Law School. Various aunts, uncles, and cousins have studied at Cornell; we've had at least one family member in attendance at any given time since 1954. Clearly, Cornell and agriculture are practically ingrained in my DNA.

I never could do things the easy way, though. I always have to take the road less traveled. This blog is the story of my journey from Simon's Rock College to Cornell and my dream major, Agricultural Science.

I graduated from Simon's Rock in 2004 with my Associate of Arts, and it's taken me three years to figure out where I want to be and how I'm going to get there. The way has been rife with every possible pitfall, roadblock, detour, and setback (well, most of them anyway); it's occasionally frustrating but always an adventure.

For much of this time, I thought I had moved on from my childhood love of farming and obsession with Cornell as the "best college in the whole wide world!" I've finally come full circle. What I want (to graduate from Cornell and become a farmer) is virtually the same as what I wanted when I was 12 years old, but I have the maturity and experience to truly "own" my passions now. I'm proud of my legacy in agriculture and at Cornell, but I'm independent enough to realize that legacy is incidental to my dreams in the present.

What happens when DNA and legacy get the best of a girl? What happens when others refuse to believe that she's on the right road or try to derail her plans, or when life throws curve balls? What happens when people are more supportive than she ever dreamed possible? Stay tuned... the adventures are far from over!