The Path Less Taken

Many students dream of attending an Ivy League school, but few exhaust all opportunities available to get them there.

"I was surprised by the turn-out, well I guess it is a long day," said Kyle Weeks of the Ammermen campus.

On Friday Nov. 6, 20 students from all three campuses woke up bright and early to arrive at the school by 4:45 a.m. to catch a coach bus on its way to Cornell University. They then endured the six hour trip to upstate New York, where the temperature was ten degrees lower than the island.

"It's a free trip, who wouldn't want the opportunity to explore an option like Cornell," said Amanda Bonelli, an architect major at the Ammerman campus.

The trip was sponsored by a program called Pathways to Success. This program supplies Cornell with grants to have Transfer Student days. It is designed to encourage and assist students from two year community colleges on transferring to Cornell.

"The information and personal advice the advisors provided really helped me to see what I need to do before graduation," said Nino Vardishvilli, an art major at the Ammerman campus.

Students were broken down by the schools they would be applying to. They then sat down with a faculty member from that school to discuss what Cornell looks for in transfer applications to the specific school. They also went through the process of what transferring to a school like Cornell would be like.

The prospective students than got the opportunity to explore the campus and school that held their major. There was a list of classes the students were welcome to sit in for, art students even got the opportunity to examine past portfolios of students that made it into the university.

"if I can graduate from a school like Cornell, I can give my little girl the life she deserves," said Daryl Costa of the Ammerman campus.

The trip is meant to inspire young students to strive for the opportunities an Ivy League education can provide, and show them how to obtain it. It may seem farfetched for some, but for those who have the drive it's only a matter of committing yourself and sending in the application.