Annika Tomson
Anthropology
Albany, NY
What Cornell memory do you treasure the most?
Probably my very first time on campus freshman year. My mom and I had come early because I was doing Outdoor Odyssey. Before dropping me off with my group we stopped at CTB (Collegetown Bagels) for lunch, and I was terrified, both of the enormity of what I was about to do and of the "real" Cornell students sitting around having their lunch. I was convinced that they somehow knew that I was a freshman and that I didn't belong there. This is one of my favorite memories because it shows how much I've grown since my very first day.
Who or what influenced your Cornell education the most? How or why?
Probably a class I took in the fall of my sophomore year: Earth Science in the 21st Century. I orginally took it to fufill a requirement, but I left the course with a committment to pursue the climate change minor and to focus my anthropological studies on the environment. Since that class, I have completed the climate change minor, interned at an environmental advocacy group and the New York State Department of Conservation and written a thesis on climate change activism. I know that my career, academic and otherwise, would have taken an entirely different trajectory had I not taken this class.
If you were to offer advice to an incoming first year student, what would you say?
Always take at least one class "just for fun" or because it looks interesting; it provides a nice break from your requirements, and you might end up with a new academic interest. Go eat on West, marvel at the sheer variety of food available to you. You do not have to give your net id to anyone who asks you for it at Club Fest. Finally, GO TO THE LIBRARY, it makes all the difference between a productive weekend and your third binge watch of the week.
