My name is Abby. I am a senior at Cornell University.
My parents are both originally from Ghana.
Being first generation in America, I felt that
I should be helping to create a better space for everyone.
I was involved in service in high school.
Service is a part of my identity.
So when I saw that I'd been accepted into the Cornell Tradition
I knew that I found a space.
As a senior I became very involved in the leadership as well.
ABBY: So you know I'm on the student advisory council, right?
I'm going to meet up with a group of them and we're just going to talk about how last semester went
and goals for the next semester, and catch up.
FRIEND: Like, are you sad to walk away from it?
ABBY: Yeah. I'm going to miss it.
I'm going to miss it a lot.
ABBY: The thing I'll miss about Tradition when I leave
is the people that I've met through this organization.
But I'll be back.
I would like to be a very dedicated alum.
STUDENT: It's just always amazing to see like how many Tradition alum
have not only been successful in their career, but have taken their career
and brought it back to Cornell Tradition.
I'm Doug Rutzen and I graduated from Cornell in 1987.
I grew up on food stamps and on welfare.
My parents were divorced. My mom had lost her job.
I came to Cornell with no money.
I walked into the Cornell Tradition office
and I saw a woman moving boxes, so I asked if I could pick one up and help her
and she introduced herself as the Director of the Cornell Tradition.
I told her about my background, and she said I'll give you a job.
You can be our first student employee.
We're going to help pay your loans now, and we're making a bet on you
that you're going to continue to work in the public interest
and try to make your world a better place.
SUSAN MURPHY: Hey, good to see you, Doug. Thank you so much for coming.
It's really a thrill to have you here. DOUG: Thank you.
SUSAN: You were part of the inaugural class.
DOUG: Correct. I was full financial aid.
SUSAN: Now your daughter's coming to Cornell ...
DOUG: You take a kid who's on food stamps with no money, and give him a shot
and in one generation--
MURPHY: He's paying his kid's education.
DOUG: Right, and we don't need financial aid."
I can actually give back through the tuition. It's not, you know, the same donation that other's might make--
SUSAN: No, but it's-- DOUG: -- but it's for me an important part.
What I thought was so cool about the Cornell Tradition, is that they were willing to bet on me
at the beginning.
SUSAN: We were making a bet because we saw some potential. But you're right, it was an investment.
DOUG: I think that we as the group that went before need to figure out how we can provide opportunities for current students.
ABBY: So we have different kinds of immune cells going on, we have the T cell.
He's the main superhero, and then the measles virus, and like, little measles henchmen.
ABBY: This is our last class.
FRIEND: It's a good way to end a Cornell career.
ABBY: I never expected it to end with puppets, but I don't mind. [Laughter]
ABBY: As a senior, embarking on a really unknown journey, a lot of things are up in the air right now.
I feel a lot of anxiety.
ABBY: I am now a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences
and I've been a Tradition Fellow ever since my freshman year.
DOUG: I was a Cornell Tradition fellow in the very first class.
ABBY: Well, then [laughs]
DOUG: Back some years ago.
DOUG: What kinds of things have you done with the tradition?
ABBY: Oh, so many things. [Laughs] Through the Tradition, I've been able to get a job
on campus, and I used my support account to actually go
to Tanzania two summers ago, and I did rounds at a hospital there.
And it was very, very compelling to actually work in international medicine, as opposed to just
sitting in a classroom and learning about the issues.
ABBY: So, this is us during our field experience. We had to wear white coats
and then everybody used to think that we were doctors, and we were just like, 'no, no, no'. [Laughs]
This is our first day in the surgery rotation, so that was so exciting.
I wasn't sure if I could handle it, but after a while, you got used to it.
We were with an American surgeon who actually does surgery for free.
I was really inspired by that because I found that I could see myself doing the same thing.
DOUG: "So I bought a few photos as well.
Through the Cornell Tradition, I was able to work with blind, deaf and mute people in the Caribbean.
And we needed to figure out a way that we could create job opportunities.
So we set up a mattress producing factory.
We were able to convert this workshop for the blind, which was losing money every year
into a $3 million business. Then we did the same thing in places like
Antigua and Barbados, so it was really a wonderful experience
and really opened my eyes up to international public service
which then culminated in 2013. President Obama asked me to join him
on a panel at the UN General Assembly.
The focus was on the legal framework for civil society, so here's a picture with President Obama
and the Deputy UN Secretary General.
All of this work and my focus on nonprofit organizations goes back to that very first summer with the Cornell Tradition.
The components of the Tradition -- everything from the Student Advisory Council to the summer support
that allowed you to go to Tanzania, to the requirement for public service, to the requirement
to have a job -- allowed me to develop skills, develop talent, which then led me
to where I am today. ABBY: Right.
DOUG: So I'm sure the same will happen to you. ABBY: I am-- DOUG: I can see great things in your future.
ABBY: I am very, very hopeful and, you know, I wouldn't even be at the place I am now
with my current interest and my current hopes, were it not for my membership in the Tradition fellowship
and then also getting to speak with alumni like you, and seeing the things that you do.
It makes me really hopeful that I can go on, and also
make the change that I would so desperately would like to see in the world.