You Said: Fall 2020

Said on campus

“Your most important challenge will be understanding how to become a compassionate human, how to accept and respect the beauty of the diversity of this world regardless of your personal beliefs.” — Claude Howard ’97, Opening Convocation, Sept. 17

 

 

 

Weathering the storm
Cornellians responded in social media to the derecho storm that ravaged campus on Aug. 10.

Jane Welgos Sidwell ’69 wrote:  “I know Cornell will recover its strength and its Hilltop residents. Alums across the world, and all who care and love Cornell College, will help ‘power’ it back from these losses.”

Peter Hoehnle ’96 wrote: “As sturdy Cornellians, we need to pick up the pieces and move forward, plant new trees, nurture new students, and make new memories, building on the past. Easier said than done, but so have been a lot of the challenges that we handled in the past, like starting a college in the 1850s without much money, one building, and staff that sometimes had to use classrooms for their living space.”

Giants that still stand

While over 300 trees on the Hilltop were damaged or toppled, several of the largest tree specimens we wrote about in the Fall 2019 issue, “Giants of Cornell,” escaped serious damage. That includes the massive cottonwood in front of King Chapel and its neighboring white ash (seen here on the evening of the Aug. 10 derecho), which was #5 in the state in height before the Iowa Conservation Commission stopped keeping track. Also standing is the Martin Luther King Jr. tree (seen to the left of the flag post), the blue spruce that was the state’s third largest tree of its kind, a large knotted redbud, and a stand of four huge larch trees lining First Street in front of the Scott Alumni Center.

Sense of place

How ironic it is that—just as the ink dried on your pages illustrating that being a student on the Hilltop, and returning as alumni, gave all of them and us “a sense of place”—the COVID-19 pandemic forced all of us to shelter in place, and students to have to leave campus for an online instruction and experience.
Paul Dude ’60
Aurora, Illinois

Be part of the conversation

We are delighted to include letters and social media mentions for publication. Tag @cornellcollege to be considered on social media. Send letters to cornellreport@cornellcollege.edu or Cornell Report, Box 1648, 600 First St. SW, Mount Vernon, IA 52314-1098. Submissions will be edited for style, length, and clarity.