Regina Bermudez-Smith: Meet the Ramily

Before Cornell, sophomore tennis player Regina Bermudez-Smith had felt team unity, but not a team as family—or Ramily, as we call it.

“Everyone on the team looks out for each other. It truly is an amazing experience,” she says. “Just when you are about to abnegate your goals because it seems unattainable, a teammate steps in and reminds you that you are not alone.”

This kinesiology major from Virginia Beach, Virginia, says she loves Cornell’s setting in Mount Vernon, Iowa: “There is such a friendly persona to this small but tranquil town.”

Two of her most noteworthy classes were fully online last spring at the start of the pandemic. In “Costume Construction” she learned to sew and made numerous masks for her family. And “Lifetime Physical Fitness” changed her perception of calisthenics.

“My whole life I used to wonder how some of the things we learn in a classroom actually benefit in the real world,” she says. “Cornell College is definitely the college for me. Every class that I have taken so far has enlightened and cultivated my way of living. I gained confidence, reassurance, and a better outlook on life.”