Cornell connected: When the Hilltop is a family tradition

For nearly 75 current students, coming to Cornell College is a family tradition. A parent, grandparent, aunt, sibling, or other relative lived and studied on the Hilltop before them. 

Legacy students will tell you they aren’t just following in those footsteps, though. They came to campus on their own terms.

Senior Carson Rashid—the son of two alumni—made what he calls a “pity visit” as a prospective student and promptly fell in love with the campus. On the other hand, first-year Will Bickel says his family legacy played a major role in his college decision, even though he knew his grandfather would support him wherever he went.

At this point in our history there are few legacy families of color. But as Ted Meads ’67 notes in comparing his Cornell experience to his grandson Indigo’s, today’s student body is more reflective of a racially mixed America. And this means legacy families will soon reflect that change as well.

Read what six families say is different, and what’s not, for them and their current students—and how their legacy might have altered their experience. 

Clara Haverstic ’23
Clara Davison Davidson ’52, grandmother

Carson Rashid ’22
Beth Brouwer Hoyt ’94, mother
Michael Rashid ’94, father

Naomi Bauer ’23
Dan Bauer ’96 & Miranda Minton Bauer ’97, father & mother

Laura Gibson ’25
Kyle Gibson ’88, father
Kent Gibson ’56, grandfather

Indigo Meads ’23
Ted Meads ’67, grandfather

Jack Bickel ’24
Will Bickel ’25
John “Corky” Bickel ’66, Grandfather