Last Word: A colorful journey from Oklahoma to Cornell

While the average American has been to 12 states, for some (like me), dropping anchor in a whole new state for college was a big change. I’d never stepped foot out of my hometown in Oklahoma until I came to Cornell. Not only was it a big step, but it was a colorful one too.

Oklahoma had always been gray winds and yellow-green grass; turbulent tornadoes and black asphalt shaken by earthquake after earthquake. Between the dry summer sun of Tulsa and the long winding road through Missouri, everything I’d ever imagined was bigger and brighter than I could have dreamed of. And that’s why, when I first walked onto campus, I could only think to myself, Green.

And no, I’m not just talking about the miles of corn and soybeans I drove by just to get to Mount Vernon or the countless trees that Oklahoma just doesn’t seem to have anymore.

Of course, Oklahoma has trees and fields just like the rest of the world. But after driving through Missouri and half of Iowa, I could only think back to times and things I had forgotten. 

Backyard gardens and bobcats weaving through the trees behind my home, green garden snakes that fell from those very trees in late summer, and copperheads that made their way from the pond near the train tracks and across the road to my home.

At the end of this new road, there was Cornell with students from all around the country, even the world, ready to set foot on campus.

Not only was the campus green with summer and purple with the namesake Royal Purple everywhere, but it was filled with other students just like me: so new to college, to a smaller community, to the block plan, and so much more. Many of us were starting in a new place during a new time in our lives.

It seemed like such a long way to Mount Vernon all that time ago. But now, after meeting people who traveled from farther states and even other countries, it doesn’t seem all that long after all. I was glad to meet others who’d had so many experiences, who’d colored my dull gray world into something like the kiosks or The Rock: layer after layer of something discovered, something treasured, something beautiful beyond one city or state or country.

One of the first things another first-year and I talked about during orientation was the brick buildings. We both came from towns that were a little bigger than Mount Vernon, but as we walked through campus on the red-hued Ped Mall and into downtown, we were amazed by how beautiful everything was. The flowers and banners that seemed to hang from every shop and corner were reminiscent of the people that greeted us at every turn. Everything was beautiful and colorful, and so very much alive.

We were all just as green as the grass that greeted us when we stepped foot onto Cornell’s campus, and I hope we continue to have those green experiences for more colorful lives that await us.

Ken Roden ’24 is majoring in English: Creative Writing and works in the Dungy Writing Studio, the Berry Career Institute, and in Cole Library. He wants to work in a library and write books.