Claudia Collazo-Ramos ’27: Bringing the fun
This is the first year for Posse Puerto Rico, and when Claudia Collazo-Ramos ’27 was accepted as a Posse Scholar, she had three choices of colleges. She chose Cornell College.
“I feel that Cornell has been a good place for us to start our journey into adulthood. If the 10 of us had been thrown into New York City, without One Course At A Time, the feeling would be very different,” she says. “We’d have to be more careful when we go out into the streets. It definitely was a relief for my family when they found out I was going to Cornell. Mount Vernon is a way more relaxed place to live.”
Half of Posse Puerto Rico weren’t able to go home for Thanksgiving, and their mentor, Admission Representative Kristin Vogel, drove them to her family’s gathering in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The most surprising thing to Collazo-Ramos was that the event finished by 4 p.m. instead of midnight like a typical Puerto Rico party, she says.
“I think, in general, we bring fresh minds that are not from the area. A lot of the Cornell Posse students bring leadership and diversity, and I feel like we make Cornell more fun, especially the Puerto Rican Posse. We are very fun to be around. When you see us in different activities when we go out we bring this energy that’s very us.”
The Posse meets weekly with Vogel to reflect, talk about college life, or do an activity. On Halloween weekend they went to her house to cook Puerto Rican food. The Posse Scholars bonded well before arriving on campus and often help each other with classes or talk about things that are bothering them or that they are excited about, she says.
From: Gurabo, Puerto Rico
Major: English—creative writing
Activities: Mock Trial, Bon Appétit student worker
Cornell Posse: Puerto Rico
Collazo-Ramos plans to major in creative writing and enjoyed her first English class: “The professor was very good. You could notice that he really enjoys teaching, and he gave good feedback on what I presented in class,” she says.
➤ Read the full Posse series, with profiles of four Posse Scholars and a Q&A with the president
