Maitland ready to start tech consulting career in Texas

Senior Kimberly Maitland came to Cornell College from St. Catherine, Jamaica, and looks forward to embarking on new adventures when she will begin her consulting career with Oracle Corporation, a global technology firm.

She always knew she wanted to work in a business setting, graduating from high school with an international baccalaureate degree that included high-level business management and English courses.

She also knew she wanted to attend a U.S. liberal arts college. When she discovered Cornell College and its distinctive One Course At A Time academic schedule, she knew it was a fit.

“I noticed in my personal studies I always seem to retain information when revising in shorter, immersive, single-subject studying,” she said. “Cornell’s academic system worked intuitively with the way I study.”

For this senior profile, we asked Kimberly a few questions to learn more about her time at Cornell and her future.

Here’s what she told us.

---

What were your majors? 

English-creative writing, and an individualized major in diversity management. I wanted more courses outside of the personnel management major to help shape my HR studies and gear them toward a focus on the importance and power of DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion], adding courses that relate to the systematic differences in pay and experience for different demographics. 

What are your plans following Commencement? 

I will be joining tech mogul Oracle in Texas as a technology consultant and look forward to helping clients with innovative HR solutions. The corporation is a global technology company known for its enterprise software, cloud solutions, and hardware products such as HR management tools.

What are you most looking forward to with your chosen career path after graduation? 

I’m most looking forward to making a difference in my field! I believe that my unique perspective can help Oracle and its partners make connections to  come up with effective business solutions for new industry problems

How did Cornell help prepare you for the future? 

Cornell helped me by teaching me to think critically. Not only were my professors expert scholars in their field, but they created an environment that was conducive to discussion-based learning, which helped me form my own opinions on a variety of different topics, making me a well-rounded student. With a clear understanding of content taught in class, as well as having the ability to form my own opinions around the matter, I was able to immensely improve my analytical skills. I used these skills to write scholarship-winning essays throughout my undergraduate career. From freshman year to senior year, I won over $50,000 worth of scholarships toward my undergraduate education. This is by far my biggest accomplishment—graduating debt-free!

What’s your favorite memory from your time at Cornell? 

I love yoga. I always had a great time practicing yoga and assisting our instructor, Catherine [Quehl-Engle ’89, retired college chaplain], who is lovely and supportive.

Did you have an impactful experiential learning opportunity? 

Studying abroad in China was wonderful. I enjoyed learning more about different cultures in addition to gaining a first-hand understanding of economic development in China. I loved meeting new people and interacting with the kind communities native to the different regions of the nation. 

Were you involved in any activities or student orgs that had an important impact on your journey through college life? 

I was involved in so many! 

• I am the vice president of Cornell College Financial Group. In addition to managing the portfolio with my team, I provide scholarship resources to students—specifically helping to simplify the scholarship search process as well as sharing different summer internship openings that are available. 
• I support the Spiritual Life Office by helping lead yoga classes with the former chaplain and participating in other Spiritual Life events on campus. 
• I work as a writing consultant at the Dungy Writing Studio. 
• I work at Cole Library as a circulation assistant.
• I have presented my artwork at the Student Symposium and my creative work (poetry and visual arts) has been published in the campus literary magazine Open Field, and my opinion pieces in The Cornellian.
• I feel especially proud of my Student Symposium project because it wasn’t done for a grade or Ingenuity In Action credit. I just wanted to practice my art as a creative and it made me feel like I was balancing my work as well as my artistic practice. The art project was unrelated to my curriculum at Cornell—except that I used concepts from business classes to inform my creativity. I wanted to force myself to manage my time effectively so that I could still excel in the class while not letting my creative side be neglected. 

What will you miss the most about Cornell?

The friends I’ve made as well as the different faculty and staff who supported me along the way! Cornell has some amazing people. It’s truly a community like no other.