If you’re driving into Mount Vernon to visit, you’ll start to notice a colorful change as you get closer to the heart of the Hilltop.
We’re not talking about the changing trees in the fall, the brilliantly-colored flowers in the spring, or the snow-covered fields during winter. No matter what time of year it is, you’ll see specks of purple pop up near campus.
One place, in particular, is especially filled with Cornell Purple. It’s likely the first thing you’ll notice in the Welcome Center. There’s a big purple wall that says Home on the Hilltop, there’s purple weaved into the hand-painted mural on the walls behind the desk of Visitor Experience Assistant Lizzy Ott ’21, and there are even purple grape sodas, purple drinking straws, purple gumballs, and much more.
From trinkets to tissue boxes, purple is everywhere and that’s okay with Ott.
“Purple is actually my favorite color,” Ott said with a smile. “Not because I went here, but it just worked out that way.”
Ott is a 2021 Cornell graduate who recently joined the Admission Team. After getting her master’s degree in England and becoming a cardiovascular tech for a while, Ott served with AmeriCorps doing community forestry. Now her path brings her back to Cornell. 
“I think, as I had other experiences outside of Cornell, I just realized how impactful Cornell was,” Ott said. “Cornell set me up really well for a lot of other adventures I’ve had. Getting a request from Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach Meredith Meier to come back to coach and seeing this position open, I thought it would be really cool to come back and work here and give back.”
Ott helps set up individual tours for students and their families who are considering enrolling at Cornell. A few feet away, Megan Dietsch works with Ott as she creates all the details for large visit events.
“When people come into the Welcome Center, we want them to feel comfortable and to feel like we connected with them on a personal level as an individual, not just as a student on another standard visit,” Dietsch said.
Dietsch also loves purple.
“I even got purple shoes last year,” she said.
The Welcome Center duo always want to make sure the purple is tasteful.
“I try not to make it look like a hot mess of purple in here,” Dietsch said with a laugh.
We were curious—just how many pieces of purple can you find in a visitor’s first stop on campus? So, we counted them.
“Okay, so we have tumblers (1), stress cubes (2), reusable straws (3), sunglasses (4), small pennants (5), large pennants (6), tote bags (7), lanyards (8), socks (9), stocking caps (10), luggage tags (11), tablecloths (12), pompoms (13), T-shirts (14), postcards (15), letterhead (16), signs (17), Post-It notes (18), ink pens (19), figurines (20), and of course our purple velvet couch (21),” Dietsch counted.
That’s just the start.
There are several versions of Ulysses, our mascot, from a Lego Ulysses (22) to a knitted one (23), and purple ties on the holiday greenery (24). There are four kinds of purple candy right now: purple candy canes (25), purple dark chocolate Hershey kisses (26), purple gumballs (27), and purple custom-ordered hard candies that say Cornell College (28).
“It’s fun to pick different things,” Dietsch said. “We did a gumball machine, for example. It was red, and we took the whole thing apart and spray-painted it purple. Then I bought three different colors of gumballs, purple, lavender, and pearly white.”
And here’s a hot tip. If you’re an alum visiting with a prospective student, we have a special purple goodie bag (29) for you.
“We have something special for them, and they typically get very excited,” Dietsch said.
The grand total was (drum roll, please) … 67 purple items in the Welcome Center.
Ott and Dietsch enjoyed counting the purple, but they say the total will continue to change as more purple adventures come and as they run out of certain purple products and replace them. Plus, it’s a lot higher on Purple Wednesdays when all the staff and many people on campus wear purple.
Whether you’re in the Welcome Center or across the country—Rams everywhere are reminded of their campus home when that familiar Cornell purple surfaces on sweatshirts or sunglasses.
What’s your favorite piece of Cornell purple?