Curiosity about the world left Smriti JS Neupane ’26 with plenty of questions and not enough answers. Her solution? Art.
“I needed a way to make sense of what I was seeing and feeling. Over time, art became the most honest way I know to ask questions and to listen,” Neupane said.
Because of this, she spent a lot of time on the Hilltop focused on art. She created 15 art displays in parking lots and unused spaces around campus, art exhibitions in both the U.S. and her home country of Nepal, designed for a non-profit for two years, and three summer internships in graphic design and illustration–including one supported by a fellowship from the Berry Career Institute. She also took photos all four years while working for the Office of Marketing and Communications.
“I enjoyed adding weirdness and warmth to Cornell's social media. Like making Cornell Postcards with the train track with Starry Nights animation behind was fun,” the graduating senior said.
While art helped her make sense of life, it was not the only thing she was involved in.
“I met many of my friends at Each One Teach One and International Student Orientation,” she said. Coming from Nepal and growing up in a village with a very communal culture, college and a new country would not have been the same without my friends. The International Student Association (ISA) has given me family.”
In addition to being a co-founder and Public Relations Officer of ISA, this native of Nepal was a resident assistant for three years and participated in The Cornellian, Open Field, CornellKind, and Better Together. She also got elected to two academic honor societies: Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon (for economics).
Now, as she wraps up requirements for her double-major, one in studio arts and the other an individualized degree in digital communications and multimedia, she credits Cornell for her academic growth.
“A Cornell education is like a ride in the park. It made me serious and confused, curious and stubborn–in a good way, grounded and experimental, independent and collaborative. It pushed me to care, see, and listen more deeply,” she said.
She has been accepted to the M.F.A. program at the University of Massachusetts. She will pursue graduate studies in studio art and hopes to be an artist for life.
For this senior profile, we asked Neupane a few questions before she graduated. Here’s what she said in her own words:
What will you miss most about Cornell?
It's people, who I have lived with and loved and known for the last four years. Ink pond, where I have spent my happiest and saddest times. And all the hugs.
Who helped you along your college journey?
What I am and where I am, I owe to a lot of people I have met at Cornell. But I want to think about Patti for this question. Patti works at the Bon. She is the cutest and warmest person I meet every day. She hugs me and asks me how I am every time I see her. She reminds me of my grandma, and I find a little bit of home in her. It is because of the labor of people like Patti that institutions like Cornell College can function. I am glad that I could realize it during my college journey; many of us don’t.
What’s a value or lesson from college you want to keep living out?
Keep learning!! Be a catterpillar for knowlege. (And maybe be okay with some wrong spellings and grammatical errors. It's proof that it was not written by AI.) LOVE, be angry, forgive, be sad, feel warm. I want to feel it all!
Is there anything else you'd like to tell us that we didn't ask?
I wouldn't be here today if not for all the women who paved the way for me (my grandmas, my mamu, Wendy, Joan, Yogmaya, Parijat, Bidhya Chapagain, and many more). Thank you. I rizz you. <3