MEINIG FAMILY CORNELL NATIONAL SCHOLARS
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Jessica Rosenthal
Industrial & Labor Relations '05
Over the past year I have been on the Cornell University Ambassadors Steering Committee. This past semester, along with fellow Meinig Sheena Lee, I have been Co-Chair of the Ambassadors. The Cornell University Ambassadors are chosen from all seven undergraduate colleges at Cornell to work with the Undergraduate Admissions Office to help with information sessions and other events to help make the prospective students have a wonderful experience while visiting Cornell.
Sheena and I had a daunting task ahead of us; we were faced with a fairly defunct organization. Our five member Steering Committee was down to two members due to people going abroad. We had over 40 people on our list-serve, but less than 10 active members who attending events and meetings. To make matters worse we had just received a new advisor. Sheena and I embarked on a mission to weed out the inactive members and recruit active and strong new members. Sheena and I have been CU Ambassadors since freshman year and we were determined to save our sinking ship. Pulling from our experiences learned from leading other organizations, past experiences in Ambassadors and skills honed in CCLEAD, we listened to current Ambassadors gripes, made changes in policy, worked with our great, new advisor, Peter and successfully recruited 9 new members through an interview process. We are so proud of our new 9 members; it was as if Sheena and I were proud Mommas. I know that Sheena and I are very dedicated and fully invested in out organization! We currently have 20 members on our list-serve, some are abroad, and they are all active! The organization has a long way to go, but Sheena and I worked to give it quite a push this semester.
Sheena and I also worked on Cornell Day Events, another Ambassador run event. We hosted a Family Guy Night, a Pennant Making Night and our large event of the semester, Sweet Sounds. Sweet Sounds invited 5 groups, including the Shrimp, the Chordials and the Hangovers, to come and perform on North during Cornell Days for prospective students. We had over 50 people in attendance and many people came up to us after the event saying that we had made their decision to come to Cornell a little easier!
I spent between 5 and 10 hours a week arranging groups, fixing the list-serve, interviewing people, reserving rooms and writing blurbs for CU Ambassadors. Some weeks were more time consuming than others, but I feel that I gave CU Ambassadors my all.
Working with CU Ambassadors helped me a great deal. Reworking a group from bottom to top was difficult, but also enabled me to understand how to better deal with stress, decision-making and working with people. Most importantly I learned how to be firm and set guidelines. I learned how to tell people no. I learned that it is okay to firmly tell people that they need to put in work or they will have to leave the organization. In fact, drafting a stern email to our inactive members was one of the hardest, but also on of the most instructive pieces of writing I have ever had to do. I am thankful that Peter and Sheena gave me an opportunity to grow and learn to stand up, not only for my self, but also for my group.
A lot of my essay has Sheena Lee mentioned in it. Sheena and I worked so closely on this project that it is impossible to talk about my leadership with CU Ambassadors with out talking about her. We spent night after night on the phone, even when we both had work to do, trying to work things out. I could not have done it with out her. After all, I feel that sometimes the best leaders have really good partners!
