MEINIG FAMILY CORNELL NATIONAL SCHOLARS
EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP AWARD
Nathan William Skelley '07
Human Ecology
4/7/2007
Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars Senior Essay
Leadership is about people, mutual responsibilities, and ethics; practical experience and intentions of contributing a positive influence to society.
I have changed in many ways during the past four years at Cornell University. I am a more well-rounded person. I am a better student, and I am a stronger leader. It was intimidating at first, to come from a small town in the Midwest to a large Ivy League institution on the East Coast, but this experience challenged me in a very positive manner. During Orientation Week, I was given a bit of advice by Paul Fisher, an advisor in the College of Human Ecology. He said that “In high school, administrators and teachers sought you out because you were a leader, but at Cornell everyone is a leader and if you want to stand out and make a difference, you have to go knock on some doors.” In the past four years, I have knocked on a lot of doors and received many benefits and rewards for my efforts. I will use the lessons learned at Cornell as I continue on into medical school and beyond.
Being a Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar was the first mark of distinction (after acceptance) I received from Cornell. It is one, I carry with great honor. Being a Meinig Scholar allowed me to improve my knowledge of leadership skills early on in my Cornell career by working in the CCLEAD program (Cornell Commitment Leadership, Emergence, Assessment, & Development). This program taught me about my leadership style and allowed me to teach high school students in the surrounding area how to be better leaders in their schools and communities. After my freshman year, I joined a fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, and became a starter on the Cornell Club Tennis team. During my sophomore year, I was one of 10 students in the country to be named a National Tylenol Scholar. I was also one of the youngest students to complete the Cornell Urban Semester program in Manhattan. I was the first student to represent the College of Human Ecology in the National Truman Scholarship. In my junior year, I ran for the Student Assembly—I lost due to “incomplete paperwork”—but I worked with the Assembly to lead the Hurricane Katrina Relief effort on campus. I have also served as a student representative to the Weiss Presidential Fellowship—the highest honor given to Cornell faculty. At the end of my junior year, I was a co-author on an article published in the Journal of Dermatology for Squamous Cell Carcinoma research. One of the accomplishments I am most proud of on campus is my role in PATCH—the Pre-Professional Association Toward Careers in Health. As a senior, I have been the President of this pre-med/pre-health organization. I am proud to report that in the past year, the PATCH network has grown to over 600 students, we had an increase in service activities, our mentorship program more than doubled in size, and we received more funding from the SAFC than any previous year in the association’s history. For all of my Cornell endeavors, I was recently honored with the prestigious Merrill Presidential Scholar Award, which is given to less than one percent of the graduating class.
Although I have played a key role in many of the previously mentioned accomplishments, these accomplishments would be nothing without the support of my advisors, friends, family, and professors at Cornell over the past four years. I would not have served on the Weiss Fellowship Selection Committee without Kris Deluca-Beach asking for my resume. I would not have published a scientific article if Dr. Sinha did not take a chance on an undergraduate research assistant. Similarly, my involvement in PATCH would be little to nothing without the amazing guidance, support, and help of the advisor Paula Jacobs. I would not have successfully completed all of the pre-med requirements without the help of my advisor, Nancy Breen, and without the support of my family, I probably never would have left my dorm room on the first week of classes. There have been numerous people on campus and off-campus that have had a huge impact on my time at Cornell, and I am forever grateful for their efforts to shape me as a leader.
There is no leader at Cornell, or the world for that matter, that is completely independent and unaffected by the people around them. The prompt for this essay, that “Leadership is about people, mutual responsibilities, and ethics,” is much clearer to me as a senior. When I arrived at Cornell, I “knocked on some doors” so that others decided to work with me and invest their time in me. In a sense, they used me as a catalyst to “contribute a positive influence to society” at Cornell. They also, however, shaped me as a leader beyond Cornell. I would like to thank the Meinig family and the Cornell Commitment Program for investing their time and resources into making me a better leader on campus and beyond.
