34. Leslie Nicholson

Toronto, Canada · Arts and Sciences

Name at Cornell
Leslie Davis

davisles@rogers.com

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.

I live in Toronto with my husband and three daughters.  We moved here ten years ago from New York , and now I cannot imagine living anywhere else.  Canadians often ask me how I manage the winters when they find out I am originally from Atlanta and I tell them that four years in Ithaca more than prepared me for this!

 After my third child was born, I chose to step down from full time work in financial services, and accepted the opportunity to become a partner in a small giftware company, Signature Keepsakes.  The majority of our customers are brides and grooms.  Most of the brides are lovely, but our customer service department could tell you stories about some real life Bridezillas out there!  In my free time, I ski with my family, jog with friends, and volunteer as a board member of a children's charity.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
The class that I enjoyed the most at Cornell was Close Relationships Across the Lifespan (Professor Cindy Hazan, Human Ecology).  Professor Hazan's teachings and research still resonate as my relationships mature with Cornell friends, with my husband and children, and with my parents.  The most useful classes turned out to be French.  Who knew that I would move to Canada and my kids would learn French from age five?  My seven year old is already correcting my pronunciation!

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Of my many memorable Cornell experiences, ones that stand out are Fun in the Sun on the Arts Quad each fall, spending the summer at Cornell in '93, semester abroad in Paris, and of course wines class.  A rite of passage for Cornell students, it felt like a long, long wait before I was able to take wines in the spring of my senior year.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Since stepping onto campus freshman year, I have been in awe of the intelligence and drive of our Cornell classmates.  I would want to tell the incoming class of students that they will be surrounded by the most impressive group of people they may ever meet, and to let themselves be inspired by those who surround them.

35. Sheryn Baxter

Denver, Colorado · Engineering

sjb2@cornell.edu

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.

I am a telecommunications professional, wife and mother.  My mind and heart are full, although my house is a mess.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
Spanish - it was a respite from Engineering and now I can talk to my mother-in-law.  Linear Algebra - it was a mental discipline similar to what I do today.

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Looking upon the lights of Ithaca (from the Blue Light bus); swimming in the falls; laughing with student and local friends...

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Be kind to yourself and persist in finding what enriches your life and others.

If you could change anything about your Cornell experience, what would it be?
They say not to take yourself seriously.  I get that now.  I would experience Cornell with a lightness in my mind, heart and soul.

36. Carla Bravo

Dallas, Texas · Agriculture and Life Sciences

carlamariabravo@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/carlamariabravo


Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I am a wife and mother of two little girls—2 and 3 years old. We live in Dallas, Texas, and I work for Lucchese, bootmakers since 1883, in an operations role. I love my job, love Texas, and plan to make this our permanent home.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
Wines! Wasn't that everyone's favorite?

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Friends, spending hours at the cafeteria for dinner, slope days. How tough it was but at the same time rewarding and enriching. Wouldn't change it for the world, Cornell is a place that will always be special to me.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Work and play hard, don't lose perspective of why you're there. You are surrounded by talented people, however don't be intimidated, you are as smart and talented as everyone else. Make the most of this stimulating environment, won't always be like that once you leave Cornell.

37. Mayank Thanawala

San Jose, California · Engineering

mthanawala@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mayankthanawala
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/mthanawala

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.

If you could paint a picture of the American dream, you'd have my life.  I have a wonderful career in software engineering, a beautiful and talented wife, an adorable and rambunctious 10-month-old son, and a charming house around the corner from neighborhood shops and restaurants.

Some highlights:

I met my wife in a running group, and got her attention by inviting her to go flying with me!

I have sung in an a cappella group called Hookslide for the last 15 years.  We've opened for Kool and the Gang, Tower of Power, and, recently, Joan Rivers. Before Hookslide, I had several failed attempts to join groups, including one called Rolls Voyce.

I got my pilot's license in 2005, and am slowly working on becoming an instructor.

I was employee #2 with my current company, HealthLoop - we connect patients to their doctors between visits via a secure web-based app.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
I don't remember the  name of the class, but part of it was programming computers to control lab instruments using Assembly language.  It gave me a foundation to understand the connection between programming and what's happening internally in a computer. As languages become more advanced, that link becomes harder to discern on one's own.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Enjoy the whole experience.  Cornell is not just about the education you receive in the classroom, though that is top-notch.  Cornell offers a chance to pursue just about anything you're interested.  So, join clubs, go hiking, take day trips, take chances.

Also, no matter what anyone tells you, your career is NOT more important than your personal connections.

If you could change anything about your Cornell experience, what would it be?
I wish I could have had a better idea of what my values, likes and dislikes were when I was in college.  Turns out, I love being outdoors, eating organic mostly vegetarian food, and doing the singer-songwriter thing with my guitar. I can't think of a better place to do all that than Ithaca! But I did way too little of it when I was at Cornell.

38. Njemile Davis and Surayya Diggs

To celebrate the beginning of the school year, this week we're running a special profile of a member of the class of 1995 and her daughter, a member of the class of 2017! 

New York City and Ithaca, New York · Human Ecology and Agriculture and Life Sciences 

njemiledavis@yahoo.com
Twitter:   www.twitter.com/cutiepahtootie
Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/njemile.davis

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
Njemile:
I'm currently working at a national social justice organization, supporting fair and affordable housing programs in 32 cities across the country. Now that Surayya's at Cornell, I'm finding a little more time to both indulge my interests and explore some new ones including sewing

Tell us about your experience at Cornell
Surayya:
Cornell was definitely tough at first, but now I love it. And actually miss it after only being away for 3 weeks [in June]. Cornell is an amazing place and I am so excited to be attending my mother's alma mater.

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Njemile:
I have so many fond memories of my time at Cornell! My favorite is walking through the arts quad for the first time. It was night so hardly anyone was out except my host and I. The trees were beautifully canopied, the lights twinkling and a divine hush had surrounded us. I never considered another school after that! I was head over heels in love.

What has been your favorite class so far?
Surayya:
Definitely my first year writing seminar in the Africana department. The class is titled Terror in Black Memoir and we were able to read and discuss the titles 12 Years a Slave, The Black Notebooks by Toi Derricott, The Fire Next Time, and excerpts from Audre Lorde's work. This class was the first class I had ever had taught by a black female teacher. In my whole life. And it definitely shaped the direction of our discussions. It is probably also one of the most diverse groups of students on campus in terms of race.

Which Cornell classmates do you keep in touch with?
Njemile:
I've been able to keep in touch and reconnect with soo many 95'rs thanks to Facebook. I've also been able to spend quality time with Danetria Craig, Hugh LaRoche, Avery Seawright, Kevin Minter, Davenel Denis, Janelle Green, Kentayahnee Murray, Lauren Davidson, Tamara Webb, Thais Jimenez, Denise Anderson, Vicki Meyers, Donna Holder, Roy Clovis, Frantz Cayo, Jabari and Anika Osaze, Jonel Daphnis, Rich Medina and Baye Adolfo Wilson... and more... all of whom I can wholeheartedly say are doing it well! Our network gets bigger and stronger every year, so I'm hoping everyone will come to reunion!

Do you participate in any extracurricular activities or clubs on campus?
Surayya:
Yes. I am the logistics chair of the Women of Color Coalition, where my responsibility is providing direction for the organization and keeping everyone on task. I am also the political chair for Black Students United. For the upcoming year I plan on producing a video PSA on the Africana library and how it is so decentralized from campus. This will be a small step in my bigger goal (or rather dream) of having a new Africana library built in a more central part of campus. I also work for the Public Service Center - last fall I tutored high school students.

What extracurricular activity or hobby from your time at Cornell was the most meaningful?
Njemile:
It was a privilege to be a founding member of Pamajoa Ni gospel ensemble and I'm thrilled that it continues to this day.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this fall?
Surayya:
Definitely have patience and reflect a lot. And don't hesitate to ask for help (academically or emotionally) when you need it. Also take any and every opportunity that comes your way! You never know where it may lead or what doors it might open. Also apply and starting looking for internships in the beginning of spring semester, don't wait to the last minute. I found my internship in China in March and I am having an amazing experience.

What are you most looking forward to during your sophomore year?
Surayya:
I am most interested in growing more as a student and a community member. I am excited to do great work for the women of color coalition and BSU.

39. Andrew Lewis Conn

Brooklyn, New York · Arts & Sciences

connandrew@aol.com
andrewlewisconn.com

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
Since graduating from Cornell in 1995, I returned to Brooklyn and

Photo credit: Nicolas Maloof

got to see the borough of my birth, the Old Country, become magically transformed. I’ve published two novels, P (Soft Skull Press, 2003), and, this summer, O, Africa! (Hogarth/Crown). I’ve made my daily bread working in public relations and corporate communications. I married an amazing woman from Scotland, and have gotten the chance to see America and New York through the eyes of another culture. And, four years ago, we had a daughter, Alyth (named after a Scottish town), who is not the world’s least adorable, fun, or remarkable person.

Which Cornell classmates do you keep in touch with? 
Anita King (’95), Bryan Wizemann (’95), Christopher Goffard (’94), David Kartch (’94), Durand Williams (’95), Erica Schoemacher (’94), Gabriella Aratow (’96), Huy Dao (’97), Jaime Villamarin (’94), Jason Lee (’93), Luke Wilcox (’96), Michael Gurton (’97), Philip Kang (’96), Rika Wilcox (’98), Sarah Jensen (’95), Trac Vu (’96), . . . and, er, my sister: Jennifer Conn (’92).

If you could change anything about your Cornell experience, what would it be?
I perhaps would not have been so serious, or self-serious, or quite so hardworking (!). But, then, you’re wired the way you’re wired. (And, as that great Dylan song put it, “I was so much older then/I’m younger than that now.”)

What does being a Cornell alumnus mean to you?
The place, and that time of life, continues to become more magical and idealized in retrospect. (Part of this, I think, is that Cornell looks in many ways like what a Platonic conception of academic life should resemble.) I just love the place, and have a fever dream about being back every three or four months or so. I’m just enormously grateful for having been there, for that time of my life.

40. Niles Donegan

Lyme, New Hampshire · Arts and Sciences

Niles.Donegan@Dartmouth.edu

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I’m a microbiologist who works on Staphylococcus aureus virulence at Dartmouth.  I earned my Ph.D. at Dartmouth, and stayed to be a research associate, as well as start a biotech called Saureus, which is developing an assay for rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases.  Outside lab, I live just north of Hanover with my wife Rachel and daughter Maeve in a classical New England town called Lyme.  We walk with Maeve to school every day, and at night Maeve and I sing Cornell's “Evening Song” as one of her bedtime songs.  She doesn’t understand “’Tis an echo from the walls...”, but maybe one day she’ll find out for herself.  My wife works at a science museum, where she’s been introducing the modern tinkering and maker ethic to kids and grownups.  We're both enthusiastic about the maker movement and science, which I’m sure means social doom for Maeve when she grows up.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
"Ancient Art in Context” absolutely demanded critical thinking and skepticism. After studying Egyptian tombs and pottery, we were set loose on “Chariots of the Gods” and other flim-flammery.  While it wasn’t a seminar with Sagan, it was my first experience at Cornell on how to think critically.
A year of Orgo (Chem359-360-301) was the most useful, as professors Carpenter, Frechet, and Wilcox treated us as young scientists, and hated pre-meds.  We had great assignments, like doing espionage to reverse-engineer perfume scents. By the end, I had a rhythmic feel for how electrons moved in a reaction (a feeling long gone).

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
I remember that my roommate Jon and I figured out how to get tons of free stuff in the mail by collecting dining hall UPCs.   Kellogg’s would send a Lego kit FREE for just one UPC, so every day we would grab dozens of UPCs.  The EcoHouse mailroom was not pleased when 600 envelopes arrived.  We donated most, but kept 100 minifigs for Lego flashmobs.  We then expanded UPC acquisitions for 1000 liters of RC-Cola, tested Orgo chemicals on Gak and Wacky-Wall-Walkers, and made a small ball pit from free soccer balls.  Unsurprisingly, Kellogg’s started charging for promotions soon after.

What random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians have you experienced since you left?
Once, I was sitting with my family outside a country store in Woodstock, Vermont, when I heard the notes of "Annie Lisle" quietly in the distance.  My wife had no idea why my head snapped around, and I eventually found some gentlemen singing near the town green.  They were Sherwoods, and most were at the (infamous) Fall Tonic XII of our freshman year, where the Hangovers realized that champagne and velvet curtains just don’t mix.  The Sherwoods graciously covered my terrible signing voice in another round of the Alma Mater, and I returned elated back to my family.