In celebration of the Fall semester’s close, Cornell’s finance community gathered in the Carrier Ballroom of the Statler Hotel on Saturday, Dec. 3.
Six organizations — Alpha Fund, BlackGen Capital, Cornell Financial Analysts, Cornell Finance Club, Cornell Hedge Fund and Cornell Investment Banking Club — collaborated to host the event themed A Night on Wall Street.
Chris Rampaul-Pino ’24, involved in both Cornell Hedge Fund and Cornell Investment Banking Club, was a member of the planning committee.
“We have a sixteen person planning committee with different members across all six of the clubs all contributing in our own different way. It’s been very much a collaborative effort amongst all the organizations to put on an event for the Cornell community,” Rampual-Pino said.
Rampaul-Pino cited the Student Activities Funding Commission’s creation of the Public Events Fund this semester as a key motivation for hosting this event.
The Public Events Fund offers up to $5,000 for events co-hosted by two or more groups with at least fifty attendees or for events hosted by a single organization with at least one hundred attendees.
“We floated the idea at the beginning of the semester once we noticed the Public Events Fund… and so in October… that’s when we hit the ground running,” Rampaul-Pino said. “Since the first of October, we’ve been meeting twice a week for an hour as a group, but still there’s been countless hours of people putting in work behind the scenes.”
Though business clubs do collaborative events of this kind throughout the semester, Rampaul-Pino feels that the size of the gala is what sets it apart from others.
“I think just the scale and the scale has to do with the funding… we were able to secure $10,000 between SAFC Public Events Fund and C.U. Tonight,” Rampaul-Pino said.
Jamal Matthew ’26, a member of BlackGen Capital and Cornell Financial Analysts, was impressed by the number of attendees at the event.
“There were quite a lot of people… I know people tend to talk about the Cornell finance community and how it’s very big and very prevalent on campus, but that was the first time that I really got to see how many people are actually in these finance clubs,” Matthew said.
The event was open to all members of the Cornell community, giving students an opportunity to celebrate the end of the semester and make new connections.
Grace Qi ’26, a part of Cornell Hedge Fund, came to the event as a bookend to her first semester.
“One of the [extended executive board] members in my club planned it,” Qi said. “Also, it just seemed like a fun way to celebrate the end of my first semester in the club.”
Annie Wu ’24, a part of Cornell Hedge Fund, chose to come to the event to meet new people.
“I came to the event because I was excited to meet with other students in other organizations. It was a unique event that brought together hundreds of students in business for the first time in years,” Wu said.
Like Wu, Matthew attended to meet new people in a casual setting.
“I was just curious to meet other people in other finance clubs to essentially ‘network’ with them… additionally, I just thought it would be a good time to go… have a good time, laugh, dance and see what Cornell is all about in that aspect,” Matthew said.
The mocktail bar — and its three drinks including an appletini, a piña colada, and a mojito — was a unique element, according to event goers.
Other highlights included the catered food, the company and the dance floor.
“Being with my friends and trying out all of the food while dancing [was my favorite part],” Qi said.
“My favorite part is when the music came on, when the speeches were over and they said ‘Everyone to the dance floor!’ — I think that was the best part,” Matthew said.
Wunmi Omololu ’26, a part of BlackGen Capital and Cornell Hedge Fund, said she enjoyed the atmosphere.
“I honestly would not change anything about the event. The event had a nice ambience, nice finger foods and a really nice set up,” Omololu said. “The dance floor especially allowed many to have fun and enjoy the night.”
Matthew highlighted how the event was especially meaningful for new members of the club.
“I’m ending my two New Member Education processes with stock pitches, so that really served as an outlet in a sense just to go out and be with my friends and go to the dance floor — dance for a little bit and then go and do homework after,” Matthew said.
Rampaul-Pino said that he would like to see the event continue, hoping it could become an annual occurrence.
“I would definitely go to a similar event in the future,” Wu said. “It was a wonderful way to celebrate all of our hard work and accomplishments throughout the semester.”