Columns

POGGI | The Case Against Being Low-Maintenance

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I’ve never been a particularly organized person. I was never one to make my bed each morning or color-code assignments in a planner. I once prided myself on this disorganization, seeing those who opted for neatness as trivial or overly obsessed with aesthetics. In my mind, prettiness was a barrier to efficiency — a trivial and unnecessary focus in the grand scheme of “getting it done.”

As I’ve aged though, I’ve learned to appreciate the extra step of aesthetic attention. Whether it be dotting on concealer before class or staying consistent with note formatting, I’ve learned that neatness has a previously unappreciated benefit — it affirms standards I hold for myself, even if it serves no greater purpose.

charity

Student Spotlight on Samay Bansal ‘21: COVID-19 Hunger Relief Efforts

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Hoping to make a difference in his community, Hotel School student Samay Bansal ‘21 founded Million Meals Mission in 2016. The nonprofit aims to reduce global food insecurity through alliances with grassroots partners and food distributors. His first goal was to feed 1,000,000 people a meal, after being inspired by The Shed that Fed a Million Children: The Extraordinary Story of Mary’s Meals, a book by entrepreneur and philanthropist Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. MMM began its work in Ludhiana, India, and has since expanded to Saadi Rasoi, India, the LaValla primary school for physically disabled students in Cambodia and the organization Rise Against Hunger in its meal-distribution efforts. Today, MMM is doing its part to support populations impacted by food insecurity as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Journal

Huang, EVP of Student Assembly, to Create a Journal of Higher Education

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When first coming to Cornell, Cat Huang ’21, executive vice president of the Student Assembly, had not initially considered higher education policy to be a particularly gripping field. But shaped by her experience serving on the S.A. — regularly working with administrators and discussing campus policy — Huang is now working to create The Cornell Higher Ed. Review, Cornell’s first student-run publication focused on higher education. 

Collaborating closely with S.A. President Joe Anderson ’20, Huang said she hopes to register the journal as a new student organization in February and publish it digitally throughout the semester. She plans to release the first print edition by April or May. 

All Cornell students may contribute to the journal, and there is no application to join. 

“We want it to be pretty accessible to all students,” Huang said. “It is an opportunity for them to get published by a journal that is peer reviewed — as in student reviewed.”

Huang hopes the journal will encourage Cornell students to “think more critically about the institutions we inhabit” and become more informed about the day-to-day logistics of university operations.