First-year Agricultural Sciences majors capped off their first semester at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at last month’s annual alumni gathering. The gathering helps build community among Agricultural Sciences alumni and current majors and enhance their personal and career development.
“The Pathways to Success in the Agricultural and Plant Sciences course ‘on-boards’ our first-year students to the transition to college life at Cornell, helping them reflect on personal growth and laying the foundation for career pursuits,” says Frank Rossi, the Richard C. Call Director of Agricultural Sciences.
The highlight of the gathering was the panel of eight Agricultural Sciences alumni sharing stories of adaptability and exploration in their years at Cornell and in their careers. The panel showcased the many pathways available in the field, featuring alumni such as Emmaline Long ’12, a Certified Crop Advisor and Agronomy Solutions Manager at Yara North America, and Lucas Smith ’22, a J.D. candidate at Albany Law School.
Both alumni credited the major’s combination of a STEM curriculum, experiential learning (including the required internship) and broad educational foundation for preparing them for an increasingly diverse and yet specialized world.
“My biggest takeaway that helped to shift my perspective was the alumni’s greater emphasis on a generalist education,” said Robert Wallace Sims ’28. “I’d been deciding between specializing in molecular biology or a more generalized education... . Hearing that it has helped alumni in their careers was significant in forming my perspective to be more of a generalist.”
Through Sims’s first semester of networking in the major, he landed a lab support role at the Cornell Soil Health Lab. Many students take the opportunity to work while going to school, taking advantage of the real-world, professional skills Cornell CALS jobs provide.
Alumni shared candidly about their personal journeys at Cornell. Many reflected on what they would have done differently. But inevitably, all paths led to a deep personal success and confidence that was valued.
Alumni urged current students to “get involved beyond the major” through clubs, opportunities to study abroad and especially opportunities to work with the faculty who are engaged in their programs. Many faculty are active mentors for the students and willing to share their network of fellow professionals, leading to invaluable job opportunities for alumni in their every career ascension, challenge and shift.
“Their responses helped me understand to not put so much pressure on internships and academics—those things will come—and instead to meet new people and experience new things during my time here at Cornell,” said Peter Mueller ’28.
Current Agricultural Sciences majors represent 20 different states, with half hailing from New York. For students both near and far, the first-year Pathways to Success course connects students with peers, faculty and alumni while helping them explore the academic and professional pathways the major prepares them for.
The Agricultural Sciences major is an undergraduate program within Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Learn more about the major.
Jacob Zajkowski ’26 is a food systems communicator, journalist and contributor to Agri-Pulse, Ohio Country Journal, Farm & Dairy, and the Cornell Daily Sun.
