In high school, my guidance counselor told me I didn’t have what it would take to get accepted into or succeed at Cornell. It took until I walked into Jerrie Gavalchin’s office at Cornell for me to stop believing my high school counselor was right.
When I first arrived on the Hill, Jerrie wasn’t even my assigned advisor; I reached out to her early in the semester on the recommendation of a friend, and we connected immediately. She quickly became my biggest advocate. Jerrie went above and beyond her academic advisor job description on countless occasions, and I have had the pleasure of watching her do the same for many of my classmates and friends over the years.
One time it meant calling her immunologist colleagues at the medical school because I was struggling with undiagnosed autoimmune issues, and she wanted me to have access to more opinions. Another time it meant personally calling one of my professors because he refused to let me make up an exam during which I was in the emergency room. Yet another time, it meant putting in the extra work to better understand my options after I eventually made the difficult decision to pursue graduate school (in a different field) rather than veterinary school as planned.
Four years later, in 2014, I walked out of Jerrie’s office for the final time, and she gave me a hug and said, “It’s kids like you, Becca, who make my job as an advisor so awesome. You know when to ask for help, but also know when to share resources. You’ve come so far, and you’re definitely ready to do something big.”
