{"id":54824,"date":"2025-07-11T13:42:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T17:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=54824"},"modified":"2025-10-08T16:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:12:12","slug":"aha-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/aha-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018That\u2019s When It Clicked\u2019: Alums Share their Big Red \u2018Aha\u2019 Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cornellians recall sparks of academic clarity, the thunderclap of meeting that special someone\u2014and a laundry lesson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Cornellians<\/em> Staff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat was your Cornell \u2018aha\u2019 moment?\u201d the University asked recently on social media\u2014prompting alumni to reminisce about times on the Hill that \u201clit a spark, opened your eyes, or made the world make sense in a new way.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens upon dozens responded\u2014and many of their answers were so insightful (or just plain fun), we had to share them. Below is a sampling. And be sure to leave your own \u201caha moment\u201d in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Responses have been edited and condensed.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“When I was trying to decide where to focus my search for future plans, Barnaby Knoll\u2014the director of Risley when I was an RA there\u2014told me, ‘There are cool people everywhere.’ This advice has made all the difference!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Jordana Gilman \u201914<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“My first trip to Hot Truck! Standing at the base of the Slope on a clear, beautiful night surrounded by a group of friends, learning the lingo. Just thinking about it gives me shivers. Everything seemed possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Jennifer Grosner-Mentzer \u201996<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"image
Rare and Manuscript Collections<\/figcaption>
A bygone rite of passage: The Hot Truck on Stewart Avenue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“Economics classes were always a struggle. I eventually realized I was going to be mediocre at some things\u2014and it was just fine. Let the economists do their thing, while I sneak off to do mine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Kelly O\u2019Brien-Fairley \u201992<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“It was a debate between Carl Sagan and the Cornell chaplain. Sagan was saying that eventually science can explain everything that is attributed to God. The chaplain asked him if he loved his wife; Sagan said ‘yes,’ and the chaplain answered, ‘Explain me why!’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Christophe Galopin, PhD \u201999<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“Easy: my first date with Barbara Ballweg \u201961 at the Heptagonal track meet on March 8, 1958. ‘Aha!’\u2014the girl I will marry, on graduation day (June 12, 1961). We had 62+ years together before she passed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Bob Everson \u201961<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“After spending hours in an engineering physics class where we had to program an instrument using machine language, my lab partner and I tried to figure out why our experiment wasn\u2019t working\u2014until we realized we\u2019d typed a semicolon instead of a colon. (Or vice versa; it\u2019s been years.) After we made the correction, it worked. But more importantly, it set me up to appreciate the criticality of paying attention to detail.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Lori-Ann Archer \u201989<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

‘Aha!’\u2014the girl I will marry, on graduation day (June 12, 1961).<\/p>\nBob Everson \u201961<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“After failing my thermodynamics prelims, I asked the professor if I should drop out of the class, and even reconsider my plan to be a mechanical engineering major. He encouraged me to stick with it\u2014that for some people, the subject becomes clear as all the concepts build on each other. About a week later, they did; I aced the final and ended up with a B. It was a valuable lesson about perseverance\u2014one that changed my approach to learning at Cornell and beyond.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Tom Benton \u201982<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“The first time I heard L. Pearce Williams \u201948, PhD \u201952, lecture in my Western Civ freshman seminar, I knew I had come to the right place\u2014a place of ideas, intellectually challenging people, and debates.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Al Garcia \u201983<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“Prof. Sagan asked us to interpret a slide; all we knew was that it was the surface of some planet. Islands in a sea? Dust storms? He kept zooming in, and each time asked us to revise our guesses. Several iterations in, about 300 of us were pretty certain the objects were huts or houses, with something long and thin at the corners. Were they on stilts? One final click and they were … cows!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lesson? Scale, perspective, and context are everything<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Stephanie Mitchell \u201978, JD \u201980<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Carl
Rare and Manuscript Collections<\/figcaption>
Sagan lecturing in the 1970s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“I had never done laundry. After a few days in U-Hall 2, I did the first load of my life. I soon had the ‘aha’ that one does not wash in hot water a new red Cornell sweatshirt and white underwear.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 David Spellman \u201977, JD \u201980<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“When I first walked up Buffalo Street and figured, ‘I am going to be a different body type by the time I am done with Cornell!’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Pallavi Sharma, LLM \u201905<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“My friends and I were chatting when another friend, with a face filled with surprise, came to us and said, ‘Did you all know the Libe in Libe Slope stands for library?’ We all were like, ‘That makes sense,’ when another friend said, ‘Hold on, then Libe Caf\u00e9 \u2026’ and then the entire group went ‘Ooh Library<\/em> Caf\u00e9.’ While so obvious, that was the biggest ‘aha’ moment for that whole group.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Hamid Rezaee \u201926<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"a
Cornell University<\/figcaption>
Libe Slope: The slope up to the library!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“Fluid dynamics, first prelim. The last problem was like nothing I\u2019d seen before. Then I realized: it required everything we had learned so far. I wasn\u2019t just learning material; I was learning how to think.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Nigel Watt \u201910, BS \u201909<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“In the early \u201990s, when my dorm hallmate showed me the Internet videoconferencing software he was writing (CU\u2013SeeMe), I realized I was at ground zero for a digital revolution.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Jeff Ragusa \u201997, BS \u201998<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“Sitting in Mann Library as an undergrad with Prof. Stanley Zahler\u2019s molecular genetics take-home exam and finding it impossible\u2014then working slowly through all the steps, and realizing I could really do it! I went on to get my PhD in genetics.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Nancy Grambow Brown \u201985, PhD \u201994<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In the early \u201990s, when my dorm hallmate showed me the Internet videoconferencing software he was writing, I realized I was at ground zero for a digital revolution.<\/p>\nJeff Ragusa \u201997, BS \u201998<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“I directed a play with my student theater troupe my freshman year and saw that two of the cast members became best friends, and one started to pursue theater professionally. That\u2019s when it clicked that I wanted to do this for a living\u2014and now I have a master\u2019s in educational theater!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Sydney Wolfe \u201920<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“Singing the ‘Alma Mater’ on the last day of the History of Cornell class, I realized just how collective the Cornell experience I cherish is!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Grace Elmore \u201925<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Alumni
Cornell University<\/figcaption>
Alumni sing together in Bailey Hall during Reunion 2016\u2019s Cornelliana Night. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“During prelim season, I was walking from North Campus to Uris and the A.D. White Reading Room to study. As I crossed the bridge, I looked around at the beautiful nature, all of my classmates passing by, and toward the heavenly campus. I took a deep breath, and thought, ‘You are so lucky to be here, surrounded by nature, opportunity, mentors, and friends.’ I realized in that moment that my time at Cornell was a blessing that would lay the foundation for my life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Parsa Salehi \u201913<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“I was put on academic probation during the Vietnam mess. I was immature\u2014too much partying and not enough studying. Enlisted in the Air Force, spent four years growing up. Re-applied and started again in 1974. As a married student and working part time, I managed to make the Dean\u2019s List. Never took my Cornell education for granted again!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Patrick Cassidy \u201974, BS \u201976<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I realized in that moment that my time at Cornell was a blessing that would lay the foundation for my life.<\/p>\nParsa Salehi \u201913<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“I was about to graduate, but feeling uninspired by the job openings I was finding. A career counselor spent an hour talking to me, helping me identify what I felt most passionate about. He is responsible for leading me to my dream job, and a career I had no idea existed: training service dogs for people with disabilities. It was like a bell went off in my head.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Sarah Birman Leighton \u201909<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“I rowed. There was nothing more centering than the view from Cayuga Lake, in the seat of an eight, looking toward the art museum and tower. I\u2019m not sure when I first felt it, but the feeling was simultaneously that of belonging to the team; being suspended in time, history, and place; accomplishment; and anxiety about the work needed to keep the position and be an ounce as great as all those who came before us.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Lori Davias Maloney \u201902<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“Walking through the Arts Quad the fall of my freshman year, I just kept thinking, ‘We walk in the footsteps of giants here.’ I had to stop and take a moment. It\u2019s one of my favorite memories.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Andrea Stone \u201915, BS \u201916<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"the
garrett spillerman \u201925<\/figcaption>
The Arts Quad in fall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“I have a very clear memory of walking across the bridge from North Campus early in my first semester and quietly shaking my head and smiling to myself, because for a long time I believed that I was meant to end up at Cornell\u2014and in that moment, it suddenly hit me that I had been right. I was officially a Cornell freshman.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Ariel Cooper \u201915<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“When I saw my now-husband for the first time in Bethe House dining hall, everything changed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Montana Stone Liu \u201919<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

For a long time I believed that I was meant to end up at Cornell\u2014and in that moment, it suddenly hit me that I had been right. I was officially a Cornell freshman.<\/p>\nAriel Cooper \u201915<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“Taking environmental psychology with Gary Evans. I\u2019d never heard of this area of study before\u2014and after the first class, I became obsessed. It\u2019s a passion that stayed with me and drives my goals and dreams. The ‘aha’ moment of having every aspect of life explained through the lens of the human-environment relationship was life-changing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Katie Rosenberger \u201920<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

“My ‘aha’ moment happened on my campus tour, looking over the Slope with the clocktower beside me and Cayuga Lake in the distance. The view took my breath away, and I knew I\u2019d found my place.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Lauren Guth \u201908<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Top: Photo by Cornell University.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published July 11, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

What was your<\/em> Cornell ‘aha moment’?<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cornellians recall sparks of academic clarity, the thunderclap of meeting that special someone\u2014and a laundry lesson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":54823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[41971,11517,35799],"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-54824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018That\u2019s When It Clicked\u2019: Alums Share their Big Red \u2018Aha\u2019 Moments - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cornellians recall sparks of academic clarity, the thunderclap of meeting that special someone\u2014and a laundry lesson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/aha-moments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018That\u2019s When It Clicked\u2019: Alums Share their Big Red \u2018Aha\u2019 Moments - 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