Katie DeRose ’26 finds her fit at Cornell
Were it not for a teachers’ strike that happened decades before she was born, Connecticut native Katherine (Katie) DeRose ’26 might not have thought about applying to Cornell.
During her junior year of high school, Katie did a capstone research project on the Bridgeport teachers’ protest of 1978. Teachers there went on strike to protest what they considered to be unfair contract conditions. During the strike, which lasted 19 days, 274 teachers were jailed. The harsh treatment they received attracted national attention, and, in the aftermath of the strike, Connecticut passed a binding arbitration law requiring a neutral third party to settle labor disputes.
“I was able to make contact with several of the teachers who had been jailed,” Katie says. “They were all super passionate about it. One teacher who was in her 80s told me, ‘If I had to do it again, I would.’ She said this was the biggest impact she had ever had, because it changed the law in Connecticut about bargaining.”
This research project sparked Katie’s interest in workers, organized labor, and the future of work. When she read about Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, she felt she would be a good fit.
Katie was accepted to Cornell in October 2021 as an early decision applicant. When she received her financial aid offer, she and her family were amazed at how generous it was.
“I think my mom was shocked by how much aid Cornell offered me,” Katie recalls. “It made it possible for me to attend. And, it was something that I could afford to do—through working and paying tuition on my own—without really needing support from my parents. This is what I've been doing ever since I came to Cornell.”
