I’ve always been a behind-the-scenes kind of girl. Public speaking makes me nervous, and having lots of people know who I am just seems weird. But this semester I did something completely out of character: I ran for Cornell University’s Student-Elected Trustee.
I’ve always had an inner drive for public service and for advocating causes that are important to me. And despite my nerves, something in me told me to just muster up the confidence and go for it. But after all of the votes were tallied and the absentee ballots from Florida accounted for (just kidding!), the results were announced and I found out that I lost.
Now, I’m not going to lie and say that I shrugged it off easily and moved on. I was pretty upset at first, not because I didn’t like the person I lost to–I think he’s a great person who will be an asset to the Board of Trustees. I was upset because I felt like all of the hard work that I put into running was all for naught. Then after a phone call to my mom, I realized that I had it all wrong.
Every time I hear the cliché “When one door closes, another door opens,” I usually just shake my head. However, in this case I realized that it is so true. The beautiful thing about Cornell that I have come to realize is that dedicated and passionate individuals have the power to bring about change if they work hard enough and keep trying to achieve their goals. It doesn’t matter whether you’re President of the Student Assembly or just another collegiette™. Every person has the power within them to achieve greatness on their own.
I think that this election has been a life changing process for me. I know that sounds somewhat cheesy, but I really believe it. Before I ran, I didn’t have the confidence to speak in public, much less debate about issues that the University is facing with other candidates in front of the school’s debate team. So, I developed a great sense of confidence in myself. I learned that if you feel strongly enough about something, you shouldn’t be afraid to speak up. If you feel strongly about an issue, then your conviction will come through in your words, and other people will agree.
I ran for Trustee because I wanted to bring about positive change to the University. But the important change was really within myself. Even though I lost, I feel like a better person for taking the risk and running in the first place. Now, like my poster says, I really am “not afraid.” So, now I leave you with my last cliché of the day: Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. I got to meet so many incredible people through running for this position, including the five other candidates, the Cornell University Police Department, and the current graduate Trustee, and in the end, that is what made all of this worth it. So, never be afraid to take a chance and do something that pushes you outside of your confidence zone! Even though it super sucks to lose, there is always something good that comes out of it. You’ll feel better about yourself for doing it in the end regardless of how everything turns out. I know I do!