NEW YORK -- The symbiosis between Cornell's Ithaca and New York City campuses is never more apparent than in June. As quiet settles over the Ithaca campus and driving on East Avenue no longer is a white-knuckle affair, the "CU-NYC campus" is bursting at the seams with Cornell students. Trading in Plantations for Central Park and the Hot Truck for hot dog vendors, undergraduates are housed downtown (New York University) and uptown (92nd Street Y and Columbia University).

Internships and cooperatives are what summoned these students from hometowns in Minnesota, California and Wisconsin, and even in Hungary. Many have chosen New York City because of how different it is from home. Students from all of Cornell's undergraduate colleges are here in New York for the summer.

Andi Wagner '06, civil engineering, is in the second phase of her 28-week cooperative at Vollmer Associates. She explains that "I'd only been to New York City once before, and being here is the complete opposite of anything that I was raised with."

Like Wagner, April McCullough '06, biological sciences, had been to New York City only once prior to her placement at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC). McCullough explains: "I grew up in a small town in Michigan with about 4,000 residents and no stop light. I fell in love with New York City last summer." 

For Cornell students in the arts, working in New York City was inescapable. "There is nowhere better in America to learn about the fashion world than New York," explains Stefanie Schoen '07, apparel design, now at Daryl K. And for theater arts majors like Barrie Kreinik '07, "NYC is the center of performance activity in this country." Nefertiti Bridges '06, theater arts, came to New York City as the result of a research project. A report she wrote on the Negro Ensemble Company resulted in her interning at the company. This summer's internship will help her "to gain knowledge of not only theater, but black theater and how it works in the 'real world.'" For Nefertiti, New York City is simply "bursting with so many opportunities, especially in the theater."

Some of those opportunities are simply discovering a sense of community within a disconnected urban setting. "Many people from Cornell live in the city, so it's nice to have that support and group of friends," says Monica Johnsrud '07, fashion design. Wagner found "three Cornell students at her company" as well as "tons of them all over the city."

The Cornell Urban Scholars Program (CUSP) supports summer public service internships in the city for 26 of its students. This academic and paid internship program is very attractive to students from across the Ithaca campus. Daniel Forester '06 elaborates: "An internship that is paid and in the nonprofit sector is very rare. CUSP provides the opportunity to both serve the community and, well, … live." The students have weekly field trips and attend seminars that integrate their work with their urban experience. This appealed to Joey Notaro '07, who wants to "get inside New York City by being a citizen and active participant in promoting self-reliance and social justice."

On the CU-NYC campus, students are working in research laboratories, medical informatics programs and institutes at WCMC, in literacy and nutrition agencies through Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and conducting research at a union through the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). And beyond the CU-NYC campus, municipal agencies, nonprofit organizations, theaters, fashion and publishing houses and finance and engineering firms in New York City are infused with Cornell students. 

The "CU in the City" column appears monthly in the Cornell Chronicle. To suggest an item for coverage, e-mail bnp1@cornell.edu.