What's a guy with an ILR School degree doing on the Arts Quad before sunrise with 120 students on hand?

He's getting them to laugh out loud. He is Dave Price, ILR '87, the weatherman from "The Early Show" on CBS.

Live from Cornell on Oct. 6, Price reported on college costs and admission trends across the nation, in addition to giving Florida's foggy forecast. He also worked in lots of Big Red bits: Check out the clock tower, he told millions of viewers, and listen to Cayuga's Waiters, Cornell's all-male a cappella group.

In an interview between tapings, Price said he gained 40 pounds his freshman year, flunked statistics and found his dormitory shower so "groaty" on day one at Cornell that he asked his parents if he could shower in their hotel room.

"I don't regret a minute it of it," he said of his four years at ILR. "I'd come right back. I use the skills I learned at the ILR School each and every day, whether it's negotiating a contract or [understanding] organizational behavior."

A few feet away, Ernest Meadows '11 called his mother and asked her if she would like to talk to Price, then handed the phone over to him. "Hi, Mom, send cash," Price told Pamela Scott, who was in Brooklyn. Her son beamed, and sighed, "What a great morning."

Accelerated by the promise of free coffee and donuts, word of "The Early Show" filming at Cornell spread among students and staff via Facebook and e-mail.

Sarah Boxer '07 of CBS set up the date. ILR Student Government Association President Heather Levy '10 found such students as Eleanor Carmeli, ILR '11, to hold ILR banners, which made their way onto national TV as the sun rose Monday.

"This," Carmeli laughed, "is my moment of fame."

Mary Catt is a writer for the ILR School.