Lauren Bohm
History and German Studies
Ann Arbor, Mich.
What are the most valuable skills you gained from your Arts & Sciences education?
I am most grateful to Cornell for helping me to develop my skills as a reader and writer. I especially appreciated the required first year writing seminars because they provided a great introduction to college level writing. As a humanities student, most of my assignments were reading and writing projects; looking back on my first few papers, I’m amazed at how much I developed as a writer at Cornell.
What Cornell memory do you treasure the most?
A little over a week before my graduation in December (and in the middle of finals), I unfortunately got Covid. I spent a pretty miserable 10 days in isolation working on my finals and because of the surge in cases, the December ceremony was ultimately canceled. I was pretty disappointed and expected to spent my last few days in Ithaca packing up alone. When I was released from isolation, however, it was a beautiful, sunny day and a lot of my friends had stuck around campus or driven up to see me before I left. We spent some time walking around campus and The Commons and it ended up being a really wonderful day. It was a great way to say goodbye to Ithaca, and one of my favorite memories of my time at Cornell.
What have you accomplished as a Cornell student that you are most proud of?
I am especially proud of my honors history thesis. I was initially very intimidated to write such an intense paper, and I was worried about the logistics of doing research for the project at the height of the pandemic. I really appreciated the structure the thesis writing class provided, and I was able to watch my research and writing skills develop immensely throughout the course of the project. Writing a thesis also helped me to realize that I was both capable of doing academic research and that I really enjoyed it.
Who or what influenced your Cornell education the most? How or why?
My professors definitely influenced my education the most. They were all so enthusiastic and knowledgable and they inspired me to be a more engaged student. I always felt comfortable seeking advice from my professors or just going to have a chat, and I’m really grateful that I was able to build relationships with so many faculty.
