CM Scholarship 2

Here is an article Chris wrote for the class newsletter in April of 2000.

I am a junior in the History department of the Arts and Sciences College here at Cornell. As of right now I am leaning toward entering into law school at the end of my days of undergraduate study at Cornell. Other possible options for me are either teaching history to secondary students or entering into the field of financial consulting.
Most of my extracurricular time is taken up by wrestling, as I am a member of the Cornell Varsity Wrestling Team. The team, which won the Ivy League title last year, did very well this season, finishing with an 11-4 record and 4-1 in the Ivy League. Besides wrestling I am also a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity here on campus and am presently serving as historian for the house. I am also active in the Cornell Chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, which is an organization believing in the concept that with academic excellence comes the duty of leadership in community involvement.
When I first arrived here at Cornell I was not going to be a History major, but instead was set on becoming an Archaeology major. The summer between my freshman and sophomore year I actually participated in a Cornell-sponsored archaeological excavation of a Bronze Age city in Israel. The group of Cornell students spent the weekdays working at the site and during the weekend we were able to travel all around Israel to places such as Dan, Acco, Tel Aviv, and of course, Jerusalem. One of the first questions people ask me about this experience is, "Did you find anything interesting?" Well, we didn't find anything like King Tut's gold but we did find more pieces of pottery than you can imagine, a few Egyptian Scarabs, many bones from different animal species, and also, the excavation's claim to fame--the first piece of glass found in the Levant from the site's time period (circa 1200BC). The two-month trip was very exciting and was honestly one of the best experiences of my life.
Last summer I had the misfortune of having mono for most of the summer. However, for part of the summer I was a camp counselor for high school students participating in a wrestling camp here at Cornell. I won't go as far as to say it was more exciting than excavating in Israel but I did enjoy working with the kids. Spending time at Cornell over the summer also allowed me to experience the many beautiful sites around Cornell and the general Ithaca area. Be it swimming in the gorges near campus, hiking along the gorge in Treman State park or watching the waterfalls at Buttermilk Falls, I did not realize how many interesting sites there were around Cornell. This summer I am currently looking for an internship within a law firm or with a financial consulting institution.
Some of my many hobbies include reading books in classical fiction and also historical books (hence the history major) and hiking at the state parks here around Cornell or through the woods which surround my family's dairy farm in upstate New York.
I would like to thank the Class of 1979 for providing this scholarship, which I am grateful to have received. I would also like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you about myself.