Maybe it was teaching rock climbing. Maybe it was performing her own songs at local coffeehouses. Maybe it was being a student manager at Willard Straight Hall during off-hours. Or maybe it was the trombone. For these reasons and more, Emily Hoffman considers herself not a typical environmental engineering major.
Hoffman, from Fairfield, Conn., first came to engineering because she had the idea of studying pre-med. "This was the only engineering school that I applied to. My dad was a Cornell engineer, so I was prompted by him. I was thinking about being pre-med for a little while, and there was a lot of crossover with the same sort of classes. When I got to the engineering curriculum, I realized I didn't want to be pre-med," she said.
She also started teaching rock climbing as a volunteer instructor for Cornell Outdoor Education and instructing on team-building courses such as High Adventure 101.
Hoffman has supplemented her tuition costs by working at Willard Straight Hall for four years, starting in the cinema candy shop and eventually becoming the building's lead student manager. She oversees eight student managers, a position she's held for two years, and together they run the building during off-hours.
"We make sure things run smoothly, so that all of the student groups are meeting where they're supposed to," she said. "We handle any building emergencies and any disgruntled people. We also close up the building on weekends. It's a big responsibility."
A trombonist since fifth grade, Hoffman played in the Cornell Wind Symphony for two years. She also is a singer and acoustical guitarist and this year began performing her own songs at coffeehouses in Collegetown and at the Straight.
"I write my own tunes, my own lyrics. Of course my idealistic goal is to save up enough money, pay off my loans and become a rock star. I don't know if that will pan out, but I'd love to keep up with it after school. I hope to have more time to devote to that," she said.
More seriously, in August Hoffman moves to New York City to become a systems analyst for Deloitte Consulting, the management consulting arm of Deloitte & Touche, a multinational professional services company.
"I think I've done a bunch of eclectic activities, and I've taken advantage of many things. So it's been a lot of fun," she said.
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