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David Hartino on the Engineering Quad.

Robert Barker/University Photography

Major: Mechanical engineering
College: Engineering
Hometown: Rochester, N.Y.

Not everyone is ready to go to college when they get out of high school. I failed out of college before any of my classmates were born. I eventually became a laborer on a construction site, then an electrician. After 20-plus years of blue-collar work, I wished to study somewhere I would be welcomed, not to mention that Cornell is one of the top engineering schools in the country. As a transfer student from Monroe Community College, I visited campus several times through the Jack Kent Cooke Pathway to Success program and felt that I would be welcomed here. I was not mistaken.

My family: my wife and 6-year-old daughter. We have all shared in the Cornell experience; it has been a magical time for us all.

My Cornell Tradition fellowship - being able to give back to the community is a privilege. Also, through the SciCentr I became a virtual world developer for the National Institute of Aerospace. I work in an educational outreach division of NASA that provides programs to underserved schools and disadvantaged students - a rewarding experience to say the least. And finally making the dean's list last term was okay, too.

The faculty ... not their lectures or problem sets, but because they encouraged me to do well and kept their office doors open. They were glad to have me in their classes, far from the reception that I had feared. I found that the faculty were engaging and had a real interest in their students.

I will be 42 years old when I receive my bachelor's degree; I have now had it proven to me in no uncertain terms that anything IS possible, and that there are still opportunities to be made available if you let yourself try.

When I was accepted, my family and I decided that we would do whatever was necessary for me to attend. To our great surprise, we benefited from Cornell's new financial aid initiative for undergraduates from modest income backgrounds. We received incredibly generous financial aid from the university. It is one thing to say "need-blind"; it is another to put up the money. Cornell has done just that.

Here at Cornell, I am a young college student again. By "going back to Neverland" as it were, I have recaptured at least a part of my youth. The optimism and indefatigable spirit of hope is back in me; I could have captured it no other way.

But the memory that will be most treasured is yet to come: When I finally get to walk across the stage and know that "I did it" will be an incredible time for me and my family.

I have applied to the master's of engineering program. In 10 years? Good grief! FIVE years ago I was working on a construction site ... and I saw no reason that that would change. I would hope that I will be able to pursue an interesting career, perhaps even be able to teach at a community college.