An Extraordinary Story: Kristin Willard `08
With an increasingly competitive and global economy, it is more important than ever that students engage with the world beyond Cornell. The “Extraordinary Opportunities” campaign seeks funding for international study and research, as well as bringing our own Cornell alumni back to campus to interact with the campus community. Learn more ...
For Kristin Willard ’08, a prominent alum’s generosity and business contacts led to a life-changing internship with a brokerage house in Uruguay.
It all began when Jim McWethy ’65 discovered that one of his business associates sponsored internships in Uruguay. Recognizing the potential of this kind of experience, McWethy began to explore how he could help Cornell students participate. He presented the idea to A’amer Farooqi, economics and business professor and director of the Berry Center for Economics, Business, and Public Policy, who “was extremely excited and worked very, very hard to put it together,” McWethy says
Farooqi’s hard work paid off. The summer before her junior year, Kristin Willard completed an internship in finance and marketing with RenMax, a brokerage house in Montevideo, Uruguay.
In an e-mail to Farooqi near the end of her internship, Willard wrote: “I finished my PowerPoint marketing presentation today (I did some major revisions to the earlier one) and handed it in to one of the brokers here and he said it was excellent and is going to use it tomorrow at his meeting with prospective clients. So whew! My project was a success!
“My final words on my Uruguayan adventure are that it has been the best thing I have ever done—I have learned so much about a different culture, about navigating the world, and about myself. I am so glad I made the nerve-wracking decision to take the plunge and come here! Best decision I ever made!”
The Berry Center, which is supported by an endowment gift from McWethy, supported Willard’s travel and living expenses for the internship.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the funding and support the Berry Center provided,” says Willard, who hails from Greeley, Colo. “The college relies so much on donations from trustees and alumni. I would like Mr. McWethy to know that there is a face and there is a person behind the money, and it’s providing me the opportunity for my education on and off campus. It’s instrumental in so many students’ lives to be able to have that financial support to do all the activities Cornell offers.”
McWethy found it extremely rewarding—and simple—to facilitate Willard’s Berry Center internship. “It gives a great sense of accomplishment,” he says of his involvement. “In my case, I didn’t do much, just put forth introductions. It didn’t take more than half an hour, and Kristin may have had a life-changing experience down there.
“An alum or friend of the college, by doing very little but being in the right position, can make that introduction. Just think what could happen if we get a couple hundred alums out there doing a little bit here and there. Think of the contacts that our alums have. It’s absolutely huge.”
