Telluride House The Cornell Branch of Telluride Association

we spent a total of about 16 hours wading through an amazing group of talented applicants to choose who we want to live with next year. The process for me was at times agonizing, at times emotional, at times exhausting, but I came out of it with the feeling that I’ve gotten closer to my fellow housemembers as a result. I felt that even though the process wasn’t perfect, as processes can never be, everyone was generally respectful and thoughtful throughout. And it definitely feels like I have a deeper connection with Telluride House now that I have had a hand in choosing the people I’m going to be living with next year.

Posted under Musings

Last weekend was our interview weekend for high school and transfer students who have perviously participated in our affiliated programs to be in the House for next year. It was exhausting doing five one-hour interviews in three days, along with all the socializing that came with it. But it was that kind of exhaustion that was also revitalizing. It was exciting to meet all these wonderful, bright young people who are on the verge of their college careers, trying to figure out what to do with themselves. I was so happy to be able to provide information and advice that I personally didn’t get when I was applying to college. I’m looking forward to having a number of them in the House next year.

Posted under Musings

I was excited but also a little bit apprehensive about the work associated with admission season (which we call preferment in Telluride parlance), but I found myself reading all the applications in one long session, followed by the stragglers the next day, so that now I have my list of candidates ready for the meeting next week where we’re going to decide about who to interview. It’s amazing how there are so many applications that just leap off the page, demanding to be considered. There are too many in fact, which I suppose is a good problem to have. There were a number of applications I read and thought, what a fantastic mind to have around, and it’s amazing that I actually have a hand in making the people who have those minds become part of the house.

Posted under Musings

Posted under Announcements

One of the realities of living in an ongoing democratic experiment is that democracy takes time, which sometimes runs into the need for expediency. Case in point: if you’ve gone to the applications page and not seen the application, it’s because we haven’t finalized it yet. We’re very very close though. It’s going to be there tomorrow. The deadline will either be September 19 or October 3rd for Hill Applicants (that’s what we call Cornell folk, as opposed to applicants who are not at Cornell yet). That’s not a lot of time, but the early deadline ensures that Cornell folks don’t sign leases before we offer them places in the House. Hopefully we’ll do better next year in terms of having the applications ready earlier, which makes me wonder whether there’s such a thing as fast democracy.

Posted under Musings