Story From Louis Brown

On Apr 7, 2021, at 11:44 AM, Louis Brown wrote:

Hi Dick,

I'd like to submit a written story. Let me know if you have any suggestions/edits. I realize it's not particularly structured as a narrative, if you have ideas on how to make it flow better I'm all ears.

As soon as I knew I was attending Cornell, I knew I wanted to work at the MSC. I arranged for a Skype interview before I arrived on campus so that I could work there from the first semester. As anyone who has stepped foot in there knows, the MSC is a truly special place of not just learning but community. People who did not have questions would come to sit and study quietly, people would stop by to talk to their friends, and some sleep-deprived students (and off-shift tutors!) would even enjoy naps on the sofa--the MSC welcomed everyone into its doors. I myself would often spend time there even when not on shift, vastly preferring it to the cold and impersonal library study areas. Students would find the tutors whose personality and teaching style best suited them, and religiously come while those tutors were on shift. After finishing at Cornell, I enrolled in a math PhD program at Yale, where I ran into another grad student who remembered me helping her with calculus in the MSC. In appreciation, she invited me on a fall break road trip she was taking back to Cornell to visit old friends, and of course I said yes. I was overjoyed at the chance to check back in with Dick and Harry and a new batch of tutors at the MSC. I walked right up to a student and offered my assistance on a problem they were stuck on, like no time had passed at all. I am currently in the process of searching for jobs (having just completed my PhD), and when I ask myself the question "What kind of place would I like to work at?" I find my mind inevitably wandering back to the culture of the MSC: a place of camaraderie and co-operation.

Best, Louis

-- Dick Furnas - 2021-05-08