Back with CRES Cohort Six

Katie D.

September 30, 2011 - 8:12 PM

Last year I spent hundreds of hours with the members of my CRES cohort. We took almost all of our classes together, from the first day of Philosophy of Conflict Resolution until our last final was handed in last June. I did group projects with these folks, broke their hearts during mediation role plays, and shared a year of friendship. I realized this summer how much I missed this community, and how important these other CRES students have become.

This year is different. There are electives offered through CRES, but most of us are going our own way for internships, research, and courses in our individual areas of interest. So it would be relatively easy to spend the year without really seeing each other. I was a little nervous that this would happen: that we would get busy in our own lives and not make time to reform a group.

But after a week of classes, I already know that this year is going to be all about my cohort friends. These are wonderful people, and we're in a really exciting time in our lives. Many of us are still searching for an exact path or plan. We're starting internships and still outlining our thesis plans. And we're all anxiously looking forward into our post-graduation lives, and trying to imagine what our careers and paths will look like.

I feel so lucky to be in the company of twenty-five friends for this moment in my life.

For many of us, the summer was a kind of turning point in our student careers. For several people, like me, it was a difficult summer that brought some grounded reality into our previously over-optimistic projections. While this sounds like a bad thing, it actually will mean positive change. For example, many of my cohort have expressed a shared goal of meeting with conflict resolution practitioners to do career exploration, informational interviews, and to generally gain the perspective necessary to make informed employment decisions. We will be able to share these resources with each other, and support each other's search. For example, because of my interest in immigration law I've meant to meet with immigration lawyers and attend immigration court hearings for the past year and a half. Now I know that at least two other CRES folks are interested in these opportunities as well. It is enormously reassuring to know that I am not in this transition moment alone.

This school year has launched with a bang. I've landed an internship (more on this later), and I am thrilled to be back into a classroom schedule. I'm going to be busy this year, but I know I won't be lonely. I've already spent two nights this week with CRES cohort members, and each time I see them I feel my optimism grow. We're not in this alone. And we're going to spend the rest of this year supporting each other as we write our theses, complete our internships, write term papers, and apply for jobs.

And, best of all, when we graduate together, we will know we're graduating as a community.