In 1982, The Atlantic Philanthropies, a foundation established by entrepreneur Charles F. Feeney ’56, made its first-ever grant of $7 million to establish The Cornell Tradition. The Tradition is a fellowship program that offers service, work, and scholarship opportunities to many of the university’s most civically minded undergraduates. To date, it has provided more than $41 million in loan relief to over 5,000 fellows. Together they have collectively performed more than 2.8 million hours of work and service on behalf of the communities with which they are involved. In 2016, Atlantic concluded its grant-making—totaling $8 billion worldwide, $1 billion of which benefitted Cornell with a final investment of $7 million in the Tradition.
This film chronicles a meeting of one of the first Tradition fellows, Doug Rutzen ’87, and one of the most recent, Abby Maranga ’16, and helps to convey the Tradition’s influence on the students who take part in the program and the communities they serve.
Video by:
Flatbush Pictures