Page 4 - The Cornell Delta - Winter 2018-19

Brother applies school skills abroad in real world setting

By Axel Letondot ’20 For this I am very grateful. I was very lucky hammer mills. All of these are major players
while at HarvestPlus to have been included in the value chain, through which I managed
in so many different projects, which not only to better understand the environment Har-
exposed me to the variety of activities the vesPlus is working in. Not only did this help
organization is involved in but also uniquely me with the brochures and training guide
challenged me to think critically and innova- but my other projects, too.
tively to be impactful.
In addition to my attachment to the market-
Being attached most closely to the market- ing department, I was placed on a team to
ing department, I found myself during the make and deliver a lecture on biofortifica-
early stages of the intern- tion at UNZA. Unfortunate-
ship working in product ly, UNZA had to reschedule
and market development. to a later date, after the end
Axel Letondot ’20 looks across the water in Zambia. I had to better understand of my stay in Zambia. Hav-
Vitamin A Orange Maize ing already worked on most
Brothers, (VitAOM) and HarvestPlus of the lecture and wanting
This summer I worked in Lusaka, Zambia, to then be able to decide to experience lecturing
with CGIAR: Harvestplus, a small group that what information needed and gauge the prior knowl-
has created biofortified orange maize en- to be conveyed to the pub- edge students may have of
riched with vitamin A. The team there has lic. This required a lot of re- biofortification and orange
been working for a few years to try and bring search, sitting in on meet- maize, I asked and received
this more nutritious maize into Zambian ings, creating visuals, and permission to schedule
markets and diets. Zambian diets are typi- asking questions about and organize an identical
cally not very diverse, and therefore many HarvestPlus’ work and lecture at another college
people here suffer from what is called “hid- product, not only with col- Axel Letondot ’20 (right) with a local at an earlier date. I chose
den hunger,” a type of malnutrition through leagues but also other with friend in Zambia. Lusaka’s Cooperative Col-
which individuals may feel full yet are defi- relevant connections I had lege, which is strictly an
agricultural institution with
cient in many micronutrients, like vitamin A. made while in Zambia. a large diverse student body and its own on-
My work with the marketing department
My summer internship at Harvestplus was campus farm. The lecture was a huge suc-
for me the first opportunity I had to apply also included meeting with farmers to en- cess, and the students who attended were
the skills I have been learning at school in a sure the completion of contracts, negotiat- engaged and asked intelligent and well
professional setting, as well as to gain prac- ing with seed companies over the price of thought-out questions.
tical experience in the field of development. seed, and visiting partners such as local

Honoring a brother through Sagan, the Sky, and Delta Chi

By Michael Paolucci ’92 | Founder, Slooh.com
Sophomore year I lived at the end of the John and I created one of the first internet reason to unite as a species, to develop a
third floor hallway in the Cold Dorm, my advertising networks, 247 Real Media Inc., greater appreciation for our unique condi-
friend Blake Wallens ’92 lived two doors which went public in 1998. That summer, I tion together as Earthlings. And the inter-
down. We had both grown up in Los Ange- married my Cornell sweetheart, Eliza Booth, net was the perfect medium to get people
les but met the first week at Cornell, gravi- and in 1999 we had a daughter, Anna, her- around the world communicating about our
tating to ΔΧ with many of our dorm friends. self now a sophomore at Cornell. Then we common cause under a shared sky.
We walked by Carl Sagan’s house from time woke up one morning to jets being flown
to time and wondered about him, a celebrity into the World Trade Center and watched Fifteen years later, we have installed 10 tele-
scientist out of reach for a couple of unde- helplessly as Blake died along with his good scopes in the Canary Islands and Chile and
clared arts and sciences students not quite friend Greg Richards and everyone else formed a global community of people look-
yet firing on all our intellectual cylinders. who showed up for work that day at Cantor ing into space together using our patented
Eventually, I got around to reading several Fitzgerald. technology and sharing ideas about what
of his mind altering books and adopted his they see. I am pleased to announce that we
brand of spirituality, entirely rooted in our I struggled to make meaning of the tragedy are set to break ground on five new tele-
empirical knowledge of man’s place in the all around us and looked for a way to honor scopes in the Middle East, giving us almost
cosmos. Sagan made the universe relatable Blake and the rest of the fallen. I wanted to 24 hour coverage of the night sky. And with
to me, the master of articulating the implica- confront the corrupted worldview that led to our partners in the UAE we will translate
tions of space science and touching people his death, but without bombs and bullets. Slooh into Arabic, the first foreign language
in the process. I thought of Sagan. What if everyone had version of our website. With a mission of
a better understanding of our place in the peace and enlightenment, we are carrying
After college, I moved to New York City and cosmos? Maybe people could be inspired on a conversation started for us on those
lived on 85 and Broadway in a four story to rethink their spirituality as I had from my days walking back to the Knoll and wonder-
th
walk-up with Blake and his best friend from Catholic upbringing. Perhaps in the con- ing about the man who lived on the side of
home, John Waller. From our apartment, text of looking into space, people could find the cliff.

4 e Cornell Chapter of Delta Chi