What do ballroom dancing, statistics, business, European studies, and performing arts have in common? To Bree Parker, CCF Scholarship recipient, these five things were her entire college career. Instead of trying to mesh her varied interests into one, she decided to experience them all. Bree graduated Spring 2021 from Cornell University with a Statistical Science major and three minors: European Studies, Performing Arts, and Business Administration. Although very different, these four areas of study have greatly shaped her into who she is today.
Bree’s passion for statistics led her to choose it as her major. Her statistics major gave her the resources she needs for day-to-day at her job, coding expertise, and quantitative skills while her European Studies minor kept her in touch with her heritage and took her to a specialization program in Italy summer of 2018. Here, she practiced her Italian by taking three language courses and taking cooking classes. Her performing arts minor has made her comfortable talking in front of people, speaking up, and writing scripts. Finally, her business minor gives her a great foundation to put everything together while being applicable to so many aspects of life. Currently, Bree works at JP Morgan on the Special Credits Team under the Investments Banking Branch and attributes much of her success to her versatility. While most of her coworkers studied finance, Bree’s statistical science degree and her three minors give her an edge. She has a skillset in analyzing numbers, language, and communication skills unique to her studies. Although Bree grew up tap dancing, once she hit 8th grade, she partook in African dancing and lyrical. She loved to dance, especially the way it helped her decompress, and learning about the history and culture that comes with it. When she began her time at Cornell, she was looking for a way to participate in extracurriculars, meet people, and get involved without it interfering with her studies or busy schedule. She joined the competitive ballroom dance team at her school and loved every second of it. Although it wasn’t coursework or a D1 sport, it was a lot of commitment. Not only did she meet people, but it was also a great way to unwind from her studies and connect with others. Throughout her time on the team, she learned about the influence ballroom dance has on Latin American and European Culture, and even did a project on dances specific to Italy. Her favorite part was the reward of connecting with her partner. Together, they would work to perfect their steps and get it right. The feeling of accomplishment that came with mastering a dance was the best part of it all.
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