In 1988, when Tiffany Rowe ’95, M.H.A. ’97, was 15 years old, she had a recurrence of a rare blood disorder, aplastic anemia, and the prognosis was not good. The Make-A-Wish Foundation, established only eight years earlier, gave her something to look forward to – dancing on stage with Michael Jackson – and an experience that brought her back into her body and into her childhood.

After her unexpected recovery, Rowe committed to helping the Make-A-Wish Foundation grant wishes for other children. In 1994, as a student at Cornell, she founded the first “wish-makers” student group in the country – a program that would go on to expand nationally – and began a longstanding relationship between Make-A-Wish Central New York (CNY) and Cornell.

This semester, that relationship was renewed. Twenty-four hotel administration students in the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration raised nearly $5,000 for Make-A-Wish CNY as part of a required course on persuasive communication taught by Deirdre Snyder, lecturer in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Rowe and staff at the CNY chapter supported the project in multiple virtual visits and served as judges and an audience for their efforts.

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

“This is the first time wish-making has been tied into a course, and I think it’s a fabulous model,” said Diane Kuppermann, president and chief executive officer of Make-A-Wish CNY. “It has so many benefits for the students. It allows them to learn from a real-life experience and to apply their skills in a real context. And for us, it gets them engaged in philanthropy at a time when they’re shaping their goals and their passions.”

In teams of three or four, students used persuasive communication skills to implement their own fundraisers. One team worked with Collegetown Bagels to organize a “Paint and Sip” event that drew 47 students. Another tied Make-A-Wish to the Japanese 1,000 cranes legend, which posits that folding 1,000 cranes will bring recovery from illness; participants paid $1 to write wishes on origami paper, which the team then folded into cranes and included in an installation in Statler Hall. Other groups ran raffles, bake and Thai tea sales and more.

They presented their ideas in class, pitched them to local businesses and campus groups and learned how to make an emotional appeal to their family, friends and strangers. All this was part of the curriculum, but for many students, the course came to mean more.

“It started as an assignment that was handed to me. I didn’t have a personal connection to the cause, but it has inspired me,” said Yufei Wang ’26, part of the 1,000 cranes team. “It’s opened my eyes, seeing that there are so many people out there, so many good people who are willing to give, and it makes me realize I also have so much more to give to the world.”

Spreading the mission

For Rowe, having her wish granted at 15 was profound.

“I was still in treatment, still very uncertain about my future,” she said, “but Make-A-Wish gave me the ability to hold that level of uncertainty and pain and fear at the same time as joy and hope and deep presence, a sense of connectedness to who I was before I got sick. That knowing has stayed with me.”

Rowe has paid it forward through lifelong service to the organization. When she heard from Kuppermann that Cornell students would be raising money through Snyder’s class, she was thrilled.

“Everything I’ve learned about persuasive communication, leadership, governance, I’ve learned through my experience with the organization,” she said. “For the students to have a tangible mission attached to learning those skills is going to serve them so well.”

Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University

The dollars raised will go directly to kids in the 15 counties served by the CNY chapter; each local chapter can only fundraise and grant wishes in its jurisdiction, which is why Cornell and other universities in the region are so important, Kuppermann said.

“We do need money to make wishes come true, but it’s about engagement,” Kuppermann said. “The students are creating awareness in a way that will benefit us long after they graduate. We just hope they remember what impact they’ve had, and that they seek to continue, with Make-A-Wish or some other organization they’re passionate about.”

Igniting a ‘Life of Service’

Snyder had tried other models of community engagement in previous versions of the course, but said Make-A-Wish’s mission, and Rowe’s story and those of other kids, clearly motivated students.

“They came up with really clever, creative ideas that involved the community, their organizations, whether it was a club or a fraternity, a sports team. They were really looking for ways to engage the whole campus,” Snyder said.

Having a community partner raised the stakes for all of their assignments, students said, and it solidified lessons. They gained more confidence in public speaking, learned to tailor messages to different audiences, and relay a passion for the mission.

“I was way more motivated to really learn to be able to communicate, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to have an impact on this organization,” said Nitya Shamdasani ’26, who worked on the Paint and Sip team. “It’s made me want to engage with the community and help out again.”

The project made the class into a team, with all groups working towards a common cause, students said.

“We all pulled our weight, and it was wonderful to feel that,” said Ava Anderton ’25, from the 1,000 cranes team. “That we were doing it for a community cause got more people engaged, and no one was slacking.”

As Kuppermann, Rowe and Snyder hoped, it was also an awakening.

“It reignited a passion in our slogan, ‘Life is Service,’” said Samantha Saito ’26, from a team that raffled gift cards from local businesses. “I really enjoyed this opportunity to feel like I was giving back. It also made me realize that it’s important to me, in my future, to find a company that not only has a good culture but cares about the people they serve.”