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My Last End of Fall Semester

December 14, 2012 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | Permalink

First, congratulations to the Class of 2017! I’m so jealous you all found out so early. I had to wait until the spring when I applied my senior year of high school because there was no such thing as Early Action!

On December 5, Quincy House had our semester-ly formal event! This year’s winter formal was a Tri-House Formal along with Dunster (Caroline‘s House!) and Leverett, which are two other upperclass dorm buildings. The event was at the Seaport Hotel in Boston, and it was the last event of the year I planned as HoCo Co-Chair. HoCo (short for House Committee) is essentially the party-planning committee (Have you seen The Office?) for each upperclassmen dorm building. Every House has one, and in addition to formals, we plan community events like study breaks and act as liaisons between the administration and students. My term is officially ending at the end of this semester. But back to the formal, which was a lot of fun. The venue looked like a convention center and it was decked out in winter decorations, along with falling snow and projections on the walls. Pictures absolutely don’t do it justice, but I thought this might help with the visual:

Tri-House Formal: "A Night by the Harbor"

Tri-House Formal: “A Night by the Harbor”

During Reading Period (which is the week before Final Exam Period, where there are no classes and we get all of this unstructured time to study), I had the opportunity to watch the musical RENT, which a few of my good friends were acting, singing, and dancing in. It’s a poignant story about young artists who live in New York and whose lives are all affected to some extent by HIV/AIDS. Read more about it here. I’m always amazed by my peers’ talents, but this show took that to another level. I’ll admit that I’m not very knowledgeable regarding musicals, but I very much enjoyed this one. It was definitely the best show that I’ve seen on campus. I don’t think there are any videos up right now, but I’ll make sure I post one as soon as they go up on YouTube.

Here's me and two of my friends, Mel and Yasmeen, who stole the show in RENT!

Here’s me and two of my friends, Mel and Yasmeen, who stole the show in RENT!

The semester is coming to an end, and I wish it wasn’t because this means I’m that much closer to senior spring. I’ve actually been feeling pretty sick the past few days. I had a 20-page final paper to write with a 102.4 fever. That sounds absurd, right? I don’t know where it came from. It happened so suddenly and I just felt deathly ill. Luckily, the teaching staff of this course that I’m taking was incredibly understanding and gave me an extension on the deadline. This way, I was able to sleep instead of trying to get creative juices flowing. Looking back on the earlier portion of the week, it’s actually kind of hilarious because I can’t describe what I felt like in any other way than feeling like a vegetable. My head was heavy and thinking was so incredibly difficult. I’m not at 100% yet, but definitely a huge improvement from what I was feeling on Monday/Tuesday. And the paper’s in!

I’m far from done, as I have an exam and another paper due by the 21st (aka the last day of Exam Period). Unfortunate! I haven’t stayed on campus this late since freshman year. Everyone leaves here at different times for a variety of reasons–some people leave as soon as their last commitment on campus is over, whereas some people choose to stay a few extra days to hang out. Reading Period and Finals are interesting because the level of difficulty and rigor can vary from semester to semester, from concentration to concentration. I’ve had a semester where I had to take 3 exams, and others where I have only had papers and projects. I’ve also had two exams on consecutive days, or like this semester, have one paper due and then literally over a week until my next assignment or exam. I’m not sure which I like better. It’s always a tradeoff though. For some, getting everything over with is the ideal, even if it means a super high-stress couple of days. For others, dragging everything out over the full two week period and staying until the last day is desired. This is the first year in a while that I’m the last person in my room to leave. My roommate, Paul, left today, which is a full 8 days before I head home. One roommate down, 6 to go. The rest of the guys will be leaving between now and Wednesday, which then leaves me here for three days on my own…

I’m sure those three days will leave me bored and wanting to procrastinate, so I’ll make sure I post once more before the end of the semester!

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Guest Blog: Some Thoughts and Feelings on House Life

July 24, 2012 in From the Admissions Office, Guest Blogger by Office of Admissions | Permalink

Gabby Malatesta, History Concentrator in Mather House, Class of 2013

Since sophomore year I have lived in Mather House.   As a freshman, I was beyond excited about that for a number of reasons: I would have a single, it was on the river, the dining hall and food are awesome, etc.  But two years later, it’s safe to say the biggest reasons why I still get excited about Mather have changed quite a bit.  While the rooms, common spaces, and dining hall are all great, the people who I see everyday are why I sing its praises to mostly everyone I meet and why I dread the day I have to leave this place.

#1 – Hey, look at that, it’s Mather!

Mather House

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?  Okay, so concrete may be an acquired taste, but when I walk into the courtyard after a long day, I can’t help but feel happy.  In my opinion, that feeling is exactly what living in a residential House is all about: having a home.  In a House, fellow students, tutors, the House Masters, administrators, and dining hall and House staff all are there for you—whether you need a recommendation, personal advice, or even an eye-patch for the coming weekend’s pirate-themed party.

#2 – The Dining Hall: My Second Room

Mather Dining Hall

Here, I’m in Mather’s dining hall.  In a House, the d-hall is a place for eating, studying, socializing, events, and late-night snacking, and it’s a safe bet at least one or two of those will be going on at any given time.  It’s rarely empty, and once 8:30 p.m. rolls around, you’re sure to see a lot of familiar faces at Brain Break.

Nothing is better than a two-hour dinner spent with friends or that feeling of solidarity that comes when you’re at a table full of Matherites writing papers and doing problem sets until midnight.

#3 – Housing Day

“Charge!  Mather House residents flock wildly in the Yard.”  That was the Gazette’s caption.  I’m the one with the scarf, and we had just finished “dorm-storming” Matthews.  Dorm-storming is when a hoard of upperclassmen run into freshmen rooms early in the morning to greet the ‘blocking group’ of freshman assigned to the house where they will live for their sophomore, junior, and senior years.

Housing Day!

Housing Day can be suspenseful for freshmen, but most upperclassmen consider it the best day of the year, with as crazy a lead-up as the day itself.  Most Houses put together a Housing Day video (check it out below) to show freshmen why their House is so sweet (not to do too much bragging here, but back in the day, Mather gave the world the first one ever).

Freshmen will be sure to see House mascots chilling with John Harvard or taking notes in an Ec lecture. For the rest of the day, freshmen wear their new shirts around the Yard and to classes, and then around dinner time the Houses welcome incoming residents with dinner, Masters’ receptions, tours, and social gatherings.

#4 – HoCo

As I mentioned earlier, I’m pretty active in House Life.  Since my sophomore year, I have held a position on Mather’s House Committee (HoCo); first, I was a Publicity Co-Chair and am now currently a Co-Chair.  HoCo is responsible for making their House the best place to live for all students, and HoCo hosts many big and small events and acts as the representative for their House to the House and College administration.  HoCo makes it possible for Matherites to enjoy such events as Housing Day, Formals, Happy Hours, study breaks, and barbecues ever year.

HoCos are responsible for a Winter and Spring Formal every year, and the Spring Formal is usually the last event of the year.  While I’ve had awesome extracurricular experience through my HoCo responsibilities, what I value most is the friendships I have gained.  Without HoCo, I would not have seen the sunrise while on a coffee run the morning of Housing Day, have yelled, “DP4UC,” for two weeks outside of the Science Center, or had hour-long Bananagrams breaks from papers at two in the morning—all with people I am lucky to call friends.

Me and most of our HoCo board at our 2011 Spring Formal

Me and most of our HoCo board at our 2011 Spring Formal

In truth, I never expected to love Mather as much as I do now.  In retrospect, I probably should have known.  You see, my dad lived in Mather when he was an undergrad, and because of this, I grew up knowing fun facts like the first House Master kept racehorses, or thanks to the skylights and the design of the roof, you could see rainbows on the ceiling of the d-hall after it rained.  Mather stayed with him well past Commencement, and I know that it will do the same for me too.  I am the person I am today because of the people I have met and the times I’ve had in Mather, and there’s nothing I would change about my House or the family I have found there.

Okay, I’m done talking about all of my Mather feelings.  I’ll leave you now with a little something from Madness.

 

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Summer Approaching and…the Admissions Mistake?

April 17, 2012 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | 5 comments

As the semester winds down, life is getting busier, the days are growing longer, and it’s starting to look like summer a little more each day. My motivation for doing schoolwork is decreasing and I can’t believe that it’s almost the end of my third year here. The end of the spring semester brings about a whole bunch of things, including summer plans and one of my favorites–Quincy Assassins. It’s a bit complicated to explain, but long story short, we sign up in teams of up to 6 people and are assigned targets that we have to shoot with Nerf guns. The rules are 13 pages long! Caroline wrote about the most epic battle yet in Quincy courtyard the other evening. My team is all just about terminated, but the few other teams that are left are extremely intense. They stake out our dining hall and hallways on a daily basis. The game makes you incredibly paranoid, but it’s probably the most involved and dramatic game of Assassins played on campus (many other Houses run their own versions).

Quincy Assassins

Me and a few members of my Quincy Assassins team being ridiculous!

As far as summer plans go, it looks like I’ll be doing two things–proctoring on campus for Harvard Summer School and traveling the world hosting a new documentary series. While I can’t mention too much, the television show is basically about how different cultures and backgrounds affect people’s learning styles. I’ll be lucky enough to travel to Korea, China, Israel, France, and India with two other Harvard students, as well as one of my Peer Advising Fellows (PAF) from my freshman year, who has since graduated. Peer Advising Fellows are basically upperclassman buddies who are assigned to an entryway of first year students to advise them on academic, social, and personal matters. I’m currently a PAF and I love it! For those of you who will be studying here in the fall as freshmen, you’ll all have a PAF, as well. But I digress. My PAF’s name is Lilli, and she is now working for Google. Jenny is another one of the students, whom I’ve actually been very close with since freshman year, as we met through playing volleyball (she played on the Varsity Women’s Volleyball team for two years). The other student is Bryan, whom I met a few months ago, but I’m excited to get to know him better. We were all filming this past weekend and had a lot of fun together!

This coming weekend is Visitas, or as Harvard called it when I was visiting as a high school senior back in 2009, “Pre-frosh Weekend.” I think Visitas has a better ring to it. Regardless, I hope those of you who are visiting will meet as many people as possible and take advantage of all the cool opportunities on campus. One of the people I met during my visiting weekend is now one of my closest friends and blockmates (blockmates are people you pick to live in the same House with after freshman year). It’s also extremely fun to meet people and keep in touch over the summer before you get to campus. There is an activities fair where you can get a whole bunch of free swag and sign up for mailing lists to show your interest in various extracurricular clubs even before you start studying here. Also, a great majority of the student groups put on performances and special events, so be sure to check those out as well. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m the House Committee (HoCo) Co-Chair for Quincy House (each of the undergraduate upperclassmen houses have a House Committee that plans house events like formals, study breaks, and other events to foster community and make the house a fun place to live). Each HoCo has been working hard to plan your regional reception events, so be sure to check those out. Now that you got in, you may or may not be wondering one of the main questions I constantly thought about: Am I the Admissions Mistake? Absolutely not. And I hope you step on campus this weekend knowing that you deserve and have every right to be here.

 

 

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From Congratulations, to Cradles to Crayons

April 2, 2012 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | Permalink

As Kate said, congratulations to the Class of 2016! I also remember the day I received my acceptance letter–it’s a day that I’ll never forget. My volleyball practices were always from 4 pm to 6:30 pm. And as most of you are aware, admissions decisions are emailed around 5 pm EST. It was hard to focus on volleyball when I knew there was a message waiting for me in my inbox. It didn’t make it any easier that we had an important match the next day, along with a team dinner immediately after practice. As both captain and an upperclassman on the team, I had the responsibility of making sure underclassmen had transportation to and from…well, basically everywhere. After practice, I had a car full of them, but told my teammates that I had to drive home for a minute. They waited in the car as I ran in to my house and closed the door to my room. And there it was. My mom was the only one home at the time. The waterworks began, followed by many phone calls on her end, but I had to run outside and get back to my teammates. There could be more detail to this story, including exactly who was crying and what not, but I’ll save myself the embarrassment. Regardless, congratulations to each and every one of you, and I hope that you’ll reach out to any one of us bloggers if you have any questions about life here on campus.

As far as my life goes, days have been incredibly busy, as they usually are at this time in the semester. With a whole new class of Penguins in Quincy House, we decided to host a public service trip to a local non-profit called Cradles to Crayons for the freshmen who will be living here next year. We thought it would be a nice thing to do to get to know each other while helping others at the same time. Cradles to Crayons is an organization that  “endeavors to provide homeless and low-income children with the essentials they require to thrive – to feel safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued.”  Volunteers work for two-hour shifts, sorting and inspecting incoming items, such as books, outfits, and toys. They also fill orders that meet the needs of individual boys and girls in their local communities.Representatives from the Philips-Brooks House Association, as well as members of the Quincy House administration and House Committee (HoCo) went and all had a great time.

Cradles to Crayons

Our sorted bags at Cradles to Crayons!

Speaking of HoCo (each of the undergraduate upperclassmen houses have a House Committee that plans house events like formals, study breaks, and other events to foster community and make the house a fun place to live), our Housemasters, Lee and Deb, invited the 2011 and current members of HoCo, along with our advisor Kate, for dinner at their house this weekend. They ordered Thai food and served ice cream as dessert! Quincy House has the best administration on campus. They truly go out of their way to support their students. Lee and Deb make sure our voices are heard, as well as hold events for all of their students, inviting us to their home for Master’s Open Houses with delicious desserts. Even though it’s a ways away from those of you who will be attending here next year, I hope you all get sorted into Quincy House come next Housing Day!

2011 and 2012 Quincy House Committees

2011 and 2012 Quincy House Committees

 

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“Other houses were never an option.”

March 12, 2012 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | Permalink

Thursday, March 8 was Housing Day! It’s really similar to how students are sorted into the houses in the Harry Potter series. Here, there’s no Sorting Hat, but students can “block” with up to 8 people freshman year that they’ll be randomly placed with into an upperclassman house for the next three years (if you don’t like living there, you can switch houses after a year–but most people fall in love with wherever they end up). These people are referred to as “blockmates” or your “blocking group” and, for me, have been a huge part of my experience at Harvard. Once put into a house, freshmen won’t move in until the fall of their sophomore year, but they can fully enjoy their respective house’s offerings and advantages. For example, my house, Quincy, has community dinner in the dining hall on Thursday evenings that only Quincy residents can attend.

As the House Committee (HoCo) Co-Chair, I spent hours and hours planning Housing Day festivities with the 7 other HoCo members. I was literally on my feet from 7:00 am in the morning to 10:30 pm–no exaggeration. I was present at every single event listed below. Many things had to be taken care of for Housing Day, and while we all worked together, it took a significant contribution on everyone’s part.

Pre- and night before:

  • Pick a theme (“Q-Men: Freshman Class” — our play on “X-Men: First Class”)
  • Create a video (can you spot my cameo?)
  • Have the House vote on a t-shirt design (see photo below)
  • Think of a free gift for freshmen (see photo below)
  • Hold a sign-making event
  • Stuff the informational folders for the incoming class
  • Organize Big Penguin/Little Penguin groups (a Quincy House program to pair incoming students with upperclassmen buddies)

Day of:

  • Organize breakfast and face painting the morning of for upperclassmen (7:00 am – 8:00 am–about 150 came out to storm the Yard and dorms!)
  • Hand-deliver letters with other upperclassmen to each blocking group (8:15 am – 9:30 am)
  • Trek to freshmen dining hall, Annenberg, and set up table to check students in and give free t-shirts (10 am – 2:15 pm)
  • Meet and greet and speak at Community Dinner (5:00 pm – 7:15 pm)
  • Meet and Greet freshmen at the Master’s Open House (7:30 pm – 10:30 pm)

Quincy Housing free Housing Day t-shirts and drawstring bags!

There were delicious desserts at the Master’s Open House event, and we showed the Housing Day video again. It was incredibly well attended, but towards the end of the night, I was so tired that I almost couldn’t wait for it to be over. I ended up falling asleep on my House Master’s couch, and my friends apparently took photos of me (which I have yet to see). How embarrassing.

Me with Ginny, the HoCo secretary!

 

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No Time November

November 21, 2011 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | 4 comments

Shannon’s post that mentions shelves of Free Time does a great job summarizing what I feel like must be any college student’s month of November. The semester is almost ending, and there’s too much to do in such a short amount of time. This week was crunchtime.

One of the coolest things that every upperclassman house has is a House Committee (HoCo). HoCo plans house events like formals, study breaks, and other events to foster community and make the house a fun place to live. Essentially, HoCo acts as the student voice for the entire house to staff and administration. I decided to run for next year’s HoCo for the position of co-Chair. However, as Shannon mentioned, November is the time when everyone goes to buy more Free Time, but the shelves are simply empty. Between a HoCo campaign, two problem sets, and a CS50 exam, I was feeling the pressure!

The CS50 exam was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, so Tuesday evening was particularly stressful. I spent the majority of my evening after dinner in the Qube (each upperclassman house has a libary and the Qube is Quincy’s). It wasn’t too bad, though, because I was surrounded by good company and we made sure to take a study break. We ended up making a new friend, pictured below.

Two of my friends, Cielo and Mary, in the Qube!

Two of my friends, Cielo and Mary, in the Qube!

Fast forward to late Thursday evening. The exam was over. I also ended up winning my HoCo election, which I’m so stoked about and can’t wait to help plan events for Quincy House. At midnight (Friday, November 18), a few friends blindfolded me and took me to a restaurant where more friends were waiting with a cheesecake for my 21st birthday. Why not a regular cake? Well, cheesecake because it is my favorite thing to eat in the entire world…which usually confuses most people because I don’t eat chocolate or drink soda, and I just don’t enjoy sweets in general. But that’s beside the point. Later that evening, my cousins came to campus and brought me out to dinner. My birthday was fantastic, and it just happened to fall on the same weekend as the annual Harvard-Yale football game (or, “The Game” for short).

Yale Bowl, Harvard-Yale 2011

The Yale Bowl was packed!

I had another visitor this weekend–Rachel, my best friend from home! One of the best parts about attending college just a little more than a half hour from home is that I have family and friends from high school close enough so that a visit is just a drive away. The Game’s venue alternates every year between the Yale Bowl and Harvard Stadium. This year, it was taking place at Yale, and since I didn’t go as a freshman, I was excited to experience it, especially with Rach. We won 45-7! It was a new adventure for the both of us, and we explored Yale’s campus, only to fall in love with the architecture of all the buildings. I might be biased, but I still think there’s no place like home. Quincy House!

Rachel and I in front of Yale's Silliman College

Rachel and I in front of Yale's Silliman College

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