As my time at Harvard begins to come to an end, I have been reflecting on what my four years at Harvard has meant to me.

When I started my first year in 2023, I was so excited for what the next four years would bring and prepare me for. I remember eagerly thinking about and planning all the clubs I wanted to join, classes I wanted to take, and people I wanted to meet. Reflecting on the past few years, I can genuinely say that I have done everything that I set out to do when I first stepped foot on campus several years ago, including things I didn’t originally expect. 

I have been to the Harvard-Yale Football game every year since my first year, and it has always been such a fun experience to hang out with friends and cheer on the Crimson! The Harvard-Yale Game, also referred to as the Game, switches locations between Harvard and Yale every year. This year Harvard is the host, but instead of playing on our normal football field at Harvard stadium, the game will be played at the historic Fenway Park! I am so excited to experience the game, and hopefully the Crimson beating the Bulldogs for the first time in my Harvard career, alongside my friends and my mom who is traveling to attend the game with me for the very first time. 

While finals themselves may not be as exciting, I have always enjoyed spending the week leading up to the start of finals week studying with my friends and then going out for food and a sweet treat after our exams are finished. One of my favorite benefits of being a Harvard student is BoardPlus, which is a credit that gets put onto our Harvard student IDs that can be used at the student grilles, the Harvard Law School Grille, and more! I usually save my BoardPlus until the end of the semester and use it at the Quincy House Grille (a student-run restaurant that serves items such as onion rings, milkshakes, chicken tenders, hamburgers, and more!) which is open from 9pm-1am. My friends and I also enjoy getting a little further from our dorms and the main undergraduate campus and going to Harvard Law School to study and use our BoardPlus at their grille which also has a variety of food options. 

Last, but not least, Housing Day, one of the biggest traditions we have at Harvard College. First-years eagerly await to see which house they will call home for the next three years, and upperclassmen in each of Harvard’s 12 houses are always so excited to welcome them into their house community. As a proud resident of Quincy House, I was very excited to be welcomed into the “Qomunnity,” and now I am always happy to welcome the next class of penguins into the best house. I am looking forward to this spring and welcoming the new penguins into Quincy for the last time as a senior. 

These are just three of the many incredible experiences I have gotten to experience as a Harvard student, and while I’ll miss these experiences and the community that I have built here, like many seniors during this time, I am both excited and anxious for what the future holds after Harvard!