There are two kinds of people in this world: people who are comfortable having a permanent notification tag on their phone app that says they have 1,253 unread messages. And then there are people who read every message every hour to avoid the dreaded unread notification. I am proudly part of the latter category. Yet, being a part of an 80-person chat group this year has really tested my abilities in this.
The chat group is populated by members of my cohort, International Education Policy. Folks are writing everyday about events on campus, questions about class, inquiries to hang out or decompress, and of course, opportunities for free food. It’s like any normal chat group except that it pings 50+ times a day. And honestly, I love it.
The chat group is where you can go to get a recap of that one Harvard talk you couldn’t fit in your schedule. It’s where you go to rally support for a student club you want to get off the ground. It’s the place to share study spot recommendations or deals at the Harvard COOP, our official bookstore and outfitter.
From the chat group, I recruited 30 of us to go to the Harvard vs. Rhode Island football game. Many in the group were seeing a football game for the first time in their lives. We designated a Football Knowledge Enthusiast and had him sit right in the middle of our group to explain every whistle and tackle.
Last weekend, I learned from the chat group that a couple of people were organizing a trip to New Hampshire to see the autumn foliage. This was a must on my bucket list for New England. The trip was only 24 hours because many of us had a microeconomics midterm that weekend, but it was a much-needed getaway into nature.
Though it sometimes feels like one year isn’t long enough to find a community, the chat group has shown me that the HGSE community is real, it’s active, and it wants me to be a part of it. The chat group also reminds me that the people are just as much of this experience as the classes. It takes a little effort (like having to check your phone constantly) but thank goodness for the wonderful people in my cohort. They have made my two months at Harvard so colorful and full.
Blog written by Jenni Myung. Photos provided by Jenni Myung.
Jenni Myung is in the International Education Policy program. She is from Columbus, Ohio but her most recent home before HGSE was Arvaikheer, Mongolia. At HGSE, Jenni is interested in exploring how language policy at the institutional level affect issues of equity and access in schools and societies. She has chosen to do her internship at the Boston Mayor’s Office this year in order to apply her academic interests to real world contexts. Jenni is also serving as the Student Council representative for her cohort. Jenni is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, former AmeriCorps VISTA member, and an alum of Emory University.
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