The True American Heroes: Harvard Undergrads

by | March 2, 2010 at 2:50 pm

Harvard Magazine brings us the very special story of a group of people who don’t get the credit or respect they deserve. We’re talking about Harvard undergraduates. We connect you to their second-person singular, for some reason?, account of the life of Becky Cooper ’10, pictured.

You wake up each morningwith a fever; you feel like a shadow of yourself. But no time for sickness today—the Adams House intramural crew has one of its thrice-weekly practices at 6a.m., and you…will…row. Some mornings, you watch the sunrise from Lamont Library after hitting your study groove there around 11 the night before and bushwhacking through assignments during the quiet time between 3 a.m. and 5.

Good thing none of “your” commitments sound as if they’re exactly… um… non-skippable. The indefatigible Cooper has

hosted a two-hour weekly jazz show on WHRB, and as a freshman acted in Ivory Tower, the long-running Harvard TV soap opera viewable on YouTube. (Last summer, she also acted in an independent film shot by a friend in Miami, learning American Sign Language for the part.) In the summer of 2007, Cooper tasted some ravishing ravioli di zucca (pumpkin)—“I was in heaven”—and determined to learn Italian and cook in Italy.

Where does she find the time… to be totally self-indulgent, all the time! Like, ugh, maybe if you’re “constantly sick,” take it as a warning sign and call off your food column in the Crimson rather than bragging to an alumni magazine about how scattered and distracted your attentions constantly are? You’re already into Harvard. There’s nothing to prove, dear. And this continues for SIX PAGES. I think I’m the one with the fever — I am out of things to say, so I am but a shadow of the blogger I once knew. And I slept the normal, human amount last night!

 
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  • i got into the ivy league

    “You’re already into Harvard. There’s nothing to prove, dear.” Like, srysly. Who needs a B.A.? Harvard should simply award degrees to admitted students and be done with the whole “liberal arts education” thing. Stamp ‘em with VERITAS and send ‘em to Wall Street!

  • i got into the ivy league

    “You’re already into Harvard. There’s nothing to prove, dear.” Like, srysly. Who needs a B.A.? Harvard should simply award degrees to admitted students and be done with the whole “liberal arts education” thing. Stamp ‘em with VERITAS and send ‘em to Wall Street!

  • Veritasteless

    So I know the article was really braggy and kind of annoying but this post is veritasteless. Give the girl a break! It’s not her fault the author presented her in such an effusive light. Chill it on the bitter card, D’Addario.

  • Veritasteless

    So I know the article was really braggy and kind of annoying but this post is veritasteless. Give the girl a break! It’s not her fault the author presented her in such an effusive light. Chill it on the bitter card, D’Addario.

  • y’11

    I’d like to thank the H alumni who left the following comment on the Harvard Magazine site:

    Mark F. Lapham 68/67 wrote:

    Your article “NON-STOP” raised some vital issues yet proved disappointing in the absence of any meaningful conclusion. While that absence may unfortunately be attributed to “modern” Harvard’s structural incapacity to make even the most basic of ethical judgments, I insist on the temerity to suggest three potentially fruitful areas of further inquiry:

    1) What is the post-Harvard fate of these multi-tasking, hyperorganized wunderkinder? Do they prove to be leaders, managers, founders of new technologies and companies, contributors to human welfare? Or once the “helicopter” or “snowplow” is removed, do they fade into the obscurity of second-rate bureaucrats and academics, incapable of independent thought or action?
    2) What are the costs of failure? For every “Ivy” graduate from this hellacious pressure-cooker, how many “failures” limp through life crippled because they failed (i.e., didn’t get into the “right” college, grad school, job) despite burning their brains out at max effort? What of the kids who are smart enough &/or their parents have the courage to decline the gambit? Are our best brains being eliminated from educational reward because they are smart enough not to become trained circus animals?
    3) To what extent is Harvard (and its peer schools) re-inforcing the tendency to be hyper-active and highly scheduled by rewarding it with admission? Have “we” (really, of course, “you”)in fact made the de facto ethical judgment that ultrapressure, ultraachievement, ultracontrol is a wonderful thing BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE REWARD?

  • y’11

    I’d like to thank the H alumni who left the following comment on the Harvard Magazine site:

    Mark F. Lapham 68/67 wrote:

    Your article “NON-STOP” raised some vital issues yet proved disappointing in the absence of any meaningful conclusion. While that absence may unfortunately be attributed to “modern” Harvard’s structural incapacity to make even the most basic of ethical judgments, I insist on the temerity to suggest three potentially fruitful areas of further inquiry:

    1) What is the post-Harvard fate of these multi-tasking, hyperorganized wunderkinder? Do they prove to be leaders, managers, founders of new technologies and companies, contributors to human welfare? Or once the “helicopter” or “snowplow” is removed, do they fade into the obscurity of second-rate bureaucrats and academics, incapable of independent thought or action?
    2) What are the costs of failure? For every “Ivy” graduate from this hellacious pressure-cooker, how many “failures” limp through life crippled because they failed (i.e., didn’t get into the “right” college, grad school, job) despite burning their brains out at max effort? What of the kids who are smart enough &/or their parents have the courage to decline the gambit? Are our best brains being eliminated from educational reward because they are smart enough not to become trained circus animals?
    3) To what extent is Harvard (and its peer schools) re-inforcing the tendency to be hyper-active and highly scheduled by rewarding it with admission? Have “we” (really, of course, “you”)in fact made the de facto ethical judgment that ultrapressure, ultraachievement, ultracontrol is a wonderful thing BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE REWARD?

  • @i got into the ivy league

    I seem to remember getting a degree-esque certificate with my acceptance letter to Harvard.

    … that’s why I chose Yale.

  • @i got into the ivy league

    I seem to remember getting a degree-esque certificate with my acceptance letter to Harvard.

    … that’s why I chose Yale.

  • YES

    This is so dead on. Everybody is busy. Ms. Cooper is exceptional only in her willingness to brag about it.

  • YES

    This is so dead on. Everybody is busy. Ms. Cooper is exceptional only in her willingness to brag about it.

  • y11

    It’s freaking awesome that Harvard has intramural crew. Yale’s boathouse is 25 minutes away, and super strict on who uses their shells (i.e. only the varsity team). At Harvard you just walk in, sign a waver, pass a rowing test and then can go scull whenever the hell you please. Seriously, that alone is enough for me to go grad school there.

  • y11

    It’s freaking awesome that Harvard has intramural crew. Yale’s boathouse is 25 minutes away, and super strict on who uses their shells (i.e. only the varsity team). At Harvard you just walk in, sign a waver, pass a rowing test and then can go scull whenever the hell you please. Seriously, that alone is enough for me to go grad school there.

  • H 10

    yeah this girl sucks. honestly, if you’re at the library from 3-5 am than you’re doing something horribly wrong with the rest of your time. besides that, this girl doesn’t look like she’s done anything substantive. She wants to learn italian? . . . sweet. And i’ll straight up doubt she’s any good at sign language too. she just sounds like some impetuous jackass who hijacked Harvard Mag, which i don’t think anyone reads anyway.

  • H 10

    yeah this girl sucks. honestly, if you’re at the library from 3-5 am than you’re doing something horribly wrong with the rest of your time. besides that, this girl doesn’t look like she’s done anything substantive. She wants to learn italian? . . . sweet. And i’ll straight up doubt she’s any good at sign language too. she just sounds like some impetuous jackass who hijacked Harvard Mag, which i don’t think anyone reads anyway.

  • asdf

    hey… she’s a 1 on the binary scale

  • asdf

    hey… she’s a 1 on the binary scale

  • P11

    Just because this article was terribly written doesn’t mean Becky was bragging. I know the girl personally and she is a wonderful, down-to-earth person who happens to be incredibly talented and driven. Keep hating, but this girl is straight-up baller.

  • P11

    Just because this article was terribly written doesn’t mean Becky was bragging. I know the girl personally and she is a wonderful, down-to-earth person who happens to be incredibly talented and driven. Keep hating, but this girl is straight-up baller.

  • nah

    P11 is full of crap. I’ve never met anybody who garnered so many accolades for so little substance. and for the record, the Isis and the Signet don’t count as commitments. since when did being in private social clubs qualify you as “busy.”

  • nah

    P11 is full of crap. I’ve never met anybody who garnered so many accolades for so little substance. and for the record, the Isis and the Signet don’t count as commitments. since when did being in private social clubs qualify you as “busy.”

  • h10

    You guys at Ivygate get so morally outraged when some kids in Leverett House make a distasteful joke, but then you just shit on one girl who does a lot of stuff. I doubt she asked for the article to be written. If she likes doing this stuff then who cares? I’m not saying that it’s awesome or something, but you guys can’t act all indignant when there’s a stupid satirical joke made about an international news event almost a decade ago and then try to publicly humiliate a college girl for something as pointless as this.

  • h10

    You guys at Ivygate get so morally outraged when some kids in Leverett House make a distasteful joke, but then you just shit on one girl who does a lot of stuff. I doubt she asked for the article to be written. If she likes doing this stuff then who cares? I’m not saying that it’s awesome or something, but you guys can’t act all indignant when there’s a stupid satirical joke made about an international news event almost a decade ago and then try to publicly humiliate a college girl for something as pointless as this.

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  • CHI

    6am? Weak. UChicago Crew rows at 4:00.