I’m a big believer in going to dances. They are a fun way to relieve stress, hang out with friends, and (most importantly) get free food. On the whole, a majority of the student population attends each BUA dance—Fall Festival, Semi Formal, and Spring Fling. Yet of the three, Semi has always been the most controversial. Whenever I put in a good word for it, the most common response has been, “Why should I pay all that money just to see the people I see every day for another four hours?” While I believe this to be a rhetorical statement, I have some answers:

First, what you really missed out on this year was the boat. I admit it; I was ambivalent at first. Though Semi had been traditionally held on a boat before I came to BUA, I questioned the sanity of this endeavor. In my naivety, I wondered how the food would stay on the tables, and searched out the Dramamine before I left the house. Prejudiced by a whale-less whale watch this summer, I associated boats with crashing through cold and windy weather with no land in sight. Indeed, I was quite wrong. For one thing, I didn’t even notice when the boat set off. I was pleasantly surprised when I happened to glance out the window and noticed the lights of Boston blinking by. And they kept blinking by. We did not lose sight of land at any point on the trip, and seasickness was the last thing on my mind.

Additionally, the food remained on the tables. I would have cried if it had not. I am easily impressed, but have been a picky eater my entire life; when it comes to food, not everything goes. However, I can confidently say that I was very sad when my plate was empty. The buffet meal at the beginning hosted the World’s Softest Bread Rolls, accompanied, of course, by an array of lovely salad, beans, mashed potatoes, pasta primavera, and chicken. There was even a carving station for sirloin and pork! Dessert was equally, if not more, impressive: cheesecake with white chocolate ganache and raspberry topping, and not only chocolate chip cookies but also chocolate mousse truffles on chocolate cookies. My mouth is watering thinking about them.

However, food only took up a small part of the evening. Music played the entire night and for most of it, the dance floor was overflowing. For such a small school, we are really great dancers. And those of us who are less great at dancing can still feel okay about ourselves because nobody can really see who is who anyway when there are strange colors flashing from the ceiling all evening!

You also missed out on seeing all your friends dressed up. While not to the same extent as Prom, most people put effort into their outfits, so you should make that work worth their while! My only complaint was not pertaining to the dressing up part as such, but to the shoes-on rule of the boat. Due to the potential safety hazard of broken glass, many dress-wearing individuals had to totter around in heels for four hours. Personally, I did not strive for comfort when I picked out my shoes and came expecting to take them off. As a result, I found several new places on my feet that I didn’t even know could blister. Next year, I think I’ll be wearing sneakers, just to be on the safe side. Another incentive to come: seeing me in a dress with running sneakers!

Even though I could barely walk by the end of the evening, I am not at all sorry I went. Even in heels. The ultimate highlight of the night was going on the top of the deck to see the entire Boston skyline over the water. Despite a deceptive sixty degree Monday that melted all the snow, Friday evening happened to be a particularly cold day of the week and my bare legs did not thank me for spending close to 10 minutes in the open air. But this just goes to show how beautiful the view was! I personally do not get to see the Boston skyline over water every day. Or night, for that matter; most of the time I am surrounded by tall buildings and towering people. Sadly, the view was short-lived, owing to my very exposed and very numb legs, yet there’s something about being surrounded on all sides by what you see that looking out the window at the top of the GSU doesn’t match. You had to be there.

After hearing all about this fantastic night, I can’t imagine that you are glad you missed Semi. Apply what you learn daily at BUA: nothing daunts a scholar! Not even a dance. If the boat aspect doesn’t appeal to you, you must be tempted by the World’s Softest Bread Rolls. They were so soft, I almost didn’t want to eat mine; all I wanted to do was stroke it. Even just seeing your friends in pretty clothes is a novelty. Great minds frequently prioritize work over dress; at BUA, it’s not every day you get to see a bunch of nicely dressed people all in one room! Yet whether or not you are considering going next year or ever, I’ll always have fun remembering the view, the dancing, and the food.

Ever since some of my friends were cast back in September, I was extremely excited to see BUA’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I am pleased to say that it did not disappoint.

Quince (Sunday Hull, ’16), Bottom (Shurik Zavriyev, ’15), Flute (Nix Goldowsky-Dill, ’16), Starveling (Katy Brown, ’15), and Snout (Damian Liu, ’16) were all hilariously true to character, and brought the play within a play to life. The actors were all outstandingly great at acting outstandingly horrid at what they were doing, and their characters’ overly dramatic monologues and their constant breaking out of character did a wonderful job making the tragic story of Pyramus and Thisbe into a comedy.

As for the four lovers, Brian Reidy (’16) played an excellent Demetrius, adding hate and spite to every word his character said to the girl who loved at first unrequitedly, and Susanna Faas-Bush (’14) gave an emotional performance as the girl in question, Helena. Hermia and Lysander, played by Leah Magid (’13) and David Lax (’14) respectively, were equally stunning. Not only were they all extremely good at portraying their characters, but they were also all convincingly good at pretending to fall asleep.

Bennett Vogt (’13) and Katrina Goldowsky-Dill (’14) were both great as well, whether it was as the bickering Oberon and Titania, or as the charming Theseus and Hippolyta. David Kleinman (’16), the mischievous Puck, was also fantastic, bringing a comedic side to his character that made the audience laugh at times, and ending the production beautifully with his last monologue.

The costumes for the fairies were colorful and creative, and Ms. Cellucci’s art class did a spectacular job interpreting the names of the fairies and what they might look like. On their own in the art studio, these costumes awed, and on stage, they shined. No doubt they were my favorite part of the play after the acting.

On paper, Shakespeare’s work may be tedious to read. However, when brought on stage, it is almost as though it is something completely different. The actors were all able to lift their characters off the page and recite their lines with expression and emotion, and the result was a stellar show. I can’t wait to see what else BUA’s Drama Club will bring to the stage next. It will be hard to top a performance such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but I am sure that they will rise to the challenge once again.

On December 14^th, Adam Lanza entered a Connecticut elementary school and fatally shot 20 students and 6 teachers with a semiautomatic assault rifle. This mass shooting at Sandy Hook was not the first time that a major act of gun violence has captured public attention; the attempted assassination of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson and the shootings in an Aurora movie theater have likewise given the controversial topic of gun control a place in the national conversation.

In the weeks following Sandy Hook, both the proponents of gun rights and the advocates of stricter regulations have looked to these tragedies in an attempt to solve the problem of gun violence. Some see these tragedies as a call for further regulations, viewing organizations like the NRA as enablers. Others believe that firearms are necessary for self-protection and argue that these unprecedented killings illustrate the futility of gun regulation in preventing firearms-related violence.

I don’t recommend that President Obama travel door-to-door and pry people’s guns, bullets, and butter knives right out of their hands. Nor do I believe congress should enact a law requiring that all citizens purchase heat-seeking intercontinental ballistic missiles for self-protection. The problem of gun violence is a complicated one, and it won’t be solved overnight. However, I think there are a couple of sound and reasonable regulations that would make a huge difference.

To begin, let’s talk about semiautomatic assault rifles. Semi-automatic firearms are self-loading, meaning the user doesn’t need to manually cycle each round and can fire multiple bullets very rapidly. It is currently legal to manufacture and purchase semiautomatic assault weapons in the United States, and I find it insane that we have not reinstated a federal assault weapons ban. The previous decade-long ban expired in 2004, but because the majority of gun deaths in the United States result from handguns, it had a negligible effect on overall violence. That, however, is no excuse to make semiautomatics available to the public. Semi-automatic weapons were used in the shootings in Tucson, Aurora, and most recently, Newtown. The US Military currently issues several kinds of semiautomatic weapons, many of which US citizens can legally purchase. As Former US General Stanley McChrystal noted, semiautomatics are supposed be incredibly damaging because they are intended for military use and only military use.

The Second Amendment declared our right to keep and bear arms, but technology has made significant advances since 1789. We’ve already agreed as a society that we need to draw the line at certain weapons. Obviously, citizens aren’t allowed to purchase tanks or surface-to-air missiles. And once people figured out that armor-piercing bullets can be used for, well, armor piercing, they enacted a federal ban on those as well. We face this exact issue with semiautomatics, so we should acknowledge them as yet another unnecessarily dangerous weapon. This isn’t about gun rights – it’s a no-brainer about public safety.

Politicians, activists, and much of the national media view Sandy Hook as the root of the problem when it comes to firearms. But the reality is that shootings account for fewer than 100 deaths per year, a minuscule fraction of the 29,000 who are killed by guns in the US annually. And even though mass shootings are nearly impossible to predict, there still some regulations we can enact to address the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

Background checks are one example of a regulation that has not gone nearly far enough. It is currently illegal for licensed gun stores to sell to those convicted of a misdemeanor or felony, those residing illegally in the US, or those who have been committed to a mental institution. However, while licensed gun stores are legally required to perform this background check, private owners selling to individuals within their own State have no such obligation. According to a 1997 study, 35% of gun owners purchased their firearm from a family member or friend, 15% purchase from a retail gun store, and the rest obtain firearms from drug dealers (15%), on the black market (6%), from theft (6%), etc. In other words, only the 15% of gun owners who purchase from retail stores are required to meet the minimum standard of a basic background check in order to purchase a firearm.

While it is complicated and difficult to control illegal acquisition of guns, legislation requiring that private sellers perform background checks would increase the number of vetted gun owners by 35%. It’s completely insane that this isn’t already mandatory. The Department of Transportation set up the National Driver Register – a database that all sellers must consult before allowing someone to purchase a car. Why, exactly, does no such database exist for gun owners, even though they’re buying weapons?

What frustrates me most about the debates over gun control is that they fall so easily into hyperbole. As I’ve stated, there certainly are things we can do about gun violence, such as banning assault rifles and making background checks thorough and mandatory in all cases. But after each mass shooting comes an ideological mud fight in which panic reigns supreme and the only available solutions involve pointing fingers and radically undermining the other side’s positions. In 2013, the major problem we face isn’t finding some way to reduce gun violence, but finding a way to overcome the politics that surround gun violence. I honestly don’t know if the gun control debate bodes well for the future of the American political system or merely illustrates its failings. Either way, there’s a New Years resolution I encourage everyone to try out: when it comes to issues like gun regulations, calm down and use your head.  It’s surprising how far common sense will get you.

As an incoming freshman this year at BUA, I had an assortment of worries, like if I’d enjoy my classes or get lost trying to find my way via public transportation to school. Perhaps one of my biggest worries, though, was if I’d ever be able to manage the rigorous workload that BUA is known for. It’s been almost four weeks into school, and I’m still getting used to all the homework I need to do, spending more hours sitting at my desk reading or typing away than I’ve ever done before. Ever since the first day of school, I’ve had books I’ve needed to read and questions to answer about Physics, and at first it was really quite overwhelming, which I suppose was to be expected. It wasn’t that it was too challenging or too much (yet), just a little different from what I was used to. Because of this change in homework levels, I’ve had to make changes to my study habits.

Curious, I asked some of my fellow classmates what some of their study habits were, hoping to see if perhaps we had any similar habits and maybe to pick up some other tips as well. Instead, though, they decided to give me tips on how not to study, such as, “Do nothing at all. Then, when your older self steals a time machine, you’ll have as much time as you want to do your homework.” Some told me what they did before coming to BUA, such as, “Convince yourself that you can totally relate your English essay to your favorite television show, and watch all the episodes as research.” Whatever it was, though, it seemed that most, if not all, of us had experienced a change in our homework load since transitioning from middle to high school.

Wanting to learn more about what good study habits really were, I tried consulting another source: my old friend Google. However, the articles and lists I found from searching “good study habits” sounded suspiciously like my middle school teachers, cheerfully chanting at me to “Make sure to stay focused!” and to “Always be prepared for class!” in florescent neon colors. Many of these tips seemed almost obvious, like, “Don’t cut class!” and “Do your homework!” I was doing all these things, however, what was I supposed to do if there was a show I wanted to watch but I had even more homework than usual that day? I’d have to do my homework first, probably, and watch the show another day, but was this what I was supposed to do?

After talking to different upperclassmen, there’s no doubt in my mind that, as the year goes on, I’ll be spending a lot more quality time sitting at my desk, reading, writing, and typing. But after looking at the changes I’ve made to my own habits, reading my classmate’s un-tips that, and attempting not to yell at my computer because of the quality of articles found via Google, with good study habits, I’ll most likely (and hopefully) make it out of school with my sanity relatively intact. Oh, and of course that if you’re looking for good study habits and tips, don’t ask Google.

The brightness of the fire is blinding, the heat searing. The smoke, which fills the air, is inescapable. Metal bars enclose the windows and all the doors except for one are locked. All is chaos—young children screaming for their mothers, older men desperately attempting to prise open unyielding windows, teens banging on doors begging for help. But all you can do is jump from the window and hope that you survive.

This was the scene on September 12^th, when a raging inferno consumed a textile fire in Karachi, Pakistan. The death toll has risen above 300, including several children. Mothers weep for their lost children and widows mourn their departed husbands. Simply speaking, a tragedy occurred in Pakistan two weeks ago. But we shouldn’t pay attention because of the death toll or the gory details. We should pay attention because this fire was not an isolated event. No, it was the result of a clearly flawed system which was doomed from the start.

But the story of why this fire is so important begins 101 years ago on the busy streets of Manhattan.

On March 25, 1911, a deadly fire swept through a garment factory in New York City. The blaze killed 146 workers, mostly poor immigrant women. So many died because—guess what?—the doors were locked, and poor safety measures prevented easy escape. The fire, one of the worst industrial accidents in US history, led to many factory safety reforms. The nation was outraged that such a horrific incident could have happened on US soil, and so we changed. But the recent Karachi fire is proof that we haven’t changed as much as we may think.

In this day and age, many of the products that we buy are made or assembled overseas, and many of these products are made by workers living in abysmal conditions. Low pay, dangerous working conditions, and long hours are often the norm for clothing produced in places such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, or China. But this is a fact that we nearly always ignore.

The problem is that when we buy things, we frequently don’t consider the complex chain of events which led to that product landing in your hands. Let’s consider, say, a pair of jeans.

Its story starts a world away in a cotton field, gently waving with the breeze. The scene might be considered idyllic- as long as you ignore the children, laboring in the next field over rather than going to school, and the stench of the pesticides dousing the land with toxins. The cotton then gets spun into threads, which are turned into fabric and then transformed into the stylish pair of jeans you see in a nearby store window. In the course of their journey, those jeans will have been touched by countless hands, and countless injustices will be committed along the way.

Independent watchdog groups such as the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights have conducted numerous exposes on factories with unsafe working conditions, but they have been pushed aside my nearly all mainstream media outlets. When companies such as Macy’s, Forever 21, and H+M have been shown to be sourcing from factories where harassment and abuse run rampant, wages are extremely low, and sick days are forbidden.

Last winter, two ESPN reporters went to factories in Cambodia where many sports related apparel is made. They discovered horrific conditions. One woman, a 28 year old named Kol Malay, spoke about what working in the sweatshops is like. She earns 29 cents an hour sewing, and she works 10 hours a day 6 days a week. That wage is about 1/3 of the living wage in Phnom Penh.

So, you ask, how does this have to do with a fire in Pakistan?

The fire which occurred on September 12^th was a fire that was inevitable under the current conditions. Safety regulations are extremely lax in many of the places where we source our clothing, and the regulators are far too cozy with the manufacturers.

We would never let a fire like this happen in America, but when it happens in Pakistan we hardly bat an eyelash. We like buying dirt cheap clothing, even if there are deep ethical repercussions. But that’s wrong. Just because the people making your clothes live a world away and speak a different language and have a different culture, their rights are not any different from ours.

It’s time that we take a stand for what is right and refuse to take part in the atrocities committed by large clothing companies. It shouldn’t take hundreds burning to death to illustrate how wrong the current system is. But a tragedy has occurred, and now all we can do is try to prevent the next one.

Last week, I caught the season premieres of two quite funny TV shows. The people who brought you Herman Cain (the Pokémon-singing pizza man) and Rick Perry (our resident expert on the Federal Executive Departments) presented a spectacular new comedy: Romney/Ryan 2012. But the good news didn’t end there. Just a week after the show premiered, audiences were graced with a brand new season of another stitches-in-your-sides sitcom: Obama/Biden 2012, straight from the creators of such hits as the human-gaffe-machine Joe Biden. There was so much to love about these two new shows, making it quite a struggle to figure out which was ultimately better at delivering the laughs.

The season 2 premiere of Obama/Biden 2012 was, if possible, even funnier than its 2008 pilot episode. Before delving into the plot, I have to compliment the actors – particularly, Jennifer Granholm. The former governor gave the episode much-needed slapstick when she yelled a confused metaphor involving gear sticks and political parties into the microphone, all the while gesturing violently and waving her arms in the air. I predict she will be quite the scene-stealer as the season progresses.

In this new episode, the main characters found themselves facing a major dilemma: should they stick with the Democratic Party’s base, which prides itself in diversity but is often perceived as elitist, or should they also try to appeal to a more traditional understanding of average Americans and American values? They chose the latter approach, which resulted in a truly hilarious mess.

The main characters got a bit carried away as they tried to portray themselves as something other than elitist liberals: “when I was growing up in [working-class town], my [wise old relative] instilled in me the importance of [American value], which is something I cherish to this day…” Politicians, actors, public figures, and regular Americans alike invoked this exact story, almost as if the teleprompter was frozen on a Mad Libs page. As a viewer, I thought their absurd and inaccurate portrayal of people from the Heartland was really funny and effective. These overwrought rags-to-riches tales did an excellent job showing the Democratic Party’s desperation as they attempted to relate to a demographic they just didn’t understand.

That said, one of the drawbacks of this season opening was that it too much resembled the show’s pilot in 2008. The majority of the jokes were overused and the plot was fairly repetitive; however, that is less a critique of Obama/Biden 2012 and more a feature of the sitcom genre. Although this show had its moments, the pilot of Romney/Ryan 2012 was an unmatched comic masterpiece.

The premise of Romney/Ryan 2012 was fairly simple; it focused on a group of people whose lives were once sustained by the glorious, honest, hardworking, pious, unified, and triumphant Apple Pie America. However, their utopia was shattered on that fateful day of January 20^th, 2009 – the day Obama took charge and single-handedly sent an entire nation down a landslide of moral and economic failure, socialism, infringed 2^nd-amendment rights, and hatred of puppies.

Lead actor Mitt Romney gave a spectacular performance as a rich man trying (and miserably failing) to act like an average, middle-class American. His comic timing and body language were spot-on; he nailed every little detail from a confused speech about unconditional love, to an abundance of long and awkward pauses, to his incredibly labored attempts at what the human species calls ‘smiling.’

Of course, Romney only was one of many highly memorable individuals. Paul Ryan, for example, was a stellar supporting actor.  Everyone expected his character, an economic policy wonk, to provide political content and concrete arguments in an otherwise lightweight day. Instead, he gave a speech so vague, hand-wavy, and inaccurate that it made even Clint Eastwood’s speech seem legitimate and well informed.

And that brings me to the now-infamous Chair Speech, which was really the gem of Romney/Ryan 2012’s premiere episode. I honestly don’t even know where to start, other than to praise Eastwood’s sheer comic genius. His character interviewed a chair. He criticized the chair. He yelled at the chair when it interrupted him. This was obviously great acting, and more importantly, it was one of those truly memorable moments in comedy that will stick with you for years to come. Between Obama/Biden and Romney/Ryan, I can hardly wait for the November season finale.

It was dark as the national anthem rang out over a sea of bike riders. The race started and thousands of people all began to move. The riders took up an entire lane of the highway in Sturbridge, MA. The 5:30am start left everyone riding in a dense fog, but then the sun came up.

I was enthusiastic when Will Rose ’13 first asked if I wanted to do the Pan-Mass with him, and I still am enthusiastic. He convinced me, Simon Nichols ’13, Carlos Rotger ’13, and Caroline O’Leary ’13 to accompany him on this ride. (Caroline was unfortunately unable to go on the actual ride due to a last minute injury, but she still volunteered.) I wanted to ride to see if I could handle a 200-mile bike ride and because the money raised goes to the Jimmy Fund and the Dana Farber Cancer institute. This year’s goal for the PMC is to raise 36 million dollars.

Training began when we all had suitable bikes. As Team Willstrong (named after the bracelets given out during Will’s chemo), we went on rides near each others’ houses. The rides got longer every weekend or so from April until the Challenge. Training was difficult, but having a close group of friends to do it with made it easier.

When the sun came up on the first day the ride got hard. My mind entered a meditative state where I just focused on pedaling. I dreaded every uphill climb, and looked forward to every downhill slope. What really kept me moving were all the people cheering on the side of the road. My favorites were the bagpipes at the top of a hill, Cherry Street, where everybody came out to cheer, and the people spraying riders with hoses. The bell ringing and cheering never ceased after I registered and the volunteers applauded me for being a first-year rider. Every mile was made easier by the people sincerely saying, “thank you for riding.”

The outpouring of support for BU specifically was also incredible. While we wore the jerseys we got from the BU cycling team, people cheered us on saying, “Go BU!” We also met numerous alumni who were happy to see their alma mater represented. A confused member of the actual BU cycling team even saw us riding in the opposite direction.

The highlight of my entire ride was giving a spectator in chemo a high-five at the finish line on Saturday. It was a symbolic, “hang in there kid.”

The second day got much more difficult. Most of the distance was behind us, but the variable weather and wind of Cape Cod were ahead of us. The last five miles to P-town were a real struggle. The cross-wind threatened to topple my bike and the rolling sand dunes were a pain, but I still sprinted to the finish line.

The whole team agreed we had a great time, and we all want to do it again next year. Our ride may be over, but we as a team still needs to reach our fundraising goal. If you feel like supporting Team Willstrong, the Jimmy Fund, and the Dana Farber Institute in the fight against cancer, feel free to go to http://www.pmc.org/profile/TW0105 and donate. You can also find us by searching Team Willstrong on the PMC website.

June 8, 2012. A Friday, two days after I had finished exams. In the grand scheme of things, the last thing on my mind was going to a leadership seminar for a three day weekend with a small group of kids from Boston schools. Knowing that a lot of my friends were out enjoying the summer, probably still sleeping in, I found myself at Bentley University, walking around campus with a duffel bag at some crazy hour like 7:30 in the morning. I wondered if it would have been preferable to be spending the weekend with my friends, instead of whatever I was in for. I had expected 30 or 50 kids about my age, all of whom had come to the program just to put it on their college resume. Who wouldn’t want to go to a Hugh O’Bryant Youth Leadership (HOBY) program? I found the registration area, which had over a hundred kids in line, all looking a little shy, unsure what the program would be like. We all got checked in, and headed into a huge cafeteria room. This is where all my preconceptions were completely shattered in an instant.

We walked down the stairs into the lively, cheering cafeteria, seeing over a hundred others, who had already gotten to their groups, and were playing big games of Ninja or icebreakers or were coloring posters. What was so amazing was how much enthusiasm the staff members could create from a group of high-school sophomores who didn’t know each other, this early in the morning! The shouts echoed through the room as we all tried to find our groups. My group was right in the middle of things, coloring some superman emblems (our group was Lois Lane and Clark Kent!) to put as badges on our shirts later. We introduced each other, started some ice breakers, and headed over to a huge auditorium on the other side of the hilly campus, learning cheers and chants all along the way.

Then we got to the seminar part, which was almost organized like a huge ASM—never mind, scratch that. Kids and staff combined, over 300 people in a huge auditorium, just sitting, listening to the speaker. We had quite a few memorable speakers over the 3 days, including one of the top mentalists in the country who explained that his manipulations were just a kind of leadership, to a woman who gave us a survey with animal groups that told us what kinds of leaders we all were, to WBZ- TV’s Steve Burton, all talking about leadership amongst talented individuals, grasping opportunities in our lives and communities, and appreciating what we have. For me, most memorably, John Jacobs from the Life is Good T-Shirt brand spoke, telling the inspiring story of how he and his brother, who were completely broke for many years, had always wanted to start their own company, and always stayed optimistic, even when times got incredibly hard. They had to spend winters out in the cold streets of Boston trying to sell their T shirts so they could afford to eat every day, and though it was hard at first, they got creative with their logo and motto, and eventually became really successful. Nowadays, the brothers do fundraisers and community service across the Greater Boston area to help inspire the optimism that kept them going and got them to where they are. This is just an idea of what one of these seminars was like.

In other activities throughout the program, with smiling faces all weekend long, we went to Cradles to Crayons and helped organize thousands of packages of clothing and supplies for the upcoming year to under-privileged children and teens, as we worked throughout the day organizing our own donations (HOBY had us bring a bag each at the start of the program) and helping tons of kids with just a few hours of work. In addition, though I had been to Cradles to Crayons many times throughout my youth with my middle and elementary schools, so many people at the program had never been there, and some had not even heard of it. This opened me up to how diverse we all were—which was another focus of the program, because there were so many people from all over Massachusetts. In fact, most people in my group live so far from the city that the idea of BUA—a high-school on a college campus seemed unreal. Conversely, a boy in my group, Alan, lives on a farm and told me what that was like.

The individual groups we had when we were not in seminars—the group I ate with, had meetings with, and walked all around campus with—grew to be almost like a family in just a few days. Two girls in my group formed a bond so close over the span of those days that most anyone would have thought they had been friends for years, by the way they trusted each other and could predict each other’s actions. That was where the program really awed me. I mean, I had just finished school exams, and most everyone else was in the middle of them, but HOBY still could put all of that out of their heads for the weekend as they focused on community activities and how to embrace every opportunity properly. Overall, the seminar taught me what kind of a leader I am and what makes me tick, how you can brighten anyone’s day with a smile and the right kind words, and how well you can get to know a group of teens in under three days whom you would never otherwise have even met. I am proud to be a HOBY alum, and look forward to going to alumni events, carrying these skills into life with me, and being even closer to my group today than I was on Sunday when we all left Bentley Campus for home, feeling like we had been at the program for weeks, and deep down having no idea how much we would miss each other.