Rachel Ferrari

Today’s first Senior Wisdom: Rachel Ferrari, SGA hero and aiming for humble excellence.

Name, Hometown, School: Rachel Ferrari, Jackson Heights, Queens, Barnard, bitches.

Claim to fame? I’ve sat in a room for two hours every Monday night for four brutal years as a student government representative. I’m a huge nerd about it, but all the obligational socializing alludes otherwise. I’m the only senior with the gall to stand it for so long. Get at me.

Where are you going? Man, this shit is already bittersweet. Nowhere– in my heart, I’ll always be at Barnard. No, I really want to work on the next phase of affordable housing development and preservation in New York City. With 61 races for city government offices being decided this November, including a new Mayor, I want to work on a campaign that focuses on innovative affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers in every borough.

3 things you learned at Columbia:

• 1. Living in Claremont was the most convenient housing I could live in as a Barnard senior, but security guards and I agree that it was strange to have to sign in my Barnard friends when I could swipe in everywhere else. Barnard and Columbia need to get on the same page about swipe access. It’s a full-frontal microcosm of the silliness that is reducing the Barnard-Columbia relationship to a soundbite.
• 2. Texting has destroyed romance. Get over it, have fun, and remember that it takes twice as long to die as it did in the old days. Spend time with people that want to make you smile in real life, like actually face to face.
• 3. A friend once told me, “If I knew college would be the best four years of my life, I would have killed myself when I graduated.” Life is like an awkward walk where you’re holding hands with the past and the future. Walk on forward and remember to keep your chin up. It can only get better from here.

Back in my day…. Dean Dorothy Denburg and Jessica Nuñez were prized institutions at Barnard. I feel blessed to have experienced four years of their leadership and mentorship. These are women that proved to me that you can indeed have it all. Make a ten minute appointment with each of them and bask in their glory.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: I didn’t know Barnard was exclusively women until I went to the admitted students open house. I am so honored to have lost to the one, the only, JungHee Hyun.

Write a CU Admirers post to anyone or anything at Columbia: Eva Schneider, after eight years, after thanklessly motivating me to accomplish everything I can show for myself, you still let me believe that our relationship isn’t parasitic. You are the best wife a husband could ask for. I feel sorry for any man who demands I love him more than you, or that you love him more than me. Whoever these bastards are, they can eat their f***in’ hearts out.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? Nothing beats dat muscular hydrostat. Not trunks or tentacles, I’m not that kinky.

One thing to do before graduating: For about a quarter million dollars, Columbia teaches us to operate without sleep, so hit another bar, read the next chapter or sit on the steps for an hour– what’s worthwhile is cherishing relationships along the way. Spend one day with people all day– coffees, lunches, drinks, study groups, brunches, movies, silence, whatever. Give yourself one day a semester where you indulge in how awesome all these other people’s lives are at this place. Don’t attend an elite university for nothing.

Any regrets? No, but for the sake of a public forum, it’s really easy to get one’s panties in a bunch. It is easier to believe that people are apathetic and that they’re just not willing to make the effort to see change. We should rest assured that this campus is brimming with creativity to improve the world around us. Instead of asking everyone to see it your way, see how you can make change by helping with someone else’s project. That’s how great ideas are actualized. That’s how things get done. I really don’t want this generation to be known as a bunch of narcissists with iPads. Let’s aim for humble excellence.