Kendall

Name, Hometown, School: Kendall Hope Tucker, Sudbury Massachusetts, Columbia College

Claim to fame? President of the Roosevelt Institute, perpetual freshman, person who won’t stop gloating about the Red Sox

Where are you going? Home with a few stops on the way! First Israel, then DC for a few months (where I’ll be working at a start-up tech firm). After that hopefully England and then Massachusetts. I’ve allotted the next few years of my life to “figuring it out”. When I find out what “it” is, I’ll let you know and that will probably dictate where I am going to be.

Three things you learned at Columbia:

1. Even if it feels like you know exactly what you want to do next week/next year/forever, unexpected opportunities are always lurking right around the corner. Columbia gives you almost limitless opportunities. Look beyond the normal 4 year pre-med/pre-law/pre-$$$ path and seize them.
2. People in GS are way cooler than we are. This is why I am taking a few years to work before going to grad school. I’m hoping that I can harness some of their hard-fought, real-world wisdom.
3. Going to Tom’s in the middle of the night for cheesy fries and a milk shake might make you feel fat, but it will also definitely make you some close friends. It’s worth it. (Also, on your way to Tom’s, invite the quiet guy on your floor. It’s not only freshmen who feel lonely some times.)

Back in my day… Someone dropped a cigarette down the trash chute in John Jay and the whole building filled up with smoke. For us John Jay 7’rs this and ‘Operation Ivy League’ consumed conversation for all of second semester.

Also back in 2010, 1020 was cool, insomnia cookies didn’t exist (life back then was terrible), Campo was a bar that I couldn’t get in to and EC still looked like the projects.

Justify your existence in 30 words or fewer: One time I convinced everyone at a party that Joe Biden was my father. To be fair, everyone at the party was drunk, but still it was awesome.

Write a CU Admirers post to anyone or anything at Columbia: To the security guards on campus (in particular Adam, Clifton, Kristina and Mike): thank you so much not only for keeping us safe but also for making us feel at home in these buildings. Your sense of humor when we come home from Butler (or 1020) at 4 in the morning always makes us feel a little bit better. I’m going to miss you next year.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? (If you are my mom who I know will read this at some point, please stop reading here. Thanks for your support! xxx)

The obvious answer to this question is cheese, but then this bodes the follow-up question of whether we are all going to shout “say oral sex!” before taking a picture. I don’t know how I feel about that, but I still say it’s worth it.

One thing to do before graduating: Buy your RA a drink. They have a tough job (much tougher than many of you might realize) and most of them (hint, the Carman staff) like to turn up.

Any regrets? Unfortunately, yes. Doing too much work, not spending enough time on campus, not asking Dorian Warren out on a date (kidding!), not joining a sorority or the rowing team, not telling my friends I love them enough and not being able to finish out this year with Carman 9. Shame on me. I love you all.