Hannah Healy imparts her COÖP, laundry, and touring wisdom.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Hannah Healy, CC, History, Oconomowoc, WI

Claim to fame: I was maybe your OL, your COÖP leader, or your COÖP coordinator. Or I blocked you from getting into John Jay while I was giving a tour. Either way, you probably saw me around campus, yelling a lot. I have also been told the main character of the 125th Varsity Show bore more than a passing resemblance to me, but that is neither here nor there.

Where are you going? Back to New York City as fast as possible :’)

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2024? 

1. Don’t be afraid to step back from activities and spaces that make you unhappy. You’re not going to miss out on anything worthwhile. And the people that matter from those things will always reach out to you and make time for you anyways. Unless those things are discussion posts, which I have tried many times to “step back from” and it has not yet worked out for me.

2. Say thank you to people (oh boy, this is some foreshadowing). Your professors, your friends, the dining staff, and the people that swipe you into the residence halls, especially.

3. Do your laundry during the day while other people are in class!

“Back in my day…” Koronets was covered in mirrors, Amigos was the cause of many people’s worst nights, and it was Nussbaum & Wu. Also we had mailboxes in Lerner. With actual keys. Crazy.

Favorite Columbia controversy? Whatever is turning into a dumpster fire on Columbia Confessions right this minute.

What was your favorite class at Columbia? There’s no way I can pick just one. Equity in Higher Education with Roger Lehecka and Andrew Delbanco, Making of the Modern American Landscape with Elizabeth Blackmar, Sport and Society with Frank Guridy, History of the American Middle Class with Josh Schwartz, First American Gilded Age with Elizabeth Blackmar (seriously, you haven’t seen a true intellect until you’ve witnessed her lecture without pausing for 75 minutes, all with her eyes closed), and Lit Hum with Eliza Zingesser. But if I had to pick just one, Lit Hum with Eliza Zingesser.

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? I’m from Wisconsin; you know I can’t give up cheese. It’s written into the state constitution, I’m pretty sure…

Whom would you like to thank?

Eliza Zingesser, my Lit Hum professor, for assigning us Frankenstein instead of Pride and Prejudice, for always having time for me to come into office hours to ask for help or complain about CC readings or talk about anything, and for helping me realize I did have a legitimate place here.

Andrew Brugman, the COÖP director, for dueting with me on Kacey Musgraves during car rides through the Catskills, for letting me commandeer his office in Lerner 515 for hours at a time for pop culture gossip and deeper discussions about what orientation programs should do for students, and for helping me grow immensely through the most challenging job I have ever done.

Kathryn Saunders, Director of the URC, for always making time for me when I knocked on her office door frame, for being fiercely protective of every single tour guide with the myriad dangers that come with stressed out parents, and for allowing me so many opportunities to talk about my love for Columbia to prospective students and their families, whether in tours, information sessions, or otherwise.

Every single person that worked the front desk at Ruggles. The URC, HOP, and CDS. Dua Lipa for Future Nostalgia and Lorde for Melodrama. Everyone at the VC, who I miss dearly every day, but especially Kip. All of my COÖP kids and my NSOP students. Cafe 212’s chocolate croissants.

But especially: Alex, Jane, Aaron, Claire, Zoe, Varun, Ade, Christian, Jane, Jared, Jaine (I have a lot of important Ja(i)nes in my life), Adem, Cameron, Rahul, Jake, and my family.

One thing to do before graduating: Take one second to really look up and see campus. Breathe it in and just enjoy it. I think we have one of the most gorgeous campuses in the world and those little copper patina lions on top of Furnald have been my happy place for a long time. I can tell you now, after suddenly heading back home without realizing that I wouldn’t be coming back to Morningside Heights for a while, I would give anything to sit on Low Steps for a minute and just take one last look at it all.

Any regrets? Of course. If you don’t have regrets, you’re either kidding yourself or you didn’t get to see just how big campus really was. There are so many events I didn’t make it to and performances I didn’t see and classes I didn’t take. But having regrets doesn’t mean having to feel sad and dwell on them (at least that’s what therapy has told me).

photo via Hannah Healy