I feel like you must really see things, being an RA, a tour guide, and a runner in the Central Park loop.

Name, School, Major, Hometown: Grace Ann Bertelli, Columbia College, History, Independence, Iowa (America’s Fame is in Our Name!)

Claim to fame: I might have been your Carman RA freshman year, given you your first tour of Columbia,  greeted you at a QuestBridge event, or sprinted past you while running the Central Park loop. I also wrote a mildly controversial Spec op-ed (as every self-important first-year does) called “The Classics is Classist” which I still stand by four years later. 

Where are you going? Ideally, to be a rich wife in Greenwich but in reality, to be a corporate shill in Murray Hill.*

*For a couple of years before law school.

What are 3 things you learned at Columbia and would like to share with the Class of 2025?

1. Pay it forward and show gratitude. 
   • I cannot emphasize how much the little acts of kindness I’ve witnessed, benefitted from, or given have impacted my time here for the better. I’ll never forget the boy in my CC class who gave me his used Spanish textbooks or the senior who invited me to grab a meal after my first class in Hamilton when I was a lonely first-year. Columbia can be a very cold and isolating place, but it doesn’t have to be. Smile at each other in the elevator, hold open the door at Lerner, offer to spot somebody at Dodge. We can build community on campus through even the smallest actions.
2. Not everyone is going to like you. That’s okay. 
   • Students here love to judge each other for whatever career they’re pursuing and treat Core classes like an absolute bloodbath without really considering the other person’s perspective or circumstances. What if we all acted with a little more humility, showed a little more grace to each other during class? No matter what you do and what you believe in, not everyone here is going to like you, but you’ll never regret treating every professor, student, staff member and worker with kindness even if it isn’t reciprocated. And do what is best for you and your loved ones as long as it isn’t doing undue harm unto others – don’t let Columbia Twitter or the champagne socialist in your CC class shame you for pursuing a better life.
3. Don’t fake it.
   • This goes for everything here at Columbia. Choose a few organizations or activities to put genuine effort into rather than signing up for a ton of things and doing them all mediocrely for the resume boost. Actually read the Lit Hum texts, or as much as you’re able to, because your conversations in class will be so much more meaningful. Practice wellness, from getting a good amount of sleep, to moving your body, to sitting down and taking your time at a meal with friends, because life is that much better when you’re not faking your way through. 

“Back in my day…”  The History of the Peloponnesian War was still on the Lit Hum syllabus. I seriously wrote my entire senior thesis on how Pericles’ Funeral Oration has been taught and used throughout history, including a whole 10 pg section on how it’s taught in Lit Hum, just to find out they took it off the syllabus this year. Justice 4 Thucydides :(

Favorite Columbia controversy?
All these controversies always seem like such a big deal to me when they happen but then everyone moves on and forgets about them so fast. I did find Trump’s “liberal, disgraceful institution” tweet to be quite a hume before we beat the life out of it and made cringey t-shirts.

What was your favorite class at Columbia? 
Ancient Greek History with Professor Richard Billows. Not because it inspired me to major in History and concentrate in the ancient Mediterranean (even though it did) but because I met my best friend Emma. Since we both lived on Carman 12 freshman year, we studied together out of convenience, but four years later she is my literal soulmate even though her contact in my phone will always be “Emma Ancient Greek.”

Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese? As someone with a gag reflex and acid reflux I can live without both.

Whom would you like to thank?
Mom, Dad, Sophie – I’d be nowhere without you. Emma for aforementioned reasons. Blaise for bookending my college career. Chris for taking care of me during EC parties gone awry. Julia for being the most down to get Ferris acai bowls. Every single one of my 152 residents and Reslife staff who’ve become some of my closest friends. QuestBridge for getting me here. The entire Admissions Office/Visitors Center complex for being the best place to work and allowing me to share my love of Lumby to the world. Cynthia and Adelita of Carman Hall facilities for all our great conversations. And everyone who has shown me even the smallest ounce of kindness here.

One thing to do before graduating: Prezbo

Any regrets? Of course. But definitely not in coming here. Choosing Columbia has been the best decision of my life and I am so, so thankful for these last four years.