It's a Wrap

First-years at Harvard face two fundamental campus failings: the social scene is a little limited, and the food in Annenberg isn’t particularly incredible either. To deal with these two seemingly unrelated problems, a few entrepreneurial first-years came up with a curious cure-all: the Harvard Wrap Social Club.

The concept sprang to life after a Hasty Pudding punch event. “We were so turned off by the attitude that we decided to create our own social club,” says Wrap Social Club President and Head of Alumni Relations Stephanie T. Chevalier ’07, “dedicated to doing something we enjoyed: eating wraps anytime and anywhere.” The club met every Tuesday for dinner at—where else?—the Wrap, and the wrap of choice was usually the barbecue chicken wrap with extra salsa, though only Chevalier opted for dark meat over white.

At its peak, the club had about ten members. “We were extremely exclusive,” reminisces Chevalier.

The punch process was grueling.  “Anyone who wanted to join had to confess something weird about themselves, thereby creating a circle of trust between the members,” says Chevalier.

Though the club boasted a historian on its board, it didn’t get a chance to cultivate much history after the Undergraduate Council (UC) decided to turn down its request for funding. “We applaud the efforts of the HWSC, but have trouble justifying this expenditure, so for now our stance is, ‘Sorry, we don’t subsidize burritos,” says Teo P. Nicolais ’06, chair of the UC grant subcommittee.

Even during its brief run of glory, the club let a few wrap aficionados down. Chloe L. Yellin ’07 attended just one meeting—in Winthrop’s dining hall. “I never really understood why we went to Winthrop house to eat,” Yellin says. However, the club did provide her with the opportunity to reincorporate wrap consumption into her balanced diet. “I have some experience with wraps since I worked in a wrap restaurant two summers ago,” she says. “It was nice to get back into that scene.”

Club leaders, according to Chevalier, are “taking some time off” to recover from the UC smackdown before planning their next act. But don’t feel sorry for the owners of the Wrap restaurant, who won’t know what they were missing. “They don’t know we exist,” says Chevalier. “We tried to keep it under wraps.”