Senior Class Fills Post-Grad Roles

After hours of deliberations that lasted until dawn yesterday, a top Crimson editor and former Lampoon business manager were appointed the secretary and treasurer of the Class of 2007.

May Habib ’07, the associate managing editor of The Crimson and an economics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations concentrator in Pforzheimer House, was named secretary. The new treasurer is Stefanie L. Botelho ’07, a government concentrator from Lowell House who worked on the business staffs of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and The Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Sorrento Square social organization that used to occasionally publish a so-called humor magazine.

The two will serve life-long terms as the chief organizers for the class after graduation. As secretary, Habib will be responsible for preparing class notes and keeping track of classmates. Botelho will be in charge of keeping track of finances and raising funds for class parties and activities.

“The secretary and treasurer are the key roles on the committee because they persist after graduation,” said First Class Marshal Chrix E. Finne ’07. “They’re responsible for keeping the class connected for the rest of our lives.”

Botelho wrote in an e-mail that she is “excited that it is a lifelong position where I’ll be able to make sure the class has the financial means to do whatever it wants.”

About 20 people applied for the two jobs. The winners were selected by a seven-member committee made up of class marshals, house representatives from the Senior Class Committee and a recently appointed Senior Gift Co-Chair.

The committee deliberated until about 6:30 a.m. yesterday and then trekked to Habib’s and Botelho’s rooms to announce their appointments and drench them in champagne.

“We wanted to inaugurate them in style,” Finne said. “It was quite fun.”

Two weeks ago, Finne and officials at the Harvard Development Office picked Matthew P. Downer ’07 and J. Barton Williams ’07 as Senior Gift Co-Chairs.

The two were not doused with champagne, but still said they looked forward to kicking off their fundraising efforts in the coming months.

“Senior Gift Co-Chair is a really attractive opportunity to organize a very concrete way to give back to Harvard and demonstrate our appreciation for what they’ve given us these past four years,” Downer said. “I am incredibly honored.”