Over Hot Cocoa, PBHA Reaches Out to Freshmen

A cozy aura filled the rooms of the Phillips Brooks House last night at its “Winter Warmer,” the first of several outreach initiatives by the public service group.

The event, which was intended to familiarize freshmen with the Phillips Brooks House Association, also provided an opportunity for them to relax in the midst of an otherwise stressful period dominated by looming exams and approaching deadlines.

Students filtered into the house in groups of five or six, indulging in cookies, candy, and warm hot chocolate as they mingled with proctors, peer advising fellows, and Oak Yard Resident Dean Jonas V. Clark, who oversees Canaday and Thayer halls.

“This event is not about recruiting and getting students signed up,” Joseph K. Lee ’07, a proctor in Thayer, said. “It is more about getting freshmen familiarized with PBHA so if later they decide that they want to get involved, they feel comfortable walking through the door.”

As the first semester comes to a close, Clark said that this event gives students an opportunity to get involved now that they are acclimated to life at Harvard.

“At the beginning of the year when things are hectic, it’s hard to get involved,” Clark said. “This gives people who were overwhelmed a chance.”

In addition to sugary treats, the dean’s presence was another incentive for many students to come to the event.

“I followed my friends here because they all wanted to meet with the dean,” Tanya G. Mair ’14 said. “But I ended up finding out a lot of great information about the different mentoring programs.

“And its always nice to have cookies,” she added.

Although this event specifically targeted freshmen living in Oak Yard, it was the first of many scheduled by PBHA, an umbrella organization for 86 student-run programs that serve communities in the Boston and Cambridge area.

Khin-Kyemon Aung ’14, a PBHA public relations team member, said that over the course of the year, PBHA will host a similar event for each freshman yard.

“There are still quite a few freshmen who don’t know the mission and goal of PBHA on campus,” Aung said. “We want to take the opportunity to get people involved and excited about what PBHA is all about.”