Coser, Dreznick To Lead College Events Board

Crystal Y. Coser ’12 and Randa S. Dreznick ’12 will lead the College Events Board as chair and vice-chair next year, promising to increase student input and develop more creative events for the student body.

As veterans of the Harvard-funded organization tasked with holding events for the College community, Coser and Dreznick, residents of Lowell House and Adams House respectively, said that they are eager to encourage student involvement in events.

“I believe that obviously, Harvard lacks school spirit, but I think when we do have more school spirit is when the student body is one,” Coser said. “I think that when the student body is together as a whole, you get a lot better feel of community, and that’s something we should achieve next year.”

The first major undertaking that the new CEB board will tackle will be Harvard Thinks Big 2. Modeled after the popular lecture series “TED Talks,” Harvard Thinks Big allows faculty members to speak on a topic of their choosing.

Following a high level of interest this past year, the Feb. 17 event will be ticketed, Coser said.

And to address some complaints of being too humanities-focused, Dreznick said that organizers will be soliciting more faculty speakers from the sciences, having confirmed physics professor Lisa J. Randall ’84 to appear at the event.

To complement its existing lineup of staple CEB events, which include Yardfest, the Harvard-Yale pep rally, and the fall welcome back event, next year’s executive board will seek ideas for events from the student body.

“We’re really interested in expanding the brand of the College Events Board to include these nontraditional events,” Dreznick said. “Our overarching goal is to appeal to a greater number of students—a greater proportion of the student body—and to foster a greater sense of community on campus.”

Coser said that she is interested in developing an interactive website that allows students to submit ideas for new events while working to increase student participation in the CEB’s more established festivities.

Coser said she was enthusiastic about working with the new CEB executive board.

“I’m just so excited to start this new year on the CEB. I love the CEB,” Coser said. “I think everyone on the new board is really great.”

Joining Coser and Dreznick on the executive board, Ngoc “Michelle” B. Nguyen ’13 and Michelle Y. Luo ’14 will serve as publicity directors. Beau M. Feeny ’13 will be recruitment director, and Ece Erdagoz ’14 will be the organization’s secretary.

—Staff writer Naveen N. Srivatsa can be reached at srivatsa@fas.harvard.edu.