Harvard Houses Welcome Freshman Class

As Elizabeth F. Weisman ’14 and her blockmates waited nervously yesterday morning, they heard a knock on the door and cheers of “Dunster!” But as she opened the door, a crowd of people in head bands, suit jackets, and boxers welcomed them into Adams.

“It was our first choice,” Weisman said yesterday, wearing her new yellow Adams shirt based on the Sam Adams Beer logo, at lunch in Annenberg.

Yesterday morning, the class of 2014 received their House assignments, and by 8 a.m. a crowd of upperclassmen had gathered around the John Harvard statue to prepare to welcome their newest House members. Upperclassmen dressed in House t-shirts and House mascots—including a bunny, polar bear, penguin, and fish—rallied in the Yard, while freshmen waited for the delivery of the envelopes that contained their Housing assignments.

Hannah C. Donoghue ’14, who lives in Canaday, said she could hear the upperclassmen screaming and running around the Yard this morning.

“It was a little overwhelming,” Donoghue said of receiving her Mather assignment.

For many freshmen, the excitement began last night with the “Fresh Fest” in Annenberg and, for some, an under-the-radar River Run, an unofficial and relatively new tradition in which freshmen take shots in the courtyards of the Houses they want to be in.

Ginny C. Fahs ’14, who was placed in Quincy, said she got two hours of sleep last night after her entire blocking group slept over in her room in Wigglesworth. Fahs, whose first choice was Quincy, said that the first indication she got of her placement was a text from her linkmates, who got into Lowell.

“We were jumping for joy,” she said, showing off her new “Quinception” t-shirt, based on the Quincy housing day parody of the film “Inception.” “We ripped open our letter and took pictures of it.”

The day was exciting for upperclassmen as well as they welcomed their new House members and relived their own Housing Day experiences.

Dressed in the Leverett Bunny suit at lunch, Leverett HoCo social chair Clare E. Miller ’12 said that the reaction of the freshmen was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

“I’ve had a secret desire to be in the bunny suit since my freshman year,” Miller said.

For others, yesterday was a chance to show off their Houses to freshmen.

“For my Housing Day, we didn’t have a lot of Cabot people,” James E. Hawrot ’12, the Cabot HoCo Co-Chair said. “This year we’re pumping up the energy ... You can tell from my voice that we’ve been pretty loud. It’s been good.”

—Staff writer Stephanie B. Garlock can be reached at sgarlock@college.harvard.edu.